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Criminal Slang

A Dictionary of the Vernacular of the "Underworld"

Compiled by
Joseph Matthew Sullivan, LL.B.
Underworld Pub. Co., Boston, Mass.; Revised Edition (1908)

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A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   J   K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   U   V   W   Y

A

• Alias — A false name.
• Anchor — A stay of execution of sentence (Western slang.)
• Angel — A person easily victimized.
• Alley-worker — A woman thief who robs men in alleys.
• All to the good — It is all right.
• Auntie — The keeper of a disorderly house where young girls (who live with their parents) are lured to ruin.

B

• Bad dough — Counterfeit money.
• Badger game — Shakedown, grafting. A woman decoys a man and then her alleged husband blackmails him.
• Baldy — An old man.
• Ball — A dollar.
• Bang up — Good.
• Bang to rights — Caught in the act.
• Barker — An auctioneer; one who solicits attendance in a loud voice.
• Baron — A lodging house and hotel beat.
• Bash — To break, to assault.
• Batter — To beg.
• Bats — Delirium tremens.
• Beak — The magistrate.
• Beak-hunting — Poultry stealing.
• Beat — To defraud.
• Beating a place — Breaking jail; to escape.
• Beanery — A restaurant.
• Beef — Cheap talk.
• Beefer — A loquacious person; a squealer, an informer.
• Beef — stew singer-A very bad soloist.
• Belched — Spoke, turned informer.
• Benjamin — An overcoat.
• Bertillion measurement — The system of measuring the physical parts of the body as a basis for the identification of criminals.
• Bigger corner — Larger share of the spoils.
• Big mitt-men — Crooked gamblers; con men.
• Bit — A term in prison.
• Bit fakirs — Coiners of bad money.
• Blanket-mortgage — A conveyance to defraud creditors.
• Blanket-stiff — A western tramp; he generally carries a blanket with him on his travels.
• Blind-baggage — The front end of a baggage car having no door.
• Blow — Detected; to run away; to desert.
• Block — Gold watch-not gold-filled.
• Bloomer — An empty safe.
• Bloke — A fellow, same as plug or stiff.
• Blowed in the glass stiff — A trustworthy pal ; a professional.
• Blowing — Treating.
• Blowing a peter — Forcing -a safe with the aid of explosives.
• Bluff — Bluster; a false impression.
• Board-stiff — A walking advertisement.
• Bo — A hobo.
• Bobby — An English cop.
• Boiler-maker — A lover.
• Boiled dinner — An Irishman.
• Bolt — To leave in haste.
• Boob — The lockup, station house or city prison.
• Booby-hatch — City jail, but not prison.
• Booked — Registration at police headquarters of a criminal.
• Boost — To flatter, to assist.
• Boot-leg — Alleged coffee.
• Bouncer — A keeper of order in a low resort.
• Booze — Liquor.
• Boozer — A drunkard.
• Box — A safe.
• Brace — To ask.
• Brakey — A railroad brakeman.
• Brass up — To divide the spoils (English.)
• Breaking a crib — Forcing a back door.
• Breaking away — Separating.
• Bridewell — The workhouse, a place of detention.
• Broke — Without means.
• Broke a leg — Got arrested.
• Buck — A priest; a dollar; to oppose.
• Bucket-shop — A place where stock is sold on margin; stock is never delivered.
• Buddy — A companion.
• Buff — A charge of crime (English).
• Bug — A trollop.
• Buggy — Insane.
• Bug-house — An insane asylum, crazy.
• Bug-hunters — Midnight lush touchers.
• Bull — Ration of meat (French slang).
• Bull — Policeman.
• Bull-buster — A man who makes a practice of assaulting police.
• Bull con — A convincing story.
• Bum rocks — Diamond with flaws.
• Bum shaft — A bad leg.
• Bunco — To rob.
• Bundle — A package from home; a woman; plunder from robbery.
• Bunger — A discolored eye.
• Buried — Convicted; to cheat.
• Burnese — A preparation of cocaine used for snuffing through the nostrils.
• Bust — A burglary (English slang).
• Buster — A burglar's tool; a fighter.
• Britch kick — Pocket of trousers.
• Butt-in — To introduce your company of conversation where it is not wanted.
• Buttoner — One who entices another to play at a game at which cheating rules, such as card and skittle sharping.
• Buzzard — A chief of police; a mean person.

