politicians, who do the work at the Democratic polls, and manipulate the primaries and local conventions.
1888. New York Herald, 4 Nov. A band succeeded them and preceded a lot of ward heelers and floaters.
2. (American).—A bar, or other loafer; anyone on the look-*out for shady work.
3. (American thieves')—An accomplice in the pocket-book racket (q.v.). [The Heeler draws attention, by touching the victim's heels, to a pocket-book containing counterfeit money which has been let drop by a companion, with a view to inducing the victim to part with genuine coin for a division of the find.]
4. (Winchester College).—A plunge, feet foremost, into water. Fr., une chandelle.
Heel-taps, subs. (common).—1.
Liquor in the bottom of a glass.
Bumpers round and no heel
taps = Fill full, and drain dry!
See Daylight. Fr., la musique.
1795. Gent. Mag., p. 118. Briskly pushed towards me the decanter containing a tolerable bumper, and exclaimed, 'Sir, I'll buzz you: come, no heel-taps!'
1836. Dickens, Pickwick (Ed. 1857), p. 10. No heel-taps, and he emptied the glass.
1838. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, ch. xxxii. There was a proper objection to drinking her in heeltaps.
1841. Punch, i., 117. Empty them heeltaps, Jack, and fill out with a fresh jug.
1844. Buckstone, The Maid with the Milking Pail. Added to which, she's a termagant, and imbibes all the heel-*taps.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xiv. The relics of yesterday's feast—the emptied bottles . . . the wretched heel-*taps that have been lying exposed all night to the air.
2. (common).—A dance peculiar to London dustmen.
Heifer, subs. (common).—A
woman; old heifer (in
Western America) = a term of
endearment. For synonyms,
see Petticoat.
18(?). In the Back Woods, p. 71. Now, git out, I says, or the ol' heifer 'll show you whar the carpenter left a hole for you to mosey.
Heifer-paddock, subs. (Australian).—A
ladies' school.
1885. Mrs. Campbell-Praed, Australian Life. The cattle (women) hereabouts are too scattered. . . . Next year I shall look over a heifer-paddock in Sydney, and take my pick.
Heigh-ho, subs. (thieves').—Stolen
yarn. [From the expression
used to apprise the fence
that the speaker had stolen yarn
to sell.]
Heights. To scale the heights
of connubial bliss, verb. phr.
(venery).—To copulate. For
synonyms, see Greens and Ride.
Helbat, subs. (back).—A table.
Hell, subs. (old).—1. Generic for
a place of confinement, as in some
games (Sydney), or a cell in a
prison: specifically, a place
under the Exchequer Chamber,
where the king's debtors were
confined.
1593. Shakspeare, Comedy of Errors, iv., 2. A hound that runs counter, and yet draws dry-foot well, One that before the judgement, carries poor souls to hell.
1658. Counter-Rat. In Wood Street's hole, or counter's hell.
1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Secreta. . . . Also the name of a place in Venice where all their secret records and ancient evidences be kept, as hell is in Westminster Hall.
