for my ben,' murmured the great Dr. Mortemas.
1880. G. R. Sims, Ballads of Babylon (Forgotten). You saw me as Hamlet, Charley, the night that I had my ben.
2. (old cant.)—A fool.—Grose.—See Benish.
3. (common.)—A shortened form of Benjamin (q.v.), a coat; also of benjy (q.v.), a waistcoat.
1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 252. Being at Hailsham, a small market town in Sussex, about the year 1846, I attended the club feast, which was held on the common. At that time we used to buy men's waistcoats of Michael Riley, of Manchester, at £5 per gross, and sell them at 1s. 6d., 1s. 3d., and the lowest price at a shilling each. I had a bale containing twelve dozen arrive that morning, they were red ones; and in offering these bens, the plan was to put them on to show how well they fitted.
To stand ben (popular).—To stand treat.
Benar.—See Bene.
Benbouse, subs. (old cant).—Good
beer. [From the Latin bene =
good + bouse or booze.]
1567. Harman, Caveat (1869), p. 85. The vpright cofe canteth to the Roge: 'I saye by the Salomon I will lage it of with a gage of benebouse; then cut to my nose watch.' ['I sweare by the masse, I wull washe it of with a quart of good drynke; then saye to me what thou wylt.']
1622. John Fletcher, Beggar's Bush.
I crown thy nab with a gag of benbouse, And stall thee by the salmon into clowes, To maund on the pad and strike all the cheats, To mill from the Ruffmans, and commission and slates. Twang dell's, i' the stiromel, and let the quire cuffin And Herman Beck strine and trine to the Ruffin!
i.e.,
I poure on thy pate a pot of good ale, And by the Rogue's oath, a Rogue the install, To beg on the way and rob all thou meets, To steal from the hedge both the shirt and the sheets, And lie with thy wench in the straw till she twang, Let the Constable, Justice, and Devil go hang!
Bencher, subs. (old).—A frequenter
of taverns; one who hulks
about public houses; perhaps
with an allusion to the Benchers
of the Inns of Court.
Ben Cull or Cove, subs. (thieves').—A
friend; a 'pall'; a companion.
[From old cant bene
or ben, good + cull, a man.]
For synonyms, see Cove.
Bend, verb (Scotch).—To tipple;
to drink hard. Jamieson, the
first lexicographer to draw
attention to the word in its
slang sense, illustrates his example
by quotations from Alan
Ramsay. Murray suggests that
it is derived from that sense of
to bend, signifying 'to pull,'
'to strain,' 'to apply oneself.'
1758. A. Ramsay, Poems (1800), I., 215. Brawtippony . . . which we with greed bended, as fast as she could brew. Ibid, ii., 73. To bend wi' ye, and spend wi' ye, an evening, and gaffaw. [1860. Ramsay, Remin., Ser. 1 (ed. 7), 47. Bend weel to the Madeira at dinner, for here ye'll get little o't after.]
Above one's bend, phr. (common).—Above one's ability, power or capacity; or out of one's reach. Probably a corruption of 'above one's bent.' Shakspeare puts the expression in the mouth of Hamlet, 'to the top of my bent' (iii., 2). In the Southern States [U.S.A.], its place is generally taken by above my huckleberry (q.v.). An English equivalent is 'above one's hook.'
