yegg

1904, Edwin S. Porter (director), Capture of the ‘Yegg’ Bank Burglars

She was frankly disappointed. For some reason she had expected to discover a burglar of one or another accepted type—either a dashing cracksman in full-blown evening dress, lithe, polished, pantherish, or a common yegg, a red-eyed, unshaven, burly brute in the rags and tatters of a tramp.

1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter III (Accessory After the Fact), page 382, column 2:

‘These racketeers are a new type. We think about them the way we think about old time yeggs or needled-up punks.’

1940, Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely, Penguin, published 2010, page 265:

(cant, slang) A person who breaks open safes; a burglar.

kasař

a person who breaks open safes; a burglar


cousin

The noun is derived from Middle English cosin, cosine, cosyn (“blood relative, kinsman or kinswoman; any relative; nephew or niece; first cousin; grandson or granddaughter; descendant; godchild or godparent, or a relative of a godchild or godparent; (figurative) closely related or similar thing”) [and other forms], and then:
* from Anglo-Norman cosen, cosin [and other forms], Middle French cosin, and Old French cosin (“collateral male relative more distant than one’s brother; form of address used by a monarch to male monarchs or nobles”) [and other forms] (modern French cousin); and
* from Anglo-Norman cosine, Middle French cosine, and Old French cosine (“collateral female relative more distant than one’s sister; form of address used by a monarch to female monarchs or nobles”) [and other forms] (modern French cousine),
from Latin cōnsobrīnus (“maternal cousin; first cousin; relation”) (possibly through Vulgar Latin *cōsuīnus, from *cōsobīnus), from con- (prefix denoting a bringing together of several objects) + sobrīnus (“maternal cousin; sister’s son; any nephew”) (from a noun use of Proto-Italic *swezrīnos (“of or belonging to a sister”, adjective) (with the first syllable influenced by Latin soror (“sister”)), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swésōr (“sister”), possibly from *swé (“self”) + *h₁ésh₂r̥ (“blood”) (that is, a woman of one’s own blood) or *-sōr (feminine suffix)).
The verb is derived from the noun.

nb...

coosin, cosen, coseyn, cosigne, cosing, cossen, cossin, cossigne, cossine, cossyn, cossyne, cosyne, cosynne, cousin, cousine, cousyn, cozyn, cusin, cusine, cussyn, cusyn, kosen, kosin, kosyn

ܚܸܙܡܵܐ

any relation (especially a distant one) who is not a direct ancestor or descendant but part of a person’s extended family

neef

child of a person’s parent’s brother or sister

従兄妹

older male cousin and younger female cousin

従姉弟

older female cousin and younger male cousin

taina

younger male cousin of a male or younger female cousin of a female

aacaz

son of a female’s parent’s younger sibling

cousins

American or British intelligence services

Viola Svvagger vvorſe then a Lieutenant among freſhvvater ſouldiers, call me your loue, your ingle, your coſen, or ſo; but ſiſter at no hand. / Fuſt[igo]. No, no, it ſhall be cozen, or rather cuz that's the gulling vvord betvveene the Cittizens vviues and their old dames, that man em to the garden; […] [W]hy ſiſter do you thinke I'le cunny-catch you, vvhen you are my cozen?

1604 (date written), Tho[mas] Dekker, [Thomas Middleton], The Honest Whore. […] (4th quarto), London: […] Nicholas Okes for Robert Basse, […], published 1616, →OCLC, Act I, signatures B, verso – B2, recto:

(cant) A female sexual partner who is not a person's wife; specifically, a prostitute.

[I]f a plaine fellow well and cleanely apparelled, either in home-ſpun ruſſet or freeze (as the ſeaſon requires) with a five pouch at his girdle, happen to appeare in his ruſticall likenes: there is a Cozen ſaies one, At which word out flies the Taker, and thus giues the onſet vpon my olde Pennyfather.

1608, [Thomas Dekker], “Of Barnards Law”, in The Belman of London. […], London: […] [Edward Allde and Nicholas Okes] for Nathaniel Butter, →OCLC, signature F, verso:

(cant) A person who is swindled; a dupe.


badger

From Middle English bageard (“marked by a badge”), from bage (“badge”), referring to the animal's badge-like white blaze, equivalent to badge + -ard. Displaced earlier brock, from Old English brocc.

inh

(in the plural, obsolete, cant) A gang of robbers who robbed near rivers, into which they threw the bodies of those they murdered.


soup

en-noun

soup (countable and uncountable, plural soups)

soups (plural)
soop (alternative obsolete)

→ Tamil: சூப் (cūp)

→ Thai: ซุป (súp)

Wikiquote
The noun is from Middle English soupe, sowpe, from Old French soupe, souppe, sope, from Late Latin suppa (“sopped bread”), from Proto-Germanic *supô (compare Middle Dutch sope (“broth”)). Doublet of sop and zuppa. See also sup and supper.
The verb is from the noun.

