word itself can be traced back to about A.D. 800. Its figurative and slang signification is recorded as follows:—
1615. Latham, Falconry (1633), 115. The lungs doe draw a breath . . . When these bellowes doe decay, then health from both doth fade away, [M.]
1730. Jas. Miller, Humours of Oxford, Act v., Sc. 2., p. 75 (2 ed.). Heark you, madam, don't abuse my wife—slut quotha! i'gad let me tell you, she has done a cleaner thing than you'll ever do while your bellows blow, old lady.
1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Sc. 3. A plague on those malty cove fellows, Who'd have us in spirits relax; Drink, they say, and you'll ne'er burn the bellows, Half water instead of all max; A glass of good max, had they twigg'd it, Would have made them, like us, lads of wax; For Sal swigg'd, and Dick swigg'd, And Bob swigg'd, and Nick swigg'd, And I've swigged, and we've all of us swigg'd it, And, by Jingo, there's nothing like max. All Max! By Jingo, there's nothing like max!
1843. Haliburton ('Sam Slick'), Sam Slick in England, ch. xxii. He [the servant] is so fat and lazy . . . walkin' put him out o' breath . . . How I would like to lick him . . . round the park . . . to improve his wind, and teach him how to mend his pace. I'd repair his old bellowses for him, I know.
Though regarded as slang in England, the word is colloquially used in many parts of America, in the duplicated plural form—bellowses.
1848. J. R. Lowell, in Biglow Papers, I., p. 23. His bellowses is sound enough.
Bellowsed, ppl. adj. (old).—Transported; lagged. Cf., Bellowser, sense 2.
Bellowser, subs. (pugilistic).—1. A blow in the pit of the stomach, or wind—one that takes the breath away.
2. (old.)—A sentence of transportation for life.
1856. Novels and Tales (from Household Words), Tauch. ed. vi., p. 187. A sigh of the kind which is called by the lower classes a bellowser.
Bellows to Mend, phr. (common).—It is said of a broken-winded horse that it has bellows to mend; likewise of a man whose lungs are affected, or one who from any cause is 'out of health.'
1856. Cuthbert Bede, Verdant Green, pt. II., ch. iv. To one gentleman he would pleasantly observe, as he tapped him on the chest, 'Bellows to mend for you, my buck!'
Bell-Rope, subs. (common).—The same as aggerawators (q.v).
1868. Brewer, Phrase and Fable, s.v., 'Love lock.' When men indulge in a curl in front of their ears, the love-lock is called a bell-rope—i.e., a rope to pull the belles after them.
Bells Down! intj. (Winchester College).—See quotation and Bells go single!
1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 62. The junior in chamber had a hard time of it; . . . while endeavouring to get through his multifarious duties, he had to keep a sharp ear on the performance of the chapel bell, and to call out accordingly, 'first peal!' 'second peal!' and bells down!
Bells go Single! intj. (Winchester College).—A single bell is rung for five minutes before the hour at which chapel commences. For College evening chapel three three's are rung, and then follows a 'bell,' one for every man in College—70.
1878. Adams, Wykehamica, p. 256. At a quarter to six the peal again rang out, and the cry of bells go was sounded in shrill tones through every chamber of College and Commoners.