C

• Cadet — An abductor of young girls.
• Cadger — A person who gets a living by trickery or begging.
• Call down — A reprimand.
• Call the turn — Give the name and record of a criminal. When a detective identifies a criminal he is said to have "called the turn" on him.
• Can — Police station, jail, or house of detention.
• Candy kid — A fair-haired boy with women.
• Canister — A watch.
• Cannon — A gun.
• Canuck — A French-Cana•dian.
• Capper — A flatterer; a go-between for gamblers and street fakirs.
• Card or cod — A humorist.
• Card sharp — A confidence man; a swindler at cards.
• Casa — A house (Italian slang).
• Caunfort ladran — Master thief (Irish) same as head of mob.
• Cavan hunter — A gossip or inquisitive person.
• Central Office — Police headquarters, Mulberry St., New York City.
• Charlie Adams — East Cambridge (Mass.) Jail.
• Chalked — Detained in a cell with a chalk mark on the door.
• Chat — A house (French).
• Cheap — Mean; stingy.
• Cheap thief — A scoundrel who steals from church poor boxes.
• Cheesy — Bad.
• Chew — To eat or feed.
• Chew the rag — To talk.
• Chink — A Chinaman ; money.
• Chippy — A young girl.
• Chivy — A face.
• Chuck — Food.
• Chump — A person easily taken advantage of.
• Christmas — A railway guard (English).
• Christening Jack — To erase the original name or number from a stolen watch and substitute one that is fictitious.
• Church hypocrite — A scoundrel who steals while he prays.
• Churching Jack — To take the works from one watch and case them in a nother.
• Cincie — Cincinnati.
• Clam — An easy mark.
• Clouting — Assaulting; stealing from stores at night.
• Cluck — Counterfeit coin.
• Coffin varnish — Bad whiskey.
• Cold feet — To lose courage at the critical moment.
• Cold-hands girl — A woman thief who robs men in doorwavs.
• Cold meat party — A wake.
• Collar — To arrest; an officer.
• Come on — A sucker; a mark.
• Come-back — Vehement complaint, quick detection.
• Coming home — Just released from prison.
• Con — Convict; a convincing tale; a fluent talker; a conductor; a lie.
• Conny — A conductor; a consumptive.
• Cooler — A dark cell.
• Cop — A policeman; to be "copped" is to get arrested; a "fly cop" is a detective; to steal.
• Copper — An informer; a policeman.
• Copper John — Auburn Prison, New York.
• Copped out — Arrested.
• Copping — Stealing.
• Cove — A fellow.
• Cracker — A poor Southerner.
• Crack a case or break a drum — Commit burglary.
• Cracking — Forcing an entrance; speaking; act of striking.
• Crapper — State Prison.
• Creepers — Soft shoes worn by burglars, sneak thieves and pnson guards.
• Creeper — A woman thief who steals from drunken men.
• Crib — A saloon or gambling place; same as Jomt or hang-out.
• Crimp — A runner for sailors' boarding houses.
• Croak — To die; to kill.
• Croaker or crocus — A doctor.
• Crook — A thief; professional criminal crooked work means thieving.
• Crow — The outside thief sentinel.
• Crow-bond — Straw bail.
• Crowley's Anvil — An ignorant blatherskite who slanders people.
• Crush — A crowd; to escape; to force.
• Cush — Money.
• Cuttings — Divisions of spoils.

D

• Daffy — Demented.
• Daisies — Boots (English).
• Damper — Money drawer.
• Damper getter — Thief who robs money drawers.
• Damp powder — A fake agitator.
• Darb — Money.
• Date — An appointment.
• Dead — Reformed; A "dead" criminal is either discouraged or reformed.
• Dead lurk — Entering a dwelling house while the family are at church.
• Dead one — A person who has ceased to be of any use.
• Deck-hand — A domestic.
• Dicer — A hat.
• Dick — A cop, detective (Canadian slang).
• Dinge — A negro.
• Dip — Pickpocket.
• Dipping — Picking pockets.
• Dippy — Crazy.
• Discharge — A member of a mob who discharges himself before an arrest and by so doing avoids liability for his share of "fall money."
• Ditch or be ditched — To get into trouble or to fail at what one has undertaken. To be ditched when riding on a train is to be put off or get locked into a car.
• "Divorced" — A girl who has lost her fellow by a court sentence.
• Doe — An infant.
• Dogged — Followed.
• Doing a bit — Serving a prison sentence.
• Doing their separates — Convicts exercising in the prison yard.
• Donigan — The toilet room; the gent's walk.
• Dope — Opium; picking winners from past performances.
• Dorf — A village.
• Doss — Noun, sleep; (Verb) to sleep.
• Doss-house — Lodging house.
• Double-cross — To betray confidence.
• Doubled-up — Married; paired; two in a room.
• Douse — To extinguish.
• Down and out — In needy circumstances.
• Drag — Horse and wagon; a burglar's tool.
• Dragsman — Baggage and trunk thief.
• Dress-suit burglar — A lobbyist; a high-toned "fixer"; a slippery fellow.
• Dropped — Arrested.
• Drum — A place where ales, wines, and liquors are sold.
• Duck — A tin pail in which beer is carried; a fellow; Deer Island, Boston Harbor.
• Duffer — A name applied in contempt.
• Dump — A prison; railroad transfer or terminal; a lodging house or restaurant; same as "hang-out."
• Durrynacker — A female hawker (German).
• Dust — Money; to run.

