(Racing), the saddling paddock adjoining the Grand Stand at Newmarket. (Popular), a four - wheeled cab, otherwise known by the appropriate appellation of "growler."
Bird-lime (thieves), rhyming slang for time.
Birdseye (popular), a handkerchief.
Were they lurking at this secluded spot until what they thought was a good time to sheer off with the "swag"? Was that the swag tied up in the blue birdseye?—J. Greenwood: In Strange Company.
Bird's eye fogle, a (prize-fighters), the name of a scarf tied round their waists by prize-fighters in the ring; a neckerchief or handkerchief with white spots on a black, blue, or other ground. Fogle, from the German vogel, a bird.
Bird's eye wipe (common), a kerchief, either for the pocket or neck, with blue spots on it.
Birk (back slang), a "crib," i.e., house.
Birthday suit (common), the suit of our first parents before they had a bite in the apple.
Bish (Anglo-Indian), poison; Sanskrit, vīsha, poison.
An old English gypsy once asked me if I knew what beesa meant. He said it was a kind of poison made from beans. I recognised in it at once an Indian word for poison, especially aconite.
Bishop (horse-dealers), to bishop a horse is a swindling contrivance resorted to in order to deceive buyers as to its age. An old horse has no black streaks on his teeth, and by some process these are made to appear; from a north of England term. See Bishop's foot.
(Common), the chamber utensil or "jordan;" also, latterly, an "it." The last is derived from the humorous description of Max O'Rell in "John Bull's Womankind," p. 15:—
"Better still, would you believe that in very good houses I have seen, and very plainly too, ... yes, positively, I have seen It on the floor under the washstand?"
Bishop's court. In most Australian sees the bishop's palace is called bishop's court. Perhaps palaces are considered unsuitable for democratic communities; just as it is not correct to address a colonial bishop as "my lord." In practice, however, they are always addressed "my lord." Not to do so would be an incivility.
Bishop's foot, to bishop (Lowland Scotch and North of England), the devil's foot. Milk burned in the pan is, in the North of England, said to be bishoped. In Fifeshire the expression is applied to food that has been scorched in cooking or otherwise spoiled—"the bishop's foot's in it." The bishop means the devil, and the saying
