1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3 ed., p. 445. A poultry stealer. A beaker-hunter.
Beak-Gander, subs. (common).—A
judge of the Superior Courts.
[From beak (q.v.), a magistrate
+ gander, a humorous term
for an old man.]
Beaksman, subs. (old).—See Beak
(sense 1), of which it is an
alternative form.
Beam Ends. To be thrown on
one's beam ends, phr. (nautical).—1.
To be in bad circumstances;
to be at one's last
shift; hard-up; a metaphor
drawn from sea-faring life. A
ship is said to be on her beam
ends when she is so prostrated
on her side by stress of weather,
or shifting of cargo, as to submerge
her lee rail.
1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, xl. In short, he laughed the idea down completely; and Tom, abandoning it, was thrown upon his beam ends again for some other solution. [h.]
1851. Henry Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, III., 121. When a fellow is on his beam ends, as I was then, he must keep his eyes about him, and have impudence enough for anything, or else he may stop and starve. [h.]
2. Also, less figuratively, to be thrown to the ground; to be reduced to a sitting or lying posture.
1830. Marryat, King's Own, xxvi. Our first lieutenant was . . . on his beam ends, with the rheumatiz.
1853. Rev. E. Bradley ('Cuthbert Bede'), Adventures of Verdant Green. You get on stunningly, gig-lamps, and haven't been on your beam ends more than once a minute.
Bean or Bien, subs. (popular).—A
sovereign. Formerly a
guinea. In America five-dollar
gold pieces are now called beans.
See also Half-bean and Haddock
of beans. In the old
French cant, biens meant money
or property. For synonyms,
see Canary.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Bean, a guinea. Half-bean.
1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. ix. Zoroaster took long odds that the match was off; offering a bean to half a quid (in other words, a guinea to a half guinea).
1885. D. C. Murray, Rainbow Gold, bk. V., ch. vi. 'Here's some of the beans,' he continued figuratively, as he drew five sovereigns from the same pocket, and surveyed them in his great brown palm.
Full of beans, phr. (society).—In good form or condition; as full of health, spirits, or capacity as a horse after a good feed of beans. Among the ancients the word signified venery; possibly, therefore, a more esoteric meaning may be attached to it than commonly supposed.—See Beany.
1889. Sporting Times, June 29. The tennis-ground [was] a pretty place, overlooking the harbour, and surrounded by trees and female beauty. The game began. 'Ich dien,' shouted Jack, as full of beans as the Prince of Wales' plume, and immediately sent a ball which went bang through the window of an adjoining house.
To give beans, phr. (common).—To chastise; to give a good drubbing. For synonyms, see Tan.
Like beans, adv. phr. (common).—In good form, style, time, etc.; with force; a general expression of approval and praise. Cf., Like blazes, bricks, or one o'clock.
Not to care, or be worth a bean.—To hold in little esteem; to think lightly of; to be of little value. The allusion is to
