saying originated in 1756, and was taken up by the people from Murphy's play of "The Apprentice," in which the strong point of the old merchant Wingate is his extreme reverence for Cocker and his Arithmetic. In America, a similar confirmation phrase is in common use, except that the name of Gunter is substituted for that of Cocker. Gunter was a famous arithmetician, and no doubt the American phrase is the oldest. The old laws of Rhode Island say, "All casks shall be gauged by the rule commonly known as 'gauging by Gunter.'" "Mr. K., a respected citizen of Detroit, has published a letter entirely exonerating General Cass from the charge of having defrauded his association in the land speculations. He is positive that all was done according to Gunter." According to John Norie is the standard of appeal among sailors. John Norie compiled a very popular work entitled, "The Navigator's Standard Manual." Among schoolboys according to Walkinghame is the confirmation of a rule.
According to the revised statutes (American). Anything that is legal, or properly authorised or established. An expression first used in this general or humorous sense by a lawyer of New York named Halstead, in Vanity Fair, in 1860.
Account (nautical). Going upon account is a phrase for buccaneering.
(Sporting), to account for, refers to one's personal share in killing.
The persecuted animals (rats) bolted above ground; the terrier accounted for one, the keeper for another.—Thackeray: Vanity Fair.
Accounts (common). To cast up accounts is to vomit, and in thieves' lingo it signifies to become evidence against an accomplice.
Accumulatives (American). At times an editor in the United States will make a remark or a joke, then another will cite it and add a remark or a parody of it, which will again be commented on by a third. Thus one says:—
"William, familiarly known as 'Bill' Sticker, was indicted last week in Leadville for passing counterfeit money. This is according to law, for he who runs may read in any street, 'Bill Stickers will be prosecuted.'"
To which a rival adds:
"We say amen to that. We were stuck yesterday ourself with a bad bill."
And a third exclaims:
"Suppose Sam Jones should put a bowie into Bill Sticker, who would be the Bill Sticker in that case? Let us reflect!"
We have seen as many as twenty and more of these accumulative paragraphs of this kind "going the rounds" of the country press.
