Lexicon Balatronicum | Page 7

for Bedfordshire, i.e. for going to bed.
BEDIZENED. Dressed out, over-dressed, or awkwardly ornamented.
BED-MAKER. Women employed at Cambridge to attend on the
Students, sweep his room, &c. They will put their hands to any thing,
and are generally blest with a pretty family of daughters: who unmake
the beds, as fast as they are made by their mothers.
BEEF. To cry beef; to give the alarm. They have cried beef on us.
Cant.--To be in a man's beef; to wound him with a sword. To be in a
woman's beef; to have carnal knowledge of her. Say you bought your
beef of me, a jocular request from a butcher to a fat man. implying that
he credits the butcher who serves him.
BEEF EATER. A yeoman of the guards, instituted by Henry VII. Their
office was to stand near the bouffet, or cupboard, thence called
Bouffetiers, since corrupted to Beef Eaters. Others suppose they

obtained this name from the size of their persons, and the easiness of
their duty, as having scarce more to do than to eat the king's beef.
BEETLE-BROWED. One having thick projecting eyebrows.
BEETLE-HEADED. Dull, stupid.
BEGGAR MAKER. A publican, or ale-house keeper.
BEGGAR'S BULLETS. Stones. The beggar's bullets began to fly, i.e.
they began to throw stones.
BEILBY'S BALL. He will dance at Beilby's ball, where the sheriff
pays the music; he will be hanged. Who Mr. Beilby was, or why that
ceremony was so called, remains with the quadrature of the circle, the
discovery of the philosopher's stone, and divers other desiderata yet
undiscovered.
BELCH. All sorts of beer; that liquor being apt to cause eructation.
BELCHER. A red silk handkerchief, intermixed with yellow and a little
black. The kiddey flashes his belcher; the young fellow wears a silk
handkerchief round his neck.
BELL, BOOK, AND CANDLE. They cursed him with bell, book, and
candle; an allusion to the popish form of excommunicating and
anathematizing persons who had offended the church.
TO BEAR THE BELL. To excel or surpass all competitors, to be the
principal in a body or society; an allusion to the fore horse or leader of
a team, whose harness is commonly ornamented with a bell or bells.
Some suppose it a term borrowed from an ancient tournament, where
the victorious knights bore away the BELLE or FAIR LADY. Others
derive it from a horse-race, or other rural contentions, where bells were
frequently given as prizes.
BELLOWS. The lungs.
BELLOWER. The town crier.
BELLOWSER. Transportation for life: i.e. as long.
BELLY. His eye was bigger than his belly; a saying of a person at a
table, who takes more on his plate than he can eat.
BELLYFULL. A hearty beating, sufficient to make a man yield or give
out. A woman with child is also said to have got her belly full.
BELLY CHEAT. An apron.
BELLY PLEA. The plea of pregnancy, generally adduced by female
felons capitally convicted, which they take care to provide for, previous
to their trials; every gaol having, as the Beggar's Opera informs us, one

or more child getters, who qualify the ladies for that expedient to
procure a respite.
BELLY TIMBER. Food of all sorts.
BELL SWAGGER. A noisy bullying fellow.
BELLWETHER. The chief or leader of a mob; an idea taken from a
flock of sheep, where the wether has a bell about his neck.
BENE. Good--BENAR. Better. Cant.
BENE BOWSE. Good beer, or other strong liquor. Cant.
BENE COVE. A good fellow. Cant.
BENE DARKMANS. Goodnight. Cant.
BENE FEARERS. Counterfeiters of bills. Cant.
BENE FEAKERS OF GYBES. Counterfeiters of passes. Cant.
BENESHIPLY. Worshipfully. Cant.
BEN. A fool. Cant.
BENISH. Foolish.
BENISON. The beggar's benison: May your ***** and purse never fail
you.
BERMUDAS. A cant name for certain places in London, privileged
against arrests, like the Mint in Southwark, Ben. Jonson. These
privileges are abolished.
BESS, or BETTY. A small instrument used by house-breakers to force
open doors. Bring bess and glym; bring the instrument to force the door,
and the dark lantern. Small flasks, like those for Florence wine, are also
called betties.
BESS. See BROWN BESS.
BEST. To the best in Christendom: i.e. the best **** in Christendom; a
health formerly much in vogue.
BET. A wager.--TO BET. To lay a wager.
BETTY MARTIN. That's my eye, Betty Martin; an answer to any one
that attempts to impose or humbug.
BETWATTLED. Surprised, confounded, out of one's senses; also
bewrayed.
BEVER. An afternoon's luncheon; also a fine hat; beaver's fur making
the best hats,
BEVERAGE. Garnish money, or money for drink, demanded of any
one having a new suit of clothes.
BIBLE. A boatswain's great axe. Sea term.

BIBLE OATH. Supposed by the vulgar to be more binding than an
oath taken on the Testament only, as being the bigger book, and
generally containing