E

• Elbow — A "fly cop"; a detective.
• End — The share of successful touches.

F

• Fairy — An effeminate man.
• Fall — An arrest.
• Fallback — Friend in need.
• Fall money — Money used to secure release after arrest.
• Fanning — Locating purse; speaking.
• Fawny man — A pedlar of bogus jewelry.
• Feathers — Bed.
• Fence — A receiver of stolen goods.
• Few — Less than fifteen days.
• Fill in — To become one of a party.
• Fill out — To locate valuables or places worth while to rob; obtaining information through diplomacy.
• Fine as silk — In good condition.
• Fine-wirers — Long fingered moll-buzzers.
• Finif — Five years.
• Finger — An officer.
• Finger — flatty- Same as policeman; bull.
• Finger — prints-A system of hand impressions used by the police to identify criminals.
• Fish oil — Cod-liver oil.
• Fixed — Bribed; injured.
• Fixer — The man who looks after the interests of the man arrested and "squares" the suckers.
• Flagged — When a man is said by criminals to be "flagged" it means that he is allowed to go his way unmolested.
• Flash — To exhibit; gaudy.
• Flat joint — Crooked and disorderly gambling house.
• Flat worker — A housebreaker; a thief who makes a specialty of stealing from dwelling houses.
• Flicker — (noun) — A "faint" (verb) to faint or pretend to faint.
• Flimflam — Stealing with dexterity.
• Flimflam workers — A till-tapper and short change man.
• Flip — Too outspoken.
• Flogger — An overcoat.
• Flogger stiff — Overcoat thief.
• Flowery — A cell (English).
• Flop — An arrest.
• Flop-game — A swindle by means of an exchange of envelopes; the victim getting the empty envelope.
• Flounder — A person from Newfoundland.
• Flush — Plenty of money.
• Fluter — A degenerate.
• Flying Jib — A talkative drunk.
• Flying the blue pigeon — Stealing lead from roofs.
• Four Flusher — One who poses for effect; a braggart and bluff.
• Four string — Four people.
• Frame — up-Manufactured testimony; perjured evidence.
• Freeze — To retain.
• Frisk — A search.
• Fritzer — Not good.
• Front — Watch and chain; good appearance.
• Front office — Police headquarters.

G

• Gab — Talk.
• Gabby — A gossip; a tale bearer.
• Gaff — Mental or physical punishment.
• Gag — Any begging trick.
• Gager — Middle man; person who disposes of stolen goods.
• Galway — A Catholic priest.
• Gall — Unlimited check.
• Gam — Leg (Bum-gam-lame leg).
• Game — Crippled; courageous.
• Garbage joint — A cheap joint.
• Garretting a crib — Entering a house through the roof or attic window.
• Garroter — A robber; a strong-arm man.
• Gash — A fast woman.
• Gassy — Talkative.
• Gas meter — A leather valise.
• Gatt — A revolver.
• Gay cat — An amateur tramp who works when his courage fails him; also one who goes ahead to get information.
• Geez — A fellow.
• General principles — Arresting a man for no reasons.
• Gerver — A safe blower.
• Get away — Successful retreat with plunder.
• Getting by — Living without doing any hard work.
• Ginny — An Italian.
• Given the gate — Ordered to leave town.
• Giving up — Paying for police protection; giving information.
• Glad hand — A handshake without any real friendship behind it.
• Glad-mitt — Warm welcome.
• Glim — A light.
• Goat — Anger; to exasperate,
• Gob — Mouth.
• Going out — Reference to a prisoner's expected release.
• Going snowing — Clothes line thieving.
• Going to the bat — Going to trial.
• Goner — One who has been convicted of crime; dead.
• Good fellow — A thief, man or woman who pays their debts.
• Goose — A Hebrew.
• Gooseberry — A line of clothes.
• Gopher — A safe.
• Gopher man — A safe blower.
• Gorilla — A thief who uses violence in committing crime.
• Gospel Grinder — City Missionary or Bible reader.
• Graft — Something easy.
• Grafting — Stealing.
• Grafter — A pickpocket; a thief.
• Grating a crib — Forcing an entrance through cellar gratings.
• Gravel train — The go-between of lobbyists who buys up legislators.
• Grease — To pay for protection.
• Greaser — An Italian or Mexican.
• Greasy — coat thieves-Vagrant pickpockets who steal for beer money.
• Green goods man — One who sells worthless securities to farmers and swindles poor people.
• Griddler — An English street singer.
• Grifter — Sure thing man with a circus.
• Grub — Food.
• Grubber — Beggar.
• Guff — Senseless talk.
• Gull — Victim of thieves.
• Gully mine — A skin promoter who fleeces poor people.
• Gummers — Suspenders; soft or rubber shoes worn by sneak thieves.
• Gumshoe worker — A private detective; a spotter.
• Gun — A clever thief; a pickpocket who does not use force.
• Gun maker — A Fagin; an instructor of young thieves.
• Gun moll — A woman thief.
• Gunner — An Irishman from Galway.
• Gunning — On the lookout.
• Guy — A fellow; too familiar; cheeky.

