Courtesy of The Institute of Edwardian Studies, Askew’s Glossary of Victorian Colonial Terminology, Vita Sackville-West’s The Edwardians and Ronald Pearsall’s Edwardian Life and Leisure.
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
A
ague – Any fever, such as malaria, that recurs at regular intervals (from Medieval Latin febris acuta, literally, sharp fever)
ammunitions – Boots (later usage)
B
baize – a coarse, woolen material resembling felt
balmy on the crumpet – crazy, insane
barnbrack (barmbrack) – a spice cake-like bread usually made with currants
beef, beer, and lust – What British civilians thought British soldiers were too full of.
beer, bum, and bacca – Pleasures of the sailor’s life, circa 1870, “bacca” being tobacco.
blackavised – dark faced, to have a dark complexion, swarthy
black death – The plague. A virulent contagious bacteria often found in rats. Humans can get the disease from fleas.
black water fever – A type of African malaria that causes anemia and brown or black urine due to the destruction of red blood cells.
blimey – From Gorblimey!, meaning “God blind me”
blottesque – blotted or blotchy
blotto – drunk
blue devils – to feel sad or depressed, to be in low spirits. e.g., I had the blue devils after losing the game.
blue jacket – British sailor
BOR – British Other Ranks, non-officers
box coat – a large, loose-fitting overcoat worn by coachmen
brew – Tea
brevet – A temporary higher rank, for example, a captain being a brevet colonel. It was not unusual for British colonial officers on loan to another regiment to be temporarily classed as a higher rank in that regiment but to paid for the lesser rank of their actual regiment. (Old French, diminutive of brief letter)
brick – good sort, good sport
brolly – Umbrella, circa 1873
broomsquire – a professional broom maker
buck – a dandy, a smartly dressed or handsome individual
buffer – old man, old codger
bunk – to tell someone angrily to go away–scram!; to dash or sprint away (“done the bunk”–to escape, run out on [something/one])
bun strangler – Non-drinker
C
cabinet particulier – a private room, usually associated with a restaurant and having a sofa or hidden bed, set aside for trysts by lovers and those having extra-marital affairs
Cardigan – an artilleryman from the Cardigan regiment of the Royal Garrison Artillery reserves
caravan – Travelers on a journey through hostile regions (Italian caravana, from Persian karwan).
carry the banner – tramp
catarrh – An inflammation of the nose and air passages that produces drainage (from Greek katarrhein to flow down).
char – Tea. (Hindustani char)
charpoy – A bed, frame strung with tapes or light rope (Hindustani carpai)
cheeking – taunting or jeering at
cheese it – stop!, stop it!, look out!
chit – derogatory term for a small or frail woman
cicerone – a sightseeing guide
cinematrograph – Early motion pictures c. 1900. Also known as viagraph or bioscope.
cheroot – Cigar (from Tamil, curuttu, roll. [About 1679])
cholera belt – A body wrapping of flannel worn to supposedly prevent cholera. Used in India until about 1920.
chota peg – Small drink, a gin and tonic
chota wallah – Little guy
class regiment Indian Army regiment whose members were all recruited from one ethnic group such as Sikhs, Gurkhas, etc.
clemming – consumptive, emaciated; necessitous, in want, pinched; in shoemaking, the binding together of soles
clergyman’s daughter – slang for a prostitute or woman with loose morals
clobber – Uniform, clothing
cockchafer – the beetle Melolontha melolontha
college – Prison (as in, “I’ve been to college.”)
contango – A technical term from the British Stock Exchange referring to the postponing of a transfer of stock. More colloquially, it refers to the last day to negotiate a financial arrangement before accounts are settled. In slang, it refers to the day of reckoning or the last judgement.
Corner – to corner the market on something, to gain a monopoly
cozy corner – an arrangement of built-in seats situated in a room’s corner or next to a fireplace
consumption – Pulmonary tuberculosis or any other wasting-away disease that “consumed” its victims.
crammer – a person who helps students cram (intensively study) for examinations
crack up – talk up, praise, laud
Crikey – an exclamation equivalent to Oh My! or Well Then!
croaker – A dying person, a corpse, or someone who has given up; doomsayer, complainer
cropper (come a cropper) – a hard fall (esp. from a horse); usually used in “come a cropper,” meaning to come to ruin or to fail miserably
crossing – a fight, especially a clandestine prize fight
cushy – Easy (Hindi khush pleasant, from Persian khush [1915])
cut it or cutting it – escape, take off, take a vacation
D
daisy-roots – Boots
dead-and-alive – dead quiet, dull, sleepy
deevie – divine
dekko – To take a look (Hindi, deckna, to look)
dhobi wallah – Indian who did the washing
dhoolie wallah – Indian dhoolie carrier
D. O. – British District Officer
doggo – To lie doggo, to hide. Probably from “dog” [1893]
dog cart – a two-wheeled vehicle of often simple design and decoration drawn by a smallish horse or a pony
donkey walloper – Infantry disparaging term for cavalry
doss – a bed or to sleep. Also see on the doss.
