Post by StoryTeller on Jan 22, 2006 6:04:33 GMT
CANT TO ENGLISH
-A-
Abbess: the mistress of a brothel
Abram: naked
Abram cove: a word used among thieves which signifies a naked or poor
man. It can also mean a lusty strong rogue
Abram men: a beggar who pretends to be mad
To sham abram: to pretend to be sick
Academy: brothel
Ace of spades: a widow
Acorn: to ride a horse foaled by an acorn, is to be hanged on the
gallows
Adam Tiler: a pickpockets associate, who receives the stolen goods, and
runs off with them
Affidavit Men: a witness for hire Someone who will swear to anything in
court if paid to do so
Air and exercise: he has had air and exercise, ie he has been whipped at the
carts tail
Ambidexter: a lawyer who garners fees from both plaintiff and defender
To amuse: to fling dust into the eyes of the person intended to be
robbed; also to invent some plausible tale to delude a
shopkeeper in order to put them off their guard
Amusers: a rogue who uses the above tactic
Anabaptist: a pickpocket caught in the act, and punished by being thrown
into a pond
Anglers: pilferers or petty thieves who with a stick having a hook at
the end, steal goods out of shop windows, grates etc. Also
someone who 'draws in' victims in order to rob them
Angling for
coppers: begging out of a prison window with a cap or box let down on
the end of a long string
Arch Rogue: The chief of a gang of thieves or gipsies
Ard: hot, stolen
Ark: a boat
Ark ruffians: rogues who in conjunction with watermen, robbed and
sometimes murdered on the water by picking a quarrel with
passengers in a boat, boarding it, plundering, stripping,
and throwing them overboard
Artichoke: hang (see hearty choke)
Aunt: a prostitute or someone who procures prostitutes
Avoir Du Pois Lay: stealing brass weights off the counters of shops
Autem Bawler: a priest
Autem Divers: pickpockets who operate in churches and temples
Autem Mort: a female beggar who hires children in order to inspire
charity
-B-
Babes in the wood: criminals in the stocks or pillory
Badge: a term for one who has had his hand burned as punishment for
theft
Bandog: a bailiff or sheriff
Barrow man: a man under sentence of transport
Bat: a very common prostitute
Bawd: a prostitute
Bawdy basket: criminal who sells items from door to door, but makes most
of their living by stealing
Beak: a justice of the peace or magistrate
Beef: to "cry beef" is to give an alarm. To "be in a mans beef" is
to wound him with a sword
Beggar maker: a man who owns a tavern
Beilby's Ball: to "dance with Beilby's ball" is to be hung
Bene: good
Bene Bowse: good beer
Bene Cove: good fellow
Bene Darkmans: good night
Bene feaker: counterfeiter
Bene feakers of
gybes: counterfeiter of false passes
Ben: a fool
Bess or Betty: a crow bar
Bilboes: the stocks or prison
Bilk: to cheat or con
Bing: to go or escape
Bingo: brandy or other spirit
Bingo boy: a drinker of brandy
Bingo mort: a female drinker of brandy
Birds of a
feather: rogues of the same gang
Bite: to steal
Black art: the art of picking a lot
Black box: a lawyer
Blasted fellow: an abandoned rogue or prostitute
Blater: a stolen calf
Bleaters: those cheated by a Jack in the Box (See Jack in the box)
Bleating rig: sheep stealing
Blow: to "bite the blow" is to steal the goods
Blue pigeons: thieves who steal lead off houses and other buildings
Bluffer: an inn keeper
Blunt: money
Boarding school: a prison
Bob: shoplifter's assistant One who receives stolen goods
Boned: seized, arrested
Boung: a purse
Boung nipper: a cut purse
Brimstone: an abandoned woman or thief
Bubber: a thief who steals from taverns
Bufe: a dog
Bufe nabber: a dog thief
Bug: to exchange a material for one of less value
Bung nipper: a pickpocket
Burning the ken: to flee a tavern without paying your bill
Bus napper: a constable
Bus nappers
kenchin: a watchman
Buttock and file: a prostitute who steals from their clients
Button: a fake coin
Buzman: a pickpocket
-C-
Cackle: to inform on a thief
Calle: a cloak or gown worn as a disguise
Canters: thieves or beggars
Canting Crew: thieves or beggars
Cap: take an oath
Captain Sharp: a person in a fixed game of chance whose job is to bully
those who refuse to pay their debts
Caravan: a large sum of money, or one who is cheated of a large sum
of money
Cattle: prostitutes or gipsies
Charactered: to have your hand burnt as a punishment for theft
