1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 399. The best sort of rings for fawney dropping is the belchers. They are a good thick looking ring, and have the crown and V.R. stamped upon them.
3. (circus and showmen.)—A drinker of beer; generally a hard drinker. Cf., Belch.
1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 99. Now it is well known that travelling mummers are all rare belchers . . . I kept them in conversation . . . until the drink took the desired effect, and one by one the princes and kings dropped on the grass floor, and were sound drunk and asleep.
Belial, subs. (Oxford University).—A nickname of Balliol College.
Believe. I believe you, phr. (common).—This phrase is frequently employed to signify general assent; 'yes.' Sometimes colloquially 'I believe you my boy'; once a favourite catch-phrase of a well-known actor.
1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 286. 'Now confess: were you not a little surprised?'—'I believe you,' replied that illustrious person.
1849-50. Thackeray, Pendennis, I., p. 140. 'Miss Rouney, I gather, was the confidante of the other.' 'Confidant? I BELIEVE YOU.'
1860. George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss, p. 199. 'Is she a cross woman?'—'I BELIEVE YOU.'
1879. Dudley Costello, The Millionaire of Mincing Lane, p. 204. 'And she hates that fellow?'—'Hates him? I believe you.'
Bell, subs. (vagrants').—A song. Tramps' term. Simply diminutive of bellow.—Hotten.
Verb (schoolboy).—To bell a marble is to run away with it, but the action scarcely amounts to actual theft.
To RING ONE'S OWN BELL, phr. (American).—A variation of 'to blow one's trumpet'; to sound one's praises personally.
Bell-Bastard, subs. (provincial slang).—In the West of England the illegitimate child of a woman who is herself illegitimate; why and wherefore is obscure, though possibly a corruption of 'double bastard.'
Bellmare, subs. (American).—A political leader, mostly used contemptuously. The term is a slang appropriation from the terminology of Western life, where it seems to be used in regard to mules much in the same way as bell-wether is employed in England in reference to sheep. Why the grey mare, says the author of A Ride with Kit Carson, should be the better horse in the estimation of mules I cannot say, but such is certainly the fact. Though very cautious animals when relying solely on their own judgment, they would appear to have a consciousness of their own inferiority, which induces them to entertain a great regard for the sagacity of the horse, and especially for that of a white mare. The wily Californians, taking advantage of this amiable weakness, employ a steady, old, white mare of known gentleness and good character, to act as a kind of mother and guide to each drove of unruly mules.
Bellows, subs. (popular).—The lungs. This, etymologically, is the same as 'belly,' both words having passed through a most complicated history. Properly speaking a bellows is an instrument constructed to produce a strong current of air, and the