doss house – a cheap lodging house. Also see on the doss.
down – to be critical
drugget – a floor covering made of a coarse fabric
dyspepsia – Indigestion (Latin, from Greek, from dys- + pepsis digestion)
E
enteric fever – Typhoid fever
expie – expensive
fallalish – pertaining to an article of clothing or piece of dress that is excessively showy or fancy (from fallal)
fast – extravagant, wild
Fieldfare – a thrush, Turdus pilaris, related to the European blackbird. In summer it has a brown breast, brown back, white underwings, and grey head. Its winter plumage is mainly grey in color.
finnan haddie – smoked haddock
Fishing Fleet – Unmarried British women sent to India each year by their parents during the cool weather to find husbands.
fittums – What a perfect fit!
fizz – champagne
flash – showy, gaudy, vulgar
fossick – To search for gold or gemstones typically by picking over abandoned workings (Australian and New Zealand)
footle – nonsense; to talk nonsense or to waste time
French – to be French is to be disingenuous or unserious
frou-frou – the rustling or swish of a dress or gown
fuddled – to become befuddled or drunk
furze – also known as gorse or whin. A shrub, Ulex europeaeus, which grows 4 feet in height and bears yellow flowers
gallipot – a small, covered earthenware pot
galloper – Officer used by commanders to carry messages.
Gardner Gun (machine gun) – A one- to five-barreled machine gun used by the British Army from 1880. Operated by turning a crank which loaded and fired each barrel in sequence.
gas – boasting; idle or nonsensical talk
General Services Enlistment Act – One of the causes of the Indian Mutiny. It required Indian troops in British service to to go overseas, if required. Hindus would break caste if they did so.
gibbous – humpbacked; convex; used to describe the moon when its phase is more than half but less than full
gloaming – twilight or dusk
gradley (graidley) – thoroughly, greatly
graft – Work
grangerised – adding material (especially pictures) collected from other sources to an existing book; extra-illustrated
greenwood – a form of woodworking which uses freshly-cut wood and specializes in bending the wood into curved shapes for chairs, bows, and ornamental objects; a vivid green wood used in making ornamental objects
grig – grasshopper or cricket. Often seen in the phrase “merry as a grig,” meaning ecstatic or jumping for joy.
grippe – Influenza (from French, seizure)
god wallah – Priest or chaplain
goolie – Testicle, late 19th century (Hindi gooli, a pellet)
gorse – see furze
got the chuck – fired from a job, discharged from a position, dismissed
got the hump – put out, annoyed, irritated. e.g., He has got the hump over it.
hanger – a copse or wooded area on the side of a steep hill
hap – luck; happenstance
havelock – Cloth cap cover that hung on the back to protect the neck from sunlight (named after Sir Henry Havelock)
heart-whole – not in love
heliograph – a device which sends messages (usually in morse code) by means of flashes of reflected sunlight
highball – whiskey and water (Am Eng)
hoarding – a display case or area to place advertisements or advertised products; a wooden fence or barrier
hook it – escape, run away, get away
hop the wag – play truant from school
hot or cold – Ways of attacking. By shooting (hot) or by bayonet (cold)
hoyden – a boisterous girl or young woman
hummock – a knoll, small hill, or mound of earth
hussar – a light cavalryman
I
Ichabod – an exclamation equivalent to “By God!,” “How terrible!,” or “What a shame!” Usage is derived from the biblical name in 1 Samuel, meaning no glory or the glory is gone.
Imperial Yeomanry – British volunteer cavalry force recruited from locals for the Boer war. Little or no training, but they had much enthusiasm.
indy – indigestion
isinglass – a gelatin made from fish, usually sturgeon
J
jackdaw – a crow
jipper – to baste; meat broth, gravy, drippings
josser – a fool, a fellow
juggins – a simpleton
jump – liveliness
jumping jesus – a zealot or fanatic
K
Keep your hair on! – a command not to get excited, equivalent to “Keep your hat on!”
kip – place to sleep; Bed (Danish kippecheap tavern)
kipping – sleeping
knut – an idle upper-class man-about-town
kopje – Afrikaans word for a small hill, especially one with steep sides
L
liberty-men – Sailors on shore leave.