H

• Half stretch — Six months.
• Halter — Hangman's noose.
• Hard stuff — Gold or silver money.
• Harnessed box — Safe with steel bars and levers covering the front.
• Harness bull — An officer in uniform.
• Harp — An Irishman.
• Hash slinger — Restaurant waiter.
• Heeled — Armed; having plenty of money.
• Heeler — A politician in a small way-a toady; a bouncer.
• Heifer — A woman.
• Hepp to — Wise to anything.
• Herring — A person from the British provinces.
• Hinky Dink — Clark street, Chicago.
• Hipped — At a disadvantage; stranded ; needy.
• Hitting the road — Travelling.
• Hitting the pipe — Smoking opium.
• Hitting the pots — Excessive drinking.
• Hixer, Hiney — A German.
• Hobo — A tramp.
• Hock — To pawn; pawnbroker's office.
• Hog — A greedy person.
• Hoister or hyster — A shoplifter; express wagon thief.
• Holler — The plaint of a victim.
• Honey — A colored person.
• Hoof — The foot.
• Hooligan — An English hoodlum.
• Hoop — A ring.
• Hop — Opium.
• Hops — Tea.
• Hoppy — A cripple.
• Hoppers — Hotel bell boys.
• Hop joint — Place where opium is smoked.
• Hoptalk — Drawing the long bow; bragging.
• Hot air — Senseless talk.
• Hot foot — Running.
• Hounded — Persecuted.
• Hours — Time given a convict or suspected person to leave town.
• House prowling — A flat-worker surveying the locality.
• Houseman — A burglar.
• Hunk — Revenge.
• Hustler — A nightwalker.
• Hustling — Nightwalking.

I

• Icy mitt — The shake from your best girl.
• Ice tong doctor — An illegal practitioner of medicine.
• Incorrigible rogue — Same as vagabond.
• In for a vamp — Convicted of thieving.
• In hospital — In jail.
• In Lavender — Hidden from the police.
• In quod — In jail.
• In limbo — Doing time.
• Ink pot — Resort for low characters.
• In right — A man getting an easy living by political methods.
• Irish club house — Police station.
• Irish slum — Cheap jewelry that turns green.

J

• Jabber — Prize-fighter; talking.
• Jail arithmetic — Making up a false list of expenses to conceal an embezzlement.
• Jagged — Intoxicated.
• Jap — A colored person.
• Jar — Surprise.
• Jeans — Trousers.
• Jerried — Hurt; injured.
• Jersey lightning — Bad whiskey.
• Jilters — Hotel lurkers or prowlers.
• Jimmy — A burglar's tool; a chisel with a bend on the j end.
• Jim Crow car — A car used exclusively for colored people.
• Job a man — An unjust conviction.
• Joey — English religious convicts.
• Jobbed — Convicted by perjured testimony; persecuted.
• Jockey — Horse thief.
• John Bates — A sucker.
• John O'Brien — A railroad train.
• Johnnie — A person who enjoys himself in the company of ballet girls.
• John Yegg — Safeblower who travels in the disguise of a tramp.
• Joint — Meeting house for thieves; a dive; place where opium is smoked.
• Jollier — A flatterer.
• Jolly — To flatter.
• Jolt — A severe sentence.
• Josh — A countryman.
• Joskin — A green countryman.
• Jug — A lockup; the bank where the money can be found.
• Jugged — Arrested.
• Jungle — A prison.
• Jumping a crib — Forcing entrance by a window.
• Jungles — Woods or brush just outside a city.
• Junk — Plated jewelry.