Charm: a lockpick
Chatts: the gallows
Clank: a silver tankard
Clank napper: a silver tankard stealer
Clear: very drunk
Click: to hit
Clicker: the person who divides the booty between a group of thieves
Climb up a ladder
to bed: be hanged
Cloy: steal
Cloyes: thieves
Cly: a pocket
Cly the jerk: to be whipped
thingyles, to cry: to be hanged
Colt: one who lends a horse to a highway man, or an apprentice
thief
Confect: counterfeited
Content: a person murdered for resisting a robbery
Cove: a man
Cracksman: a house breaker
Cramp word: the sentence of death
Crash: kill
Crop: hang
Cull: an honest man
Cullability: easily cheated
Curbing law: the act off hooking items out of a window (see angling)
Cursitor: a bad lawyer
-D-
Dangle: hang
Darbies: chains (handcuffs)
Darby: easy money
Darkee: a dark or hooded lantern
Darkmans: night time
Dawb: bribe
Deadly nevergreen: gallows
Derrick: a hangman
Dimber Damber: a chief thief
Ding Boy: a mugger
Dive: to pick a pocket
Dive: a thieves hideout
Dommerer: a beggar who pretends to be mute
Drag: to follow a cart or wagon in order to rob it
Draw-latches: robbers of houses
Drawing the King's
picture: counterfeiting coins
Dromedary: a bungling thief
Dub: a lockpick
Dub Lay: to rob a house by picking its lock
Dummee: a pocket book or purse
Dumps: coins made of lead
Die hard: show no fear or remorse at the gallows
-E-
Earnest: a promise to pay
Equipt: well dressed, rich
-F-
f*gger: a small boy passed through a window in order to open the
door to a house
Family man: a receiver of stolen goods
Fam lay: palming an item in order to steal it
Fams: gloves
Fen: a prostitute
Fence: to sell stolen goods One who buys stolen goods
Fencing ken: a place where stolen goods are hidden
Fidlam ben: thieves
Figging law: the art of picking pockets
Figure dancer: one who alters the numbers on notes of credit or other paper
money
Filcher: see angler
Flash ken: a thieves hideout
Flash lingo: thieves cant
Floating hell: a prison ship
Flog: to whip
Fob: cheat
Footpad: a common thief
Fork: to pick a pocket
Fortune teller: a judge
Foyst: a pickpocket
Frummagemmed: strangled or hanged
Fun: a cheat or a trick
Fuzz: to pretend to shuffle a deck of cards
-G-
Gallows bird: a thief or pickpocket or someone that associates with them
Game: any mode of robbery
Gamon: to deceive
Gaoler's coach: a cart used to take felons to execution
Gentleman's
master: a highwayman
Gibberish: thieves cant
Gilt: a thief who picks locks
Ginny: a crowbar
Glazier: a thief who breaks windows in order to steal
Glim: a lantern used in housebreaking
Grease: bribe
Gregorian tree: gallows
Gudgeon: a gullible person
Gull: a gullible person, to cheat someone
-H-
Hamlet: a senior constable
Hang gallows look: a villainous appearance
Hang in chains: a vile, desperate person
Harman: a constable
Harmans: the stocks
Hearty choke: to be hanged
Heave: to rob
Hempen fever: a person who has been hanged is said to have died of "hempen
fever"
Hempen widow: one whose husband was hanged
High pad: a highwayman
Hike: to run away
Hoist: to rob by entering though windows that have been left open
Hoodwink: blindfold or fool someone
Hooked: captured
Hookers: see angler
Hubbub: a riot
Hue: to whip
Hush: murder
Hush money: a bribe
-I-
Iron: money
Ironmongers shop: to "keep an ironmongers shop" is to be hung in chains
-J-
Jack in a box: a card sharper
Jack Ketch: hangman
Jail bird: prisoner
Jammed: hanged
Jem: a gold ring
Jemmy: a crow bar
Jigger: whipping post
Jordain: a stick or staff used by muggers
Juggler's box: the device used to burn the hands of criminals
Jukrum: the permission of the head of a thieves guild to operate
within his territory
-K-
Kate: a lockpick
Ken: a house
Ken Miller or Ken
Cracker: housebreaker
Ketch: hangman
Kiddeys: young thieves
King's plate: chains, shackles
King's pictures: money
Knight of the
blade: a bully
Knight of the
post: a man willing to give fake evidence for money
Knight of the
road: a highwayman
-L-
Laced mutton: a prostitute
Lag: a man transported for a crime
Land pirate: a highwayman
Lay: danger
Leaf: to "go with the fall of the leaf" is to be hanged
Lift: steal
Lightmans: daytime
Little snakesman: a small boy passed through a window in order to open a door
Long tongued: unable to keep a secret
Lowre: money
Lully priggers: thieves who steal wet clothes off clothes lines
Lurch: to be "left in the lurch" is to be betrayed by ones
