You-know-what, subs. phr. (schoolgirls' conventional).—The female pudendum, the PUSSY (q.v.): see Monosyllable.
c. 1650. Brathwayte, Barnaby's Jl. (1723), 93. But tho' . . . fat-a Her I caught by YOU KNOW WHAT-A.
Young, adj. (political).—Found in various Canting (subs. 2) combinations: Thus, Young England = a set of young aristocrats, who tried to revive the courtly manners of the Chesterfield school: they wore white waistcoats, patronised the pet poor, looked down upon shopkeepers, and were imitators of the period of Louis XIV.: Disraeli has immortalised their ways and manners. Young Germany = a literary school, headed by Heinrich Heine [Hi-ny], whose aim was to liberate politics, religion, and manners from the old conventional trammels. Young Ireland = followers of Daniel O'Connell in politics, but wholly opposed to his abstention from war and insurrection in vindication of 'their country's rights.' Young Italy = certain Italian refugees, who associated themselves with the French republican party, called the Carbonnerie Democratique: the society was first organised at Marseilles by Mazzini, and its chief object was to diffuse republican principles (Brewer).
Young Buffs (The), subs. phr. (military).—The first battalion East Surrey Regiment, late the 31st Foot. [At Dettingen, George II., through the similarity of the facings, mistook it for the 3rd Foot or (Old) Buffs.]
Young Eyes (The), subs. phr. (military).—The Seventh (The Queen's Own) Hussars.
Young Hopeful, subs. phr. (colloquial).—A half jocular, half affectionate address. [Cf. Patten, Somerset's March (1548), in which young Edward VI. is said to be of great HOPE; i.e. he begets hope in others.]
Young Man, subs. phr. (once literary: now conventionally vulgar).—A sweetheart, lover.
1585. Puttenham, Art of Eng. Poesy [Arber], 66. [We hear of a girl's YOUNG MAN.]
Youngster (Younker, Younker-*kin, etc.), subs. (old).—1. A lad, a young person: always more or less familiar, contemptuous, or colloquial. Also (2) a novice, an inexperienced youth, and (nautical) a raw hand; in modern naval usage = a junior officer. [Smyth-Palmer (s.v. Youngster): No doubt a corrupt form of YOUNKER, orig. (Germ ) a title of honour. Trench: The first example of YOUNGSTER which Richardson gives us is from the Spectator [No. 324]. If it exists at all in our earlier literature, it will hardly be otherwise than as the female correlative of the male younker or 'yonker,' a word of constant recurrence. Contrari-*wise, see quot. 1593; it is probably late Tudor, having birth at a time when it had been forgotten that the termination -ster was originally feminine only.] Hence to make a YOUNKER of one = to gull, cheat, deceive (for an innocent).
[1502-9. Letters of Richard III. and Henry VII. (Gardner). We see the Dutch title of honour, YONKER.]
1530. Palsgrave, Lang. Francoyse, s.v. Ung rustre [an uncouth rustic, but note similarity to YOUNGSTER], YONKER.
c. 1530. Christes Kirk on the Green [Oliphant, New Eng., i. 467. Younker . . . did not come in long before that year.]
