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the ordinary slung-shot in use by policemen and others. Twelve ounces of solid lead and raw-hide, dashed against the thickest skull by a strong armed ruffian, would as effectually silence a man as an ounce of the same metal discharged from the bore of a Springfield rifle. It may be remarked that billy in English slang is a policeman's staff, a very different weapon.

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, Ap. 4. The condition of the man reported as having been shot twice in the head on Thursday afternoon, is not at all alarming. It transpires that his wounds are not of the gun-shot sort, but were inflicted with a billy in the hands of a Pinkerton man.

4. (popular.)—A policeman's staff; a truncheon.

1884. Daily News, Ap. 7, p. 5, col. 1. Anderson was first brought down by a pistol shot, and was then corrected with a billy, till he declared himself vanquished.

5. (Australian and New Zealand.)—A bushman's tea-pot or saucepan.

1885. G. A. Sala, in Daily Telegraph, Sept. 3, 5, 5. They got enough flour from Sydney to make their 'dampers,' and enough tea to boil in their billies.

1886. G. Sutherland, Australia, p. 104. A billy, or small tin can, for boiling tea or coffee.

1889. Illustrations, Oct., p. 22. Refusing a pressing invitation to stay and spend Christmas with the good people with whom I had been boarding, and heeding lightly their remarks as to 'new chum,' 'dangers of the bush,' 'all alone,' 'strange country,' etc., etc., I took a look at the map, and packed my 'swag.' Now a 'swag' proper, usually contains blankets, towels, 'billy,' pannikin, and many other articles . . . Ibid, p. 28. The 'billy' is off, but the roadman (Irish, of course) gives me a grateful cup of beer, and accompanies me to the hotel another mile down the road.

Billy Barlow, subs. (common).—A street clown; a mountebank—so called from the hero of a slang song. Billy was a real person, semi-idiotic, and though in dirt and rags, fancied himself a swell of the first water. Occasionally he came out with real witticisms. He was a well-known street character about the East-end of London, and died in Whitechapel Workhouse.

1851-61. H. Mayhew, London Lab.and Lon. Poor, vol. III., p. 148. Billy Barlow is another supposed comic character, that usually accompanies either the street-dancers or acrobats in their peregrinations. The dress consists of a cocked-hat and red feather, a soldier's coat (generally a sergeant's with sash), white trousers with the legs tucked into Wellington boots, a large tin eye-glass, and an old broken and ragged umbrella.

These merry Andrews are otherwise called Jim crows and saltimbancos; among the French, un pitre.

Billy-Boy, subs. (nautical).—A vessel like a galliot, with two masts, the fore-mast square-rigged. They hail mainly from Goole. Also called humber-keels.

Billy-Button, subs. (rhyming slang).—1. Mutton.

2. (tailors'.)—A contemptuous term for a journeyman tailor.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, III., p. 117. And there I did Jeremiah Stitchem to his Billy Button. Ibid, p. 142. A laughable sketch entitled Billy Button's ride to Brentford, and I used to be Jeremiah Stitchem, a servant of Billy Button's, that comes for a 'situation.'

Billy-Buzman, subs. (thieves').—A thief whose speciality is silk pocket and neckerchiefs. [From billy, slang for a pocket-handkerchief, + buzman, slang for a thief.]