[…]who lounged hungry and lonesome through Houston seeking jazz or sex or soup[…]

1956, Allen Ginsberg, “Howl”, in Howl and Other Poems (Pocket Poets Series), City Lights Books, →OCLC, page 11:

(figuratively) Any mixture or substance suggestive of soup consistency.


whack

Uncertain. Originally Scottish; probably onomatopoeic, but compare Middle English thakken, from Old English þaccian (whence Modern thwack by conflation with whack). Sense 6 of the verb is likely a semantic loan from Malay hentam (“to strike; to do something carelessly”).

sl

I don’t care about much wine afterwards—I take my whack at dinner—I mean my share, you know; and when I have had as much as I want I toddle up to tea.

1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 39, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

“It’s damned tame, whatever it is, comin’ in here at feedin’ time an’ gettin’ its whack of fish.”

1906 May–October, Jack London, chapter 2, in White Fang, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published October 1906, →OCLC, part 1 (The Wild), page 16:

“[…] O'Cannon's a taxpayer. He pays his whack towards the upkeep of the State School up in town—”

1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter VII, in Capricornia, New York: Appleton, page 108:

For one thing I had a splendid supper when I got on board—a whack of cold, lean beef and pighells, bread, butter ad lib., tea, and plenty of good bread.

1951, Katherine Mansfield, Letters to John Middleton Murry, 1913-1922:

There were problems over the installation of the engine and the handling. The team had paid top whack for the two Coopers, but the company gave them no help at all.

2014, Anthony Pritchard, Grand Prix Ferrari, page 203:

(originally UK cant, somewhat dated) A share, a portion, especially a full share or large portion.


souped-up

en-adj

souped-up (comparative more souped-up, superlative most souped-up)

more souped-up (comparative)
most souped-up (superlative)
souped (alternative)
souped up (alternative)
suped-up (alternative)

Uncertain; the fact that the earlier senses seem to be the horse racing cant and United States Navy slang ones suggests a derivation from soup (“liquid food item”), connoting a horse or a person being filled with a liquid.
Alternatively, it has been suggested that the term is a modified clipping of supe(r), with reference to an aeroplane or automobile engine being supercharged: see, for example, the 1925 quotation. This sense appears to post-date the horse-racing and navy slang senses.

(horse racing, cant) Of a racehorse: injected with a substance to make it run faster or to change its temperament.

napumpan

of a racehorse: injected with a substance to make it run faster


bandog

bandogs (plural)
band-dog (alternative)
ban dog (alternative)

(obsolete, slang, cant) A bailiff or prison guard.


toge

From Middle English toge, from Middle French toge and Latin toga. Doublet of toga and tog.


togemans

togemans (plural)
togeman (alternative)
togman (alternative)
togmans (alternative)


St Giles' Greek

The term comes from the St Giles' area of present-day central London which, during the 17th and 18th centuries, was notorious as a refuge for thieves and other criminals.

(cant) A secret language, as spoken by beggars and thieves.


yeggman

1915, W. M. McCarty, practically every thug, yeggman and ex-convict in the land:

(cant, slang) A person who breaks open safes, a burglar; a yegg.


tosher

From 19th-century British thieves' cant tosh (“copper; items made of copper”) + -er (“one who uses or acquires”).

Toshers, men who steal copper from ships' bottoms in the Thames.

1859, J.C. Hotten, A dictionary of modern slang, cant, and vulgar words used at the present day, preceded by a history of cant and vulgar language, with glossaries of two secret languages, by a London antiquary:

(historical, cant) A thief who steals the copper siding from the bottoms of vessels, particularly in or along the Thames.


bawdy basket

(obsolete, cant) A peddler of obscene books and other small items.


buntlings

"Our pretty Ann wears fine main buntlings no less, and will you take notice of the fineness of the lace! I have nothing better myself. What do you say, Roger, shall we take this along and let it flutter from our masthead?"

1947, Thomas B. Costain, textsFor my great folly, page 25:

On deck, for practice, Tom and his messmates, the foc'slmen, had taught Cotterell with a bit of canvas to hand the leech of sails, "like lifting a girl's buntlings", then to reef them to the boatswain's or his mate's orders.

2008, Tom Bowling, The antigallican, large print edition, page 92:


preferment-hunting

(obsolete, cant) The practice of sycophancy as a means to make money.