their schemes the customer had 'not the ghost of a chance to win.' Their quotations were obtained surreptitiously, and, in handling them, the bucket-shop keepers in several ways take unfair advantage of their clients. The term bucket shop has become common in England, but, fortunately for the community at large, no comparison can be drawn between the establishments known by that name in England, and those which flourish in America under the same title, though in very truth the proceedings of some of the former are scandalous enough. [Possibly from bucket (q.v.), to cheat, + shop. As an alternative derivation, the 'bucket' into which the tape falls may be suggested.
1887. Daily News, 14 April, 7, 1. Mr. Charles Fisher said that he carried on business as an agent. . . . He did Stock Exchange business, for clients. Mr. Besley: Commonly called a bucket shop, I think.
1888. Missouri Republican, Feb. 12. New York, Feb. 11.—(Special).—Inspector Brynes was seized with another spasm of indignation against the bucket-shops this morning, and, accompanied by detectives and a squad of officers, he swooped down upon the lairs of these enemies of the Stock Exchange that abound on Lower Broadway and New Street.
1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 12 Nov., p. 3, col. 1. 'The tape is credited with fostering gambling.' 'Well, we know that there are bucket-shops, but we have for some time refused to entertain any proposal for a machine if there is the least prospect of its being used for bucket-shop purposes. There is gambling, of course, but it is unfair to say that the tape is responsible for it. The tape was not originated for that purpose, but in order to inform the public, through the newspapers or otherwise, how securities were going, and it does that. In practice it serves as a check between client and broker, and broker and jobber.'
2. Also applied generally to low groggeries; lottery offices; gambling dens, etc.
Buck Face, subs. (old).—A cuckold; one who in French slang is said to be un loger rue du Croissant.
Buck Fitch, subs. (old).—An old roué; a lecherous old man.
Buckhara, subs. (American).—A name given in California to a cattle-driver or cowboy.
Buckhorse, subs. (pugilistic).—A smart blow or box on the ear. [Derived from the name of a celebrated 'bruiser' of that name. Buckhorse was a man who either possessed or professed insensibility to pain, and who would for a small sum allow anyone to strike him with the utmost force on the side of the face. His real name was John Smith, and he fought in public 1732-46.]
French Synonyms. (For the blow itself.) Une boffete (from the old word buffet); une bouffe; une châtaigne; une accolade; une pamure. To receive a buckhorse, encaisser un soufflet; to give a buckhorse; donner la savate.
1864. Blackwood's Mag., II., p. 463 (the Public Schools' Report, 1864—Westminster School). One of the Seniors informs us that the common punishment was buckhorsing. 'That was boxing the ears, was it?' 'Yes.' Buckhorsing was rather severe, was it not?' etc. 'I got buckhorsed pretty often.'
1876. Lord Albemarle, Fifty Years of my Life, quoted in Temple Bar, August, 1884, p. 517. He then felled me to the ground by a swinging buckhorse on my right cheek.