K

• Keister — A grip or bag.
• Kelley pool — A swindling pool game.
• Kettle — A watch.
• Kick — To complain.
• Kicks — Shoes.
• Kid — An infant; to joke.
• Kidsman — A trainer of young thieves.
• Kidder — A joker.
• Kike — A no-good Jew thief.
• Kip — A lodging house.
• Kisser — The mouth; the face.
• Kirk — A church.
• Kite — An immoral woman.
• Knob — The head.
• Knock — Speak ill; also means to squeal.
• Knocker — One who speaks ill of another.
• Knockout drops — Drugs used to stupefy.

L

• Lady Green — English prison chaplain.
• Lagged — Settled; transported to penal servitude.
• Lam — To run.
• Lamaster — Fugitive from justice; one who forfeits bail bonds.
• Laying out — Assaulting.
• Laying paper — Passing worthless checks.
• Law ghost — A lawyer who seldom appears in court, but makes a specialty of preparing cases for trial; looking up law, etc.
• Leather — A purse.
• Leery — Afraid.
• Lemon game — Defrauding a sucker at a pool game.
• Life boat — A pardon (western slang).
• Lifter — A shoplifter.
• Lobster — A dupe; slow person.
• Lost a man — The arrest of a member of a mob while in the act of making a touch.
• Lost his nerve — A crook whose courage has failed him.
• Lover — A man who receives support from a fallen woman; a pimp.
• Louse house — Lodging house.
• Lush toucher — A scamp who robs intoxicated people; on the "Mary Ellen."

M

• Mack — A lover.
• Madame — The keeper of a disorderly house or flat.
• Main bull — Chief of detectives.
• Main guy — Head person.
• Main squeeze — A head fellow.
• Main stem — Head person; principal street.
• Making a get away — Escaping.
• Making a boast — Being released by order of the parole board.
• Make one — Identify a person.
• Mark — Easy to victimize.
• Marks or credits — The system of registering a prisoner's behavior.
• Mashed — Assaulted; fascinated.
• Masher — A loafer who annoys women by his attentions.
• Measured — Struck; Bertillon system of measurements; to stare.
• Meet — An appointed place for thieves to see each other.
• Mick — An Irishman.
• Mission stiff — Missionary; a convert.
• Mitt — Hand.
• Mixed ale oration — A cheap political harangue containing bad grammar.
• Mixed ale philosopher — A drunken know it all.
• Mixup — A fight.
• Mob — A gang of pickpockets; this consists of four or five members.
• Mobbed — Assaulted by a number of people.
• Moll — A woman.
• Moll-buzzer — A thief who steals from women.
• Molly — A prostitute.
• Monica — A person's name.
• Moonlighter — A midnight prowler (Irish).
• Moonshiner — An illicit whiskey distiller.
• Mouthpiece — A lawyer.
• Mug — The face; policeman; fellow; to strangle.
• Mugged — Photographed.
• Mum — Silent.
• Mush — An umbrella.
• Muss — A fight.
• Musser — A fighter; a bully.

N

• Nabbed, nipped — Arrested.
• Nancy — An effiminate man.
• Nerver — A fellow who gets by at places of amusement without paying.
• Nick — To make a touch.
• Nifty — Too familiar.
• Nippers — Handcuffs.
• Nobbler — A thimbler; rigger's confederate.
• Notch house — A house of ill-repute.
• Notch moll — A female inmate of a house of ill-repute.
• Nuck — A thief.
• Nut — The head.
• Nutty — Insane.

O

• Office man — Headquarters detective.
• Old man — Head person.
• On the cross — Living by crooked work.
• On the heel — Till-tapping; store thieving; (high heel); begging.
• On the hog — No good.
• On the "Mary Ellen" — Lush touching.
• On the shallow — Going about half naked to excite pity.
• On the turf — Needy; a night walker.
• Out on the gun — Stealing.
• Out on the spud — Green goods man.

