strong man; Job for a monument of patience, and others.
Across Lots. To go across lots, verb. phr.--To proceed by the shortest route; similarly to do anything in the most expeditious manner. The phrase had its rise in the natural tendency of settlers, in thinly-populated districts, to shorten the distance from point to point by leaving the road and striking across vacant lots. Brigham Young familiarized its idiomatic use in the now notoriously historic saying attributed to that 'Saint,'--'We'll send them (the Gentiles) to hell across lots.'
1848. Lowell, Biglow Papers.
Past noontime they went trampin' round An' nary thing to pop at found, Till, fairly tired o' their spree, They leaned their guns agin a tree, An' jest ez they wuz settin' down To take their noonin', Joe looked roun' And see (acrost lots in a pond That warn't mor'n twenty rod beyond), A goose that on the water sot Ez ef awaitin' to be shot.
1854. J. C. Neal, Charcoal Sketch's, i., p. 35 [to a grumbler]:--'You would cut across the lot, like a streak of lightning, if you had a chance.'
1887. Scribner's Magazine. 'I didn't see Crossby go by, did you?' 'He'd have had to foot it by the path cross-lots, replied Ezra, gravely, from the doorstep.'
Acteon, subs. (old).--A cuckold; from the horns planted on the head of Acteon by Diana.
Acting the Deceitful, verb. phr. (old theatrical).--Performing; mumming; acting.--Duncombe.
Active Citizen, subs. (popular).--A louse. For synonyms, see Chates.
Act of Parliament, subs. (old).--A military term for small beer, five pints of which, by an Act of Parliament, a landlord was formerly obliged to give gratis to each soldier billetted upon him. For synonyms, see Cold blood.
Actual. The actual, subs. (popular).--Money, when spoken of collectively. The fact of the existence of innumerable synonyms for the 'modern staff of life' goes far to bear out the latter-day contention that it is not the 'evil' itself ['money is the root of all evil'--Old Saw] but the lack of it that is to be deplored. The central idea enshrined in many of these terms will well repay comparative study, a vein of subtle, and sometimes grim humor and pathos running through not a few of them[** .] This applies equally to English slang, and to the French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese argots. Compare for example the English 'feathers' with the Spanish amigos (friends), the Italian agresto (sour grapes), and the French du foin (hay), or de l'os (bone), and obviously many a new side-light upon national habits and modes of thought may be obtained therefrom. The English and French, the two nations whose slang vocabularies are by far the most copious extant, have respectively upwards of 130 and 50 synonymous terms for money. The generic names are as follows:--
Eng. Synonyms. Ballast; beans; blunt (i.e., specie,--not soft, or rags, i.e., bank-notes); brads; brass; bustle; coal; coppers (copper money, or mixed pence); chink; chinkers; chips; corks; dibs; dimmock; dinarly;
