A New and Comprehensive

Vocabulary of the Flash Language

Da

dab
a bed
dab it up
to agree to cohabit with a woman
dancers
stairs
danna
human or other excrement
danna-drag
commonly pronounced dunnick-drag
See knap a jacob, etc.
darbies
fetters
darky
1 night
2 a dark lanthorn
death-hunter
an undertaker
 

Di

dicky ~ dick in the green
very bad or paltry
Anything of an inferior quality is said to be a dicky concern.
dimmock
money
ding
1 to throw , or throw away
Particularly any article you have stolen, either because it is worthless or that there is danger of immediate apprehension.
2 to drop an acquaintance totally
Also to quit his company, or leave him for the time present.
3 to dispose of stolen property
To ding to your pall is to convey to him the property you have just stolen
4 he who receives it is said to take ding
Or to knap the ding.
dingable
anything considered worthless
Or which you can well spare, having no further occasion for it. This phrase is often applied by sharps to a flat whom they have cleaned out and also by abandoned women to a keeper, who having spent his all upon them, must be discarded or ding'd as soon as possible.
dispatches
false dice used by gamblers
So contrived as always to throw a nick.
 

Do

do
utter counterfeit money
A term used by smashers.
To do a queer half‑quid or do a queer screen is to utter a counterfeit half‑guinea or a forged bank note.
do it away
to fence or dispose of a stolen article
Beyond the reach of probable detection.
do it up
to accomplish any object you have in view
To obtain anything you were in quest of is called doing it up for such a thing.
A person who contrives by nob-work or ingenuity to live an easy life and appears to improve daily in circumstances is said to do it up in good twig.
do the trick
to accomplish any robbery or other business successfully
A thief who has been fortunate enough to acquire an independence, and prudent enough to tie it up in time, is said by his former associates to have done the trick On the other hand a man who has imprudently involved himself in some great misfortune, from which there is little hope of his extrication is declared by his friends, with an air of commiseration, to have done the trick for himself. That is, his ruin or downfall is nearly certain.
dobbin
riband
See cant for more information.
dollop
a large quantity of anything
The whole dollop means the total quantity.
aussie english
done
convicted
As in he was done for a crack, meaning he was convicted of house‑breaking.
dorse
a lodging
To dorse with a woman signifies to sleep with her.
double
to run away and elude capture
Or to tip him the dublin packet, signifies either to run away from an officer in pursuit openly, and elude his attempts to overtake you, or to give him the slip in the streets or elsewhere, unperceived. Commonly done to escape from an officer who has you in custody, or to turn up a flat of any kind, whom you have a wish to get rid of.
double-slangs
double-irons
down
1 a suspicion , alarm , or discovery
Sometimes synonymous with awake, as when the party you are about to rob sees or suspects your intention, it is then said that the cove is down.
It is a suspicion, alarm, or discovery which taking place and obliges yourself and palls to give up or desist from the business or depredation you were engaged in.
2 to give information of any fraud
To put a down upon a man is to give information of any robbery or fraud he is about to perpetrate, so as to cause his failure or detection.
As in to drop down to a person.
4 to alarm or put a gentleman on his guard
When in the attempt to pick his pocket you fail to effect it at once, and by having touched him a little too roughly you cause him to suspect your design, and to use precautions accordingly.
Or perhaps, in the act of sounding him, by being too precipitate or incautious, his suspicions may have been excited and it is then said that you have put him down, put him fly, or spoiled him.
5 to become melancholy
To drop down upon yourself is to become melancholy or feel symptoms of remorse or compunction, on being committed to jail, cast for death, etc.
6 to sink under misfortunes of any kind
A man who gives way to this weakness is said to be down upon himself.
down as a hammer ~ down as a trippet
down , leary , fly
These are merely emphatical phrases, used out of flash, to signify being awake to any matter, meaning, or design.
 

Dr

drag
a cart
The drag is the game of robbing carts, waggons, or carriages, either in town or country, of trunks, bale-goods, or any other property.
Done for a drag signifies convicted for a robbery of this nature.
drag-cove
the driver of a cart
dragsman
a thief who follows the game of dragging
draked ~ ducked
a discipline sometimes inflicted on pickpockets at fairs , races , etc
draw
1 to pick a persons pocket
The act of so stealing a pocket-book, or handkerchief, is called drawing a reader, or clout.
2 to obtain money or goods by a false or plausible story
Called drawing him of so and so.
3 obtaining any parcel or goods from a child
To draw a kid is to obtain his swag from him. See kid-rig for more information.
driz
lace
As sold on cards by the haberdashers, etc.
drop
1 the game of ring-dropping
2 to give or present a person with money
As in He dropp'd me a quid, meaning, ‘He gave me a guinea’.
3 to part with money or goods freely
A kid who delivers his bundle to a sharper without hesitation, or a shopkeeper who is easily duped of his goods by means of a forged order or false pretence, is said to drop the swag in good twig, meaning, to part with it freely.
drop a whid
to let fall a word
Either inadvertently or designedly.
drop-cove
a sharp who practises the game of ring-dropping
drop-down
to discover or be aware of a persons character or designs
See down.
drummond
any scheme or project considered to be infallible
Or any event which is deemed inevitably certain, is declared to be a drummond.
Meaning it is as sure as the credit of that respectable banking‑house, Drummond and Co.
 

Du

dub
a key
dub at a knapping-jigger
a collector of tolls at a turnpike-gate
dub-cove ~ dubsman
a turnkey
dublin-packet
see double
dub up
to lock up or secure any thing or place
Also to button one's pocket, coat, etc.
duce
twopence
duds
women's apparel in general
dues
1 sometimes used to express money ,
 where any certain sum or payment is spoken of
A man asking for money due to him for any service done, or a blowen requiring her previous compliment from a family-man, would say,
Come, tip us the dues.
So a thief, requiring his share of booty from his palls, will desire them to bring the dues to light.
2 a cant word
This word is often introduced by the lovers of flash on many occasions, but merely out of fancy, and can only be understood from the context of their discourse. Like many other cant terms, it is not easily explained on paper.
For example, speaking of a man likely to go to jail one will say, there will be quodding dues concerned.
Of a man likely to be executed there will be topping dues.
If any thing is alluded to that will require a fee or bribe, there must be tipping dues or palming dues concerned, etc.
dummy
a pocket-book
A silly half-witted person.
dummy-hunters
the practice of stealing gentlemen's pocket-books
Thieves who confine themselves to this, and think, or profess to think, it paltry to touch a clout or other insignificant article. This class of depredators traverse the principal streets of London during the busy hours and sometimes meet with valuable prizes.
dunnick
commonly pronounced dunnick-drag
See knap a jacob, etc.