50 Regency Words & Phrases

Our own Widow Black of Widow Black's Coffeehouse has assembled several interesting lists and articles that she has graciously allowed me to share with you, fair reader. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have. She posts these, I believe to better prepare her publick for her coming event. You may find the invitation to said event, as well as the articles in question, below.

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25 Regency Words & Phrases You Might Already Know...

1. Aground: stuck fast, stopped, at a loss.
2. Birds of a feather: rogues of the same gang.
3. Chap: a fellow.
4. Dumb-founded: silenced, also soundly beaten.
5. Elbow grease: labor.
6. Foul-mouthed: abusive.
7. Gambler: a sharper, a tricking gamester.
8. Hodge podge: an irregular mixture of numerous things.
9. Inching: encroaching.
10. Jack Tar: a sailor.
11. kick the bucket: to die.
12. Leak: to make water, to piss.
13. Mum: an interjection directing silence.
14. Just in the nick of time: right at the critical moment.
15. Old hand: knowing or expert in any business.
16. Partial: inclining more to one side than the other; crooked.
17. Quartered: divided into four parts.'
18. Rank: stinking, rammish, ill-flavored.
19. To smash: to break, also to kick down stairs.
20. Tit for tat: an equivalent.
21. Urchin: a child, a little fellow.
22. Valentine: the first woman or man seen by the other on St. Valentine's Day.
23. To wet ones whistle: to drink.
24. Yelp: to cry out.
25. Zany: a jester.

Collected from 'A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue', Francis Grose, 1796.


25 Regency Words & Phrases You Should Learn!

1. All-a-gog: anxious, eager, impatient.
2. Bedfordshire: I'm for Bedfordshire, ie going to bed.
3. Church Work: said of any work that advances slowly.
4. Down Hills: dice that run low.
5. Eternity Box: a coffin.
6. To Fire a Slug: to drink a dram.
7. Gentleman of Three Outs: a man without money, wit or manners.
8. Hempen Fever: a man who was hanged is said to have died the hempen fever.
9. Idea Pot: the Knowledge box; the head
10. Jackenapes: an ape; a pert, ugly little fellow
11. Knot: a crew, gang or fraternity
12. To Laugh on the Wrong Side of the Mouth: to cry
13. A Mint of Money: a large sum of gold
14. None-such: one that is unequaled; frequently applied ironically
15. Odd-come-shortly: I'll do it one of these odd-come-shortlys; I'll do it sometime or another.
16. Pell-mell: tumultuously, helter skelter, jumbled together
17. To Quash: to suppress, annul or overthrow
18. To Lie Rough: roughing it; to lie all night in one's clothes
19. Scrip: a scrap or slip of paper.1.
20. Tow Row: a grenadier.
21. Uppish: testy, apt to take offense.
22. Vain Glorious: one who boasts without reason.
23. Whids: words
24. To Look Yellow: to be jealous
25. Zounds: an exclamation, an abbreviation of God's wounds.

Collected from _A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue_, Francis Grose, 1796.