slang, in which every word, as far as possible, is pronounced backwards. See 'A Comparative and Historical Study of Slang' at the end of this work.
verb. 1. (thieves').—To talk in the back-slang lingo.
2. (thieves').—To go or come stealthily from a place; to sneak by a roundabout way; also, to go away quickly.
3. (Australian).—Up country in Australia, as in most parts a little out of the beaten tracks of civilization, a traveller is welcome at most of the homesteads in his way. Though unknown to the inmates, and bearing no letter of introduction, it is a common thing for a wayfarer to ride or drive up to a house, maybe call for help, and then take up his quarters for the night. This, in Australia, is called back-slanging it, though how the phrase is derived is not quite clear, for there is no suggestion of sneaking or proceeding stealthily in the question.
Backwardation, subs. (Stock Exchange).—A
penalty paid for
an extension of time, by sellers,
when unable to deliver stock
or shares which they have contracted
to deliver by a certain
date. Backwardation is the
reverse of contango (q.v). Obviously
this sometimes permits
the purchase of stock cheaper
on credit than for cash.
1850. Keyser, Law of the Stock Exchange. The term backwardation is employed when stock is more in demand than money, and a premium is given to obtain the loan of stock against its value in money.
1886. Daily News, 14 Dec, p. 6, col. 1. The 1873 loan is, on balance, about 5/8 lower, at 94, after being 93½. The backwardation on the stock went off at the close.
Backy, subs. (tailors').—A shop-mate
who works behind another.
Bacon, subs. (popular).—The
human body. A reference probably
to the fact that the flesh
of the pig forms the staple meat
diet of the rural population, and
lower classes generally. Formerly,
no doubt, the term was
applied, at first ironically or
contemptuously, to a sleek, gross
person; hence such compounds
as 'chaw-bacon,' 'bacon-brains,'
'bacon-face,' 'bacon-slicer,'
'bacon-picker,' etc. A transference
in sense, and a curtailment
in form, in which bacon
came to signify the human body
was, from this point, easy
enough. For synonyms, see
Apple-cart.
To save one's bacon, phr. (popular).—To escape narrowly from loss, danger, or damage; to just get off. The term is here an attributive usage of the slang sense, in which bacon signifies the human body. When it is said that a man has just saved his bacon, it refers to the individual himself. So also in the kindred phrase, 'Oh, spare my bacon,' the suppliant asks to be spared in his own person; and the same idea occurs in 'to sell one's bacon,' i.e., one's flesh or body, as in the case of women of the town. Falstaff, in. Henry IV., Act ii., Sc. 2. 93 [1596] thus applies bacon to human beings—'On! Bacons, on!' So far the general aspect of the question; in regard to particulars, Mr. Thomas