companions
-A-
Abbess: the mistress of a brothel
Abram: naked
Abram cove: a word used among thieves which signifies a naked or poor
man. It can also mean a lusty strong rogue
Abram men: a beggar who pretends to be mad
To sham abram: to pretend to be sick
Academy: brothel
Ace of spades: a widow
Acorn: to ride a horse foaled by an acorn, is to be hanged on the
gallows
Adam Tiler: a pickpockets associate, who receives the stolen goods, and
runs off with them
Affidavit Men: a witness for hire Someone who will swear to anything in
court if paid to do so
Air and exercise: he has had air and exercise, ie he has been whipped at the
carts tail
Ambidexter: a lawyer who garners fees from both plaintiff and defender
To amuse: to fling dust into the eyes of the person intended to be
robbed; also to invent some plausible tale to delude a
shopkeeper in order to put them off their guard
Amusers: a rogue who uses the above tactic
Anabaptist: a pickpocket caught in the act, and punished by being thrown
into a pond
Anglers: pilferers or petty thieves who with a stick having a hook at
the end, steal goods out of shop windows, grates etc. Also
someone who 'draws in' victims in order to rob them
Angling for
coppers: begging out of a prison window with a cap or box let down on
the end of a long string
Arch Rogue: The chief of a gang of thieves or gipsies
Ard: hot, stolen
Ark: a boat
Ark ruffians: rogues who in conjunction with watermen, robbed and
sometimes murdered on the water by picking a quarrel with
passengers in a boat, boarding it, plundering, stripping,
and throwing them overboard
Artichoke: hang (see hearty choke)
Aunt: a prostitute or someone who procures prostitutes
Avoir Du Pois Lay: stealing brass weights off the counters of shops
Autem Bawler: a priest
Autem Divers: pickpockets who operate in churches and temples
Autem Mort: a female beggar who hires children in order to inspire
charity
-B-
Babes in the wood: criminals in the stocks or pillory
Badge: a term for one who has had his hand burned as punishment for
theft
Bandog: a bailiff or sheriff
Barrow man: a man under sentence of transport
Bat: a very common prostitute
Bawd: a prostitute
Bawdy basket: criminal who sells items from door to door, but makes most
of their living by stealing
Beak: a justice of the peace or magistrate
Beef: to "cry beef" is to give an alarm. To "be in a mans beef" is
to wound him with a sword
Beggar maker: a man who owns a tavern
Beilby's Ball: to "dance with Beilby's ball" is to be hung
Bene: good
Bene Bowse: good beer
Bene Cove: good fellow
Bene Darkmans: good night
Bene feaker: counterfeiter
Bene feakers of
gybes: counterfeiter of false passes
Ben: a fool
Bess or Betty: a crow bar
Bilboes: the stocks or prison
Bilk: to cheat or con
Bing: to go or escape
Bingo: brandy or other spirit
Bingo boy: a drinker of brandy
Bingo mort: a female drinker of brandy
Birds of a
feather: rogues of the same gang
Bite: to steal
Black art: the art of picking a lot
Black box: a lawyer
Blasted fellow: an abandoned rogue or prostitute
Blater: a stolen calf
Bleaters: those cheated by a Jack in the Box (See Jack in the box)
Bleating rig: sheep stealing
Blow: to "bite the blow" is to steal the goods
Blue pigeons: thieves who steal lead off houses and other buildings
Bluffer: an inn keeper
Blunt: money
Boarding school: a prison
Bob: shoplifter's assistant One who receives stolen goods
Boned: seized, arrested
Boung: a purse
Boung nipper: a cut purse
Brimstone: an abandoned woman or thief
Bubber: a thief who steals from taverns
Bufe: a dog
Bufe nabber: a dog thief
Bug: to exchange a material for one of less value
Bung nipper: a pickpocket
Burning the ken: to flee a tavern without paying your bill
Bus napper: a constable
Bus nappers
kenchin: a watchman
Buttock and file: a prostitute who steals from their clients
Button: a fake coin
Buzman: a pickpocket
-C-
Cackle: to inform on a thief
Calle: a cloak or gown worn as a disguise
Canters: thieves or beggars
Canting Crew: thieves or beggars
Cap: take an oath
Captain Sharp: a person in a fixed game of chance whose job is to bully
those who refuse to pay their debts
Caravan: a large sum of money, or one who is cheated of a large sum
of money
Cattle: prostitutes or gipsies
Charactered: to have your hand burnt as a punishment for theft
Charm: a lockpick
Chatts: the gallows