P

• Pad money — Money used for lodgings.
• Paddy — Padlock.
• Paddle — A strap; to beat with a strap.
• Palmer — Thief who secretes himself while a confederate distracts attention.
• Panel-worker — A thief who steals by the aid of a female decoy companion.
• Panhandler — A beggar; panhandler's heaven, Boston, Mass.
• Parole — Released from prison; not a pardon.
• Paup — Pauper.
• Peeler — A cop (Irish slang) .
• Pen — The penitentiary.
• Pennyweighters — Jewelry thieves.
• Pete — A safe.
• Peterman or box man — A safe blower.
• Peteman — A safe blower.
• Peter — Knockout drops; a safe.
• Peter thrower — One who steals by use of knockout drops.
• Peach — To inform against another.
• Phony-monica — A false name.
• Pickup — An arrest followed by no charge of crime.
• Picked up — Arrested.
• Pie wagon — Patrol wagon.
• Pig — A prisoner who reports on others; a stool pigeon.
• Pinch a bob — Rob a till.
• Pigging — Deserting.
• Pinched — Arrested.
• Piker — A lounger; a hobo; a busybody.
• Pipe — Something easy; a person under the influence of intoxicants; to look.
• Planted — Buried; a place or person marked for plunder.
• Play safe — A cowardly thief; runs no risks.
• Plug — A fellow; a horse.
• Plugger — Energetic worker.
• Poke — A purse.
• Poke a moke — Policy game.
  • Dream book — A fortune teller's book used by policy players.
  • Dreams about —
  • Fire — 6-46--69.
  • Fox — 4-7-11.
  • Funeral — 3-5-11-29.
  • Gold — 63-74.
  • Murder — 7-13-20.
  • Hunting — 14-37-61.
  • Rains — 43-45.
  • Spiders — 54-75.
  • Gig — 3 numbers and pays $200 to $1.
  • Horse — 4 numbers and if played in both ballots pays $500 to $1.
  • Slip — The printed list of winning numbers.
  • 1st points — First station.
  • 2nd points — Second station.
  • Capital saddle stations — Pays $400 to $1.
  • First station — The first three (3) numbers on the slips.
  • Capital saddle — Two numbers played to come out in the first three, if played for "1st station."
• Poke of leather — A pocket-book.
• Pogie — A county jail or workhouse.
• Pork Dump — Clinton Prison, New York.
• Porch climbers — Second story house workers.
• Political pauper — Person holding office under a political government.
• Poteen — Irish whiskey.
• Pound the air — To sleep.
• Pratt digging — Stealing from the hip pocket.
• Pratt-leather — A pocketbook in the hip pocket.
• Prop getters — Thieves who make a specialty of lifting scarf pins.
• Provers — Professional witnesses; fake alibi swearers.
• Prussian — A tramp who has a boy to beg for him.
• Psychological moment — The right time to accomplish anything.
• Puff — Explosive powder; to laud.
• Puffer — One who speaks well of another.
• Punk Kid — A boy who begs and panhandles for yeggmen.
• Punk — Bread; a pervert.
• Push — Associates; a crowd.

Q

• Quality gentleman — A gentleman by birth and education.
• Queer — Counterfeit money; insane.
• Queered — Disappointed.
• Queer screens — Forged bank notes.

R

• Rag — A flag; paper money.
• Rank — Vile.
• Rap — A complaint; charged with committing crime; to prosecute.
• Rapper — Prosecutor; complainant.
• Raspberry — Heart (English).
• Rat — A prisoner who steals from another; stool pigeons; a squealer or holder out who refuses to pay share of fall money.
• Rattler — A car.
• Reader — A warrant.
• Red neck — Union man (generally means thief carrying union card for a stall).
• Reef a leather — Means raising the lining of a pocket in which the pickpocket has located a book—a most clifficult undertaking.
• Rep — Reputation.
• Right — A person to be trusted; a friend.
• Right — screws-Crooked prison officers.
• Ringer — A substitute; a bell; to look like another.
• Rip — To steal with impunity.
• Rocks — Money; diamonds.
• Rod — Revolver.
• Roll — Bundle of money.
• Room — Cell.
• Rounding — Betraying.
• Rounding to — Coming to.
• Rough Neck — Honest laborer.
• Roust — To jostle.
• Roust about — A person out of employment and whose means of existence is precarious.
• Rozzer — A policeman; bobby.
• Rubberneck — An inquisitive person.
• Rube — A hoosier; a farmer; an employee of a circus.
• Rung themselves — Thieves frightened off; abandonment of plunder.
• Run in — Arrested.
• Runner — Messenger.
• Rustler — A horse thief.

