now applied to a low public house. For synonyms, see Lush crib.
1567. Harman, Caveat. Man. What, stowe your bene, cofe, and cut benat whydds, and byng we to roine vyle, to nyp a bong; so shall we haue lowre for the bousing ken, and when we byng back to the deuseauyel, we wyll fylche some duddes of the Ruffemans, or myll the ken for a bagge of dudes.
1652. Brome, Jovial Crew, II., wks. (1873) III., 390 . . . As Tom or Tib When they at bowsing ken do swill.
1819. Moore, Tom Crib's Memorial to Congress, p. 27. But notwithstanding the Protean nature of the Flash or Cant language, the greater part of its vocabulary has remained unchanged for centuries, and many of the words used by the Canting Beggars in Beaumont and Fletcher, and the Gipsies in Ben Jonson's Masque, are still to be heard among the Gnostics of Dyot-street and Tothill-fields. To prig is still to steal; to fib, to beat; lour, money; duds, clothes; prancers, horses; bouzing-ken, an ale-*house; cove, a fellow; a sou's baby, a pig, etc., etc.
Bouzy.—See Boozy.
Bow. Two (or many) strings to
one's bow, phr. (colloquial).—To
have an alternative; more resources
than one. The phrase
sometimes formerly ran to
have many strings to the bow.
Numerous figurative expressions
in all languages indicate the
dominant pursuits of the respective
nations; the English
abounds in habitual phrases
testifying to the engrossing
avocations in all times. It is
in this manner that to have
two strings to one's bow has
passed into proverbial usage.
In the fourteenth century—a
Frenchman, Gaston de Foix,
said of our ancestors, 'Of
bows I know not much, but
who would know more, let him
go to England, for that is truly
their business.' In the olden
time, archery, as the dominant
pursuit, gave figures of speech
to the language—with the very
pith of wisdom or Saxon
sarcasm. If you made an
enemy's machinations recoil
upon himself, you 'outshot a
man in his own bow.' If you
are a cautious man, 'Always
have two strings to your bow,'
and 'Get the shaft-hand of
your adversaries,' or 'Draw
not thy bow before thy arrow
be fixed.' Of course, if you
can 'Kill two birds with one
shaft,' so much the better.
Never 'shoot wide of the
mark'—that is, don't make a
foolish guess on a subject you
know nothing about. Of useless,
silly conversation, our ancestors
said — 'The fool's bolt is
soon shot'; and if a man evidently
exaggerated, he was said
to 'draw a long bow.' If a
man's pretensions were not in
accordance with the facts of
his case—in other words, if he
came under the category of
'false pretences'—it was said
that he 'had a famous bow,
but it was up at the Castle.'
Vain military and other
boasters were the many who
'talked of Robin Hood, but who
never shot his bow.' 'An
archer is known by his aim, and
not by his arrows'; that is, if
you are not answerable for your
materials, at least show your
skill in the modus operandi; or
at all events, don't depend
entirely upon your tool.
1562. Heywood, Prov. and Epigr. (1867), 30. Ye have many stryngis to the bowe. [m.]
1588. Marprelate's Epistle, p. 18 (ed. Arber). Doe you not thinke that I haue two strings to my bow.