limber – horse-drawn, two-wheeled wagon used to transport artillery pieces; the action of transporting artillery pieces in a limber; the driver of a limber
linctus – in medicine it refers to a medicinal preparation or mixture
leash (of animals) – three or threesome
loot – Plunder (Hindi lut [c.1788])
lorgnettes – opera glasses
M
mahout – in India, an elephant driver
malaria – A disease transmitted by mosquitoes that causes periodic severe attacks of chills and fever, thought at one time to be caused by miasma (Italian [1740], from mala aria, bad air)
man-man – a royal personage
matlow – Self-adopted name of British sailors (blue-jackets)[1880](from French matelot, sailor)
mar – a cripple
Maxim Gun – British – .303 caliber. Recoil-operated machine gun. First used in Matabele war of 1893-94. Bought and copied by almost all nations, although often under other names. The standard MG during the Great War. Named after the British (American-born) inventor, Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim.
miasma – A heavy vapor emanation or atmosphere believed to cause malaria or other diseases common in swampy areas (Greek, defilement, from miainein to pollute [1665])
miry – swampy, muddy
moithered – to be agitated, flustered, or perturbed, especially by a noisy crowd
mumchance – silent, dumbstruck
munge – to chew or chop into a mixture; to get into or cause a bad situation, to make a mess of things
murrain – A plague that infects domestic animals (from Latin mori, to die)
Mussulman – A Moslem or Muslim (Turkish müslüman, Persian musulman, modification of Arabic muslim)
N
nap – a form of the card game whist
nappy wallach – Barber
nasty jar – a bad or sticky situation
Nebuchadnezzar phase – a drunken episode, a drinking bout. Derived from the name given the largest container of champagne–a Nebuchadnezzar–which held 20 quarts or 15 liters
nesh – frail; tender, especially as regards susceptibility to the cold
nightie – nightgown
Night-jar – a bird, Caprimulgus europaeus, with gray-brown plumage and white wings. Also known as the goatsucker.
Nordenfelt Gun – Although Nordenfelt produced other types of guns, when used in a colonial setting the term usually refers to a multi-barreled machine gun (2 to 10 barrels) operated by a lever which was moved back and forth. First used in the 1880’s.
nuclear spot – central location
O
oast – an oven for drying hops or malt
off his chump – insane, crazy
off his onion – mad, crazy
old sweat – Veteran
on the cot – Changing one’s ways
on the doss – on the tramp, vagabondage
on the peg – Under arrest
osier – a small willow tree whose branches are often used in basket making, Salix viminalis
padding the hoof – walking
paddy – Rice field (Malay padi [1623])
palanquin – in India, a sedan chair used by British colonials, especially women, of rank. It was either carried by men or set atop an elephant.
paling – a fence, specifically the upright components of a fence–especially wooden pickets
pannier – Donkey load. A large basket or container carried on the back of an animal or on the shoulders of a person (13th century, Latin, panis, bread)
pantechnicon – a furniture moving truck
peg – a soup kitchen, a place where free meals are given out
pettish – peevish
P. and O. – Peninsular and Oriental Steamship Company. The main line for British travelers to India and the East
Per mare, per terram – “By land, by sea”, motto of the Royal Marines. AKA “Poor Mary on the terrace”
pipe off – lose interest in something, especially a lover
pippin – an outstanding person; a variety of apple
pith helmet – Sun helmet made of cloth-covered cork.
piquet – A small guard post with about 12 men or less.
Pom or Pommie – Derisive Australian soldier’s term for British officers or British men in general (from pomade – hair dressing)
poodle-faker – A man who spent too much time in the society of women, engaging in such activates as tea parties, balls, etc.
pop-wallah – Non-alcohol drinker, a drinker of soda pop
pother – to bother or worry; a fuss, confusion
Pooterism – a middle-class obsession with respectability and class distinctions; social pretentiousness, pettiness. The term is derived from Charles Pooter who is the main character in The Diary of a Nobody (1892) by George and Weedon Grossmith.
pukka – Genuine, authentic, first-class (Hindi pakka cooked, ripe, solid, from Sanskrit pakva)
pukka sahib – Excellent fellow (used for Europeans only)
puggaree – Muslin cloth wrapped around a pith helmet (Hindi pagri turban)
punk – Inferior, as in “played a punk game”, “feeling punk” (ill) (1896)
punkah wallah – Indian employed to work a fan, usually by a string attached to their toe or thumb.
pusher – Girl friend
Q
Queen’s shilling, the – Bounty paid to a new recruit for joining the army.