S

• Sails — Ears; sailing, listening.
• Salve — Getting on the right side of the arresting officer. (Western slang).
• Salt box — Condemned cell.
• Salt creek — Electric chair.
• Sawdust — Dynamite.
• Scotland Yard — Police headquarters, London, England.
• Scoff — A vivacious eater.
• Scoot — To run.
• Scrap — A fight.
• Scratcher — A forget.
• Scratch man — A forger or floater of bad commercial paper.
• Screw — Prison turnkey.
• Scroby or claws for breakfast — Whipping in prison.
• Scrub gang — The sanitary squad of a pnson.
• Set-down — A square meal.
• Settled — In prison; convicted.
• Shack — A brakeman; same as "shag."
• Shaming pusher — A prize-fighter.
• Shark — A money lender.
• Shark hunter — A thief on the lookout for drunken men.
• Shake-down — Paying for protection against your will.
• Sheeny — A mean person; a Hebrew.
• Shine — A colored person.
• Shin scraper — Prison tread' mill.
• Shiner — A discolored eye.
• Shinny mark — Mean, suspicious person.
• Shoful — Bad money (Dutch.)
• Shover — One who passes bad money; a gang.
• Show yellow — A thief running away; a coward.
• Shoneen — An Irish upstart.
• Shyster — No good; very bad lawyer.
• Sinkers — Doughnuts; bad money.
• Sixer — Six months.
• Sky — The pocket (Dutch).
• Sky pilot — Minister of the gospel.
• Skunk — Mean person.
• Sky blue — Vegetable soup.
• Slab — Tray; slice of anything.
• Slang — A watch chain.
• Slats — The ribs.
• Slavery — A servant.
• Sleepy Hollow — Trenton, N. J., prison.
• Slingo the lingo — Holdmg a conversation m slang.
• Slough workers — Country house breakers.
• Slug — To fight.
• Slum — False jewelry.
• Slush up — To have a drink.
• Smart fellow — A thief who makes good hauls and ·escapes arrest.
• Smasher — A passer of counterfeit coins.
• Smeller — The nose.
• Smoking iron — Pistol.
• Sneezed — Arrested.
• Snide — Mean; not genuine.
• Snitch — To inform on a pal.
• Snout — Tobacco.
• So so — Fairly well; good-by.
• Soak — To assault: to pledge.
• Soaking — Assaulting; placing in pawn.
• Sound a man — To touch the outside of a man's pocket to get an idea where his valuables are located.
• Soup — Nitro-glycerine.
• Souper — A fellow who works the churches to advance himself; an insincere convict.
• Spark — Diamond.
• Speak easy — Kitchen bar-room.
• Spelling — Talking, waltzing.
• Spellbinder — A political stump speaker.
• Spill — Terminus and transfer station of a railroad.
• Spliced — Married.
• Split — Division of spoils.
• Sponging — Toadying.
• Spouter — A fluent speaker.
• Spot — A term in prison; one spot means a sentence of one year.
• Spring a man — To bail a man out who is under arrest.
• Square it — To give up grafting.
• Squaring it — Reforming; repairing a loss.
• Square the sucker — Pay back what was stolen.
• Square head — A Swede.
• Squealer — An informer.
• Staking — Assisting; giving.
• Stall — Pickpocket's companion; accomplice.
• Stalling for the dip — Assisting the tool of pickpockets in arranging victims so that they can be successfully robbed.
• Stand pat — To be firm.
• Star Boarder or lodger — A boarder or lodger in good financial star{ding who has all the privileges of a husband.
• Starring the glaze — Breaking a square of glass.
• State — Tobacco furnished by the State.
• Steamed grub — Prison fare.
• Steel — Coldbath Fields Prison, England.
• Stem — An opium pipe.
• Steer — To mislead by false information; to pilot.
• Steerer — A pilot for a band of thieves.
• Stick — Not to part company; a match.
• Stick and slug — Stick together and fight.
• Stickers — Postage stamps; prisoners' friends.
• Stiff — A corpse; a no good.
• Stir — A prison.
• Stir crazy — A man whose mind has become affected by serving long sentences.
• Stone — Diamond; the latest is "rock."
• Stone-getter — A thief who steals diamonds or oth er precious stones from the person.
• Stone jug — A police barracks in Great Britain.
• Stood up — Placing in line for identification.
• Stood out — Reported for infraction of prison rules.
• Stool-pigeon — A thief in the pay of the police.
• Stowed away — Heeler placed on a padded payroll.
• Strong arm man — A hold-up man: robber or thief ' using violence; highwayman.
• Stretch — One year.
• Stuck — To lose; fascinated.
• Student — An educated political heeler living off a padded city payroll.
• Stuff — Something of value; a coward or braggart.
• Sucker — Victim of thieves.
• Suds — Beer.
• Super — A watch.
• Super-twister — Watch pickpocket.
• Sure thing gambler — A character who bets with: suckers at race-tracks and steals himself when he is broke.
• Swag — A bundle; stolen goods ; plunder other than cash, such as silk, jewelry, etc.
• Sweat-box — A prisoner is put in the sweat-box when. he is brought to headquarters and brow-beaten by the police to make him divulge secrets in his possession. (In New York this is called the third degree).
• Swell booster — A successful female shoplifter.
• Swell mob — Expert pickpockets able to hire firstclass legal talent.
• Swell mouthpiece — A first-class lawyer.
• Swig — To drink.
• Swipe — To steal; to assault.
• Switching — Transferring; passing from one to an-· other.