Clank: a silver tankard
Clank napper: a silver tankard stealer
Clear: very drunk
Click: to hit
Clicker: the person who divides the booty between a group of thieves
Climb up a ladder
to bed: be hanged
Cloy: steal
Cloyes: thieves
Cly: a pocket
Cly the jerk: to be whipped
thingyles, to cry: to be hanged
Colt: one who lends a horse to a highway man, or an apprentice
thief
Confect: counterfeited
Content: a person murdered for resisting a robbery
Cove: a man
Cracksman: a house breaker
Cramp word: the sentence of death
Crash: kill
Crop: hang
Cull: an honest man
Cullability: easily cheated
Curbing law: the act off hooking items out of a window (see angling)
Cursitor: a bad lawyer
-D-
Dangle: hang
Darbies: chains (handcuffs)
Darby: easy money
Darkee: a dark or hooded lantern
Darkmans: night time
Dawb: bribe
Deadly nevergreen: gallows
Derrick: a hangman
Dimber Damber: a chief thief
Ding Boy: a mugger
Dive: to pick a pocket
Dive: a thieves hideout
Dommerer: a beggar who pretends to be mute
Drag: to follow a cart or wagon in order to rob it
Draw-latches: robbers of houses
Drawing the King's
picture: counterfeiting coins
Dromedary: a bungling thief
Dub: a lockpick
Dub Lay: to rob a house by picking its lock
Dummee: a pocket book or purse
Dumps: coins made of lead
Die hard: show no fear or remorse at the gallows
-E-
Earnest: a promise to pay
Equipt: well dressed, rich
-F-
f*gger: a small boy passed through a window in order to open the
door to a house
Family man: a receiver of stolen goods
Fam lay: palming an item in order to steal it
Fams: gloves
Fen: a prostitute
Fence: to sell stolen goods One who buys stolen goods
Fencing ken: a place where stolen goods are hidden
Fidlam ben: thieves
Figging law: the art of picking pockets
Figure dancer: one who alters the numbers on notes of credit or other paper
money
Filcher: see angler
Flash ken: a thieves hideout
Flash lingo: thieves cant
Floating hell: a prison ship
Flog: to whip
Fob: cheat
Footpad: a common thief
Fork: to pick a pocket
Fortune teller: a judge
Foyst: a pickpocket
Frummagemmed: strangled or hanged
Fun: a cheat or a trick
Fuzz: to pretend to shuffle a deck of cards
-G-
Gallows bird: a thief or pickpocket or someone that associates with them
Game: any mode of robbery
Gamon: to deceive
Gaoler's coach: a cart used to take felons to execution
Gentleman's
master: a highwayman
Gibberish: thieves cant
Gilt: a thief who picks locks
Ginny: a crowbar
Glazier: a thief who breaks windows in order to steal
Glim: a lantern used in housebreaking
Grease: bribe
Gregorian tree: gallows
Gudgeon: a gullible person
Gull: a gullible person, to cheat someone
-H-
Hamlet: a senior constable
Hang gallows look: a villainous appearance
Hang in chains: a vile, desperate person
Harman: a constable
Harmans: the stocks
Hearty choke: to be hanged
Heave: to rob
Hempen fever: a person who has been hanged is said to have died of "hempen
fever"
Hempen widow: one whose husband was hanged
High pad: a highwayman
Hike: to run away
Hoist: to rob by entering though windows that have been left open
Hoodwink: blindfold or fool someone
Hooked: captured
Hookers: see angler
Hubbub: a riot
Hue: to whip
Hush: murder
Hush money: a bribe
-I-
Iron: money
Ironmongers shop: to "keep an ironmongers shop" is to be hung in chains
-J-
Jack in a box: a card sharper
Jack Ketch: hangman
Jail bird: prisoner
Jammed: hanged
Jem: a gold ring
Jemmy: a crow bar
Jigger: whipping post
Jordain: a stick or staff used by muggers
Juggler's box: the device used to burn the hands of criminals
Jukrum: the permission of the head of a thieves guild to operate
within his territory
-K-
Kate: a lockpick
Ken: a house
Ken Miller or Ken
Cracker: housebreaker
Ketch: hangman
Kiddeys: young thieves
King's plate: chains, shackles
King's pictures: money
Knight of the
blade: a bully
Knight of the
post: a man willing to give fake evidence for money
Knight of the
road: a highwayman
-L-
Laced mutton: a prostitute
Lag: a man transported for a crime
Land pirate: a highwayman
Lay: danger
Leaf: to "go with the fall of the leaf" is to be hanged
Lift: steal
Lightmans: daytime
Little snakesman: a small boy passed through a window in order to open a door
Long tongued: unable to keep a secret
Lowre: money
Lully priggers: thieves who steal wet clothes off clothes lines
Lurch: to be "left in the lurch" is to be betrayed by ones
companions