R
rag – a rowdy event or celebration; a prant; the act of teasing or scolding
ragger – someone who is noisy or riotous; a conspicuous troublemaker
razzle-dazzle – a spree, to go carousing; to womanize
reach-me-down – used, as in a reach-me-down piece of clothing; equivalent to hand-me-down
repining – chagrin; regret; bitterness; yearning
rinking – roller skating
rooky – New recruit
roly-poly – a pudding made by rolling jam within a sheet of suet pastry which is then baked
R.M.L.I. – Royal Marine Light Infantry
S
sack – cheap wine
satinette – gin
sawney – Scotsman (circa 1700 on)
scorching – speeding, racing; exceeding the speed limit in a motor car
scraper – a boot scraper
screwed – drunk, intoxicated
semi-classical – a euphemism for semi-nude, often used when describing art
settle – a bench or chair with a high back
shako – Stiff, tall military hat (French, from Hungarian csákó)
shambles – a slaughterhouse or butcher shop
shandy-gaff – a combination of ale and ginger beer
shaping – working oneself into a state of excitement over something; preparing
shrapnel – Anti-personnel shell that exploded in the air and scattered small lead balls. Also, later on, any piece of metal from any type shell. (After the inventor, Henry Shrapnel [1806])
skof – Food
sleeping sickness – A serious disease transmitted by tsetse flies, common in much of tropical Africa. Sleeping sickness saved parts of Africa from being settled by Europeans in the 19th century because it killed their cattle and horses.
slingers – Hard tack and coffee
snotty – Midshipman [Royal Navy]
spyglass – Telescope
stoppages – Money deducted from a soldier’s pay (“stopped”) as a punishment
subaltern – A junior officer in the British army, just below lieutenant.
swaddy – Soldier.
siphon – short for siphon bottle, a bottle holding aerated or soda water
skilly – a concoction of three parts oatmeal stirred into three and one-half buckets of hot water. It was a staple of the diet in workhouses.
skittle – a form of ninepins; one of the pins knocked down in the game
slavey – a maid of all work
slinging my hook – running away, escaping. Also hook it.
sluice – a wash, to bathe
snuggery – a comfortable, cozy, snug room or place
spasammy – offhand, casual, cavalier
spavined – deteriorated, in disrepair; in medicine it refers to swelling
spike – the casual ward of a workhouse
spoil-five – a card game probably of Irish origin. After an initial bet, each player is dealt five cards and seeks to win three of five tricks. The winner gets the pot. If no one wins, the game is called “spoiled” and a new initial bet is added to the existing pot before the next deal.
stash it – Royal Navy slang for “be quiet”, eqivalent to “stow it”
stashing it up – causing a commotion or tumult
sticking – hockey
stylograph – a fountain pen which has a point instead of a split nib
sub – an advance on one’s pay
T
taken the knock – to be betrayed or jilted by a lover
teagie – tea gown
tiled – included in, covered with guilt or responsibility; in the same situation. e.g., We are all tiled in this mess.
Ticker – Soldier who owned his own personal watch (early usage)
tiffin – Lunch or snack (obsolete English tiff to eat between meals)
to fire into the brown – Originally referred to hunters firing into a covey of game birds without aiming at any particular bird, but was later used for soldiers firing into a charging mass of natives.
topee – Helmet (Hindi topi)
Tommy – Tommy Atkins. Name for the British common soldier
toerag – a bum or vagrant
tommy – food
top-hole – first class, first rate, the very best
tosh – rubbish, nonsense
trap – a two-wheeled carriage often pulled by a pony and called a “pony trap” or a “pony and trap”
trump – an outstanding person
tumbled – to get to the bottom of, discover the truth of, concluded the facts of a mystery or situtation. e.g., He tumbled to the truth of the matter.
V
vapors – A Victorian belief that emanations from bodily organs (such as the stomach) could affect the physical and mental condition of people, especially women. Vapors were often blamed for women fainting, although fashions that included binding women’s bodies so tight that they could barely breathe would seem to be a more likely cause.
VC – The Victoria Cross, the highest British medal
vedettes – Mounted sentries
wad – Cake
wag his pow – to wag one’s tongue, to babble, to jabber, to rattle on
wagonette – a four-wheeled, horse-drawn carriage often having facing benches or seats in the rear
wallah – Person associated with an activity–for example, god wallah for priest
wet – Tea, as in, “have a wet”,
What priced head have you? – roughly means “How severe is your hangover?”
whin – see furze
white satin – gin
wizard – Excellent, as in “a wizard time”
wrangler – a debater; at the University of Cambridge, one of those who have attained the first grade in the second (until 1909 in the first) part of the examination for honors in mathematics. Until 1909, the student attaining the highest marks was called the senior wrangler.
Y
yarning – inextricable
yellow fever – A disease transmitted by mosquitoes that causes jaundice, among many other symptoms
yellow jack – Yellow fever
Z
zenana – in India, the apartment set aside for women in the household