T

• Tabs — To keep in touch.
• Tad — An Irishman.
• Tailed — The action of a detective shadowing his man.
• Tail piece — Three months in jail.
• Tall English — The English used by an educated. person.
• Tank — Heavy drinker.
• Tart — Girl.
• Terrier — An Irishman.
• Thimble — A watch.
• Thimble — rigger-An Irish swindler who fleeces you at the shell game.
• Third rail — Pickpocket caught on a railroad train. (Western slang.)
• Thrown down — Betrayed; deserted.
• The dope — Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
• Ticket — A warrant.
• Ticket of leave — Release from prison.
• Tier — A row of cells.
• Tinker — A bungler.
• Tip your mit off — Give yourself away.
• Tip — Advance knowledge; a gift.
• Title-tapper — One who raises money on forged deeds.
• Toadskins — Paper money.
• Toaster — A person who refuses to work.
• To cut up — To divide.
• Togs — Clothing.
• Tommy — A girl or woman.
• Tommy buster — Woman beater.
• Tool — The member of a pickpocket mob who pinches the roll; instrument.
• Touch — To steal; a theft.
• Touched — A man has been touched when the tool has got his leather or pocket-book.
• Tout — One who gives knowledge in advance.
• Track 13 and a washout — A life sentence in a west. :rn penitentiary. (Western slang).
• Trick — A theft.
• Trimmer — A fell ow who is always with the winner.
• Trolley — Wire or string used in passing papers, etc., from cell to cell.
• Trusty — A prison stool-pigeon: a convict who carries tales to prison officers.
• Tub — A large glass of beer.
• Tumble or rumble — The victim gets wise; unsuccessful and interrupted theft.
• Turned out — A man discharged from arrest and put on the street.
• Turning a trick — Accomplishing a theft.
• Turnip — A gold watch.
• Twist — A waltz; to snap the ring of a watch.
• Twisting — Stealing.
• Twisting for sparks — Stealing diamond rings.
• Twisting for fawnies — Stealing wedding rings.

U

• Uncle — Pawnbroker.
• Under cover — Hiding.
• Underground wires — The necessary details in procuring release of a man under arrest.
• Unfortunate — Arrested, tried and convicted (English, slang).
• Unslough — To open; to unbutton.
• Up the river — Sing Sing prison.

V

• Vag — A vagrant.
• Vagged — Committed to prison as a vagrant.
• Valentine — A jail sentence of a short term.
• Vermont Charity — Sympathy.
• Vestry thief — A con man who fleeces church members.

W

• Weed — To cheat; tobacco.
• Weeping villain — Playing gammon in prison; enlisting services and sympathy to obtain pardon or parole.
• Weinie — A loaf of bread.
• Welcher — Twisting; a squealer on bets.
• Wharf-rat — A character who hangs around the water front, steals from vessels and robs drunken sailors.
• Whip-sawed — Defeated at all points.
• Whiskey tenor — A bad soloist; cracked voice.
• White-line — An alcohol drinker.
• White stuff — Morphine.
• Whop — Less than thirty days and more than fifteen days' imprisonment.
• Willie-boy — An effeminate man, submerged manhood.
• Window — Spectacles.
• Windy — Loquacious; gabby.
• Wind jammer — A talkative person.
• Wing — A section of a prison.
• Wingy — A person with one arm.
• Wipe — A handkerchief.
• Wire — One who steals the pocketbook.
• Wire-tapper — A confidence man; swindler.
• Wise — Having an intelligent idea of what is going on in your immediate vicinity.
• Wiseman — A person having the appearance of an officer.
• Wood — A policeman's billy.
• Woody — To grow mad; insane.
• Wop — An Italian.
• Working — Stealing.
• Wrong — A man too familiar with police; not to be trusted.

Y

• Yap — An easy mark; a victim.
• Yeggman — This type of character breaks into country post-offices and country stores, and uses dynamite to blow open safes. He will not hesitate to take human life the moment he is cornered or threatened with arrest. (Recruited mostly from broken-down freight brakemen).

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