Buckish, adj. (old).—Foppish; dandyish. [From buck (q.v.) + ish.] Now colloquial.
1782. D'Arblay, Diary, etc. (1876), i., 463. A buckish kind of young man of fashion.
1785. Wolcot ('P. Pindar'), Apolog. Postscript to Ode upon Ode, in wks. (Dublin, 1795), vol. I., p. 365. Did not good Nathan tell that buckish youth, David the King, that he stole sheep?
1789. Geo. Parker, Life's Painter, p. 57. Having beat the rounds (as buckish spirits phrase it) of that bustling microcoser, the British metropolis, for eighteen months.
1812. Coombe, Dr. Syntax, Picturesque, ch. xvii.
A buckish blade, who kept a horse, To try his fortune on the course.
1858. G. Eliot, Janet's Repentance, ch. v. 'I've made him as neat as a new pin this morning, and he says the Bishop will think him too buckish by half.'
1873. W. D. Howells, A Chance Acquaintance, ch. xiii. A very buckish young fellow, with a heavy black moustache and black eyes, who wore a jaunty round hat, blue checked trousers, a white vest, and a morning-coat of blue diagonals.
Buck-Jump, subs. (stable).—A jump made in buck (q.v., verb, sense 2) fashion.
1864. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, ch. ix. The instant the chestnut was mounted he reared, and indulged in two or three 'buck-jumps' that would have made a weaker man tremble for his backbone.
Buckle, verb, trans. and intrans. (colloquial).—1. To unite or be united in wedlock—a humorous term. For synonyms, see Splice. French thieves call such a union l'amadouage.
1693. Dryden, Juvenal, vi., 37. Is this an age to buckle with a bride?
1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. lxvii. Who . . . declared himself well satisfied with the young man's addresses, and desired that they might be buckled with all expedition.
1822. Scott, The Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxxii.
'Buckle them, my Lord Bishop, as fast as you can. . . . The Bishop accordingly opened his book and commenced the marriage ceremony.'
1857. A. Trollope, Three Clerks, ch. xlvi. 'We could have half a dozen married couples all separating, getting rid of their ribs and buckling again, helter-skelter, every man to somebody else's wife.'
Buckle-Beggar, subs. (old).—A Fleet prison 'clergyman'; one who celebrated marriage ceremonies therein; thence, one who celebrated irregular marriages; a hedge priest; one who undertook similar offices for gypsies and tramps—a buckle the beggars.—See Couple- beggar. [Of Scotch derivation, but Cf., Buckle, verb, sense 1.]
c. 1700. Ld. Fountainhill, Diary, in Larwood, Bk. Cleric. Anecd., 294. He after turn'd a buckle-beggar, i.e., one who married without license. [m.]
1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xvii. (II., p. 86). A hedge parson, or buckle-beggar, as that order of priesthood has been irreverently termed. Ibid, ch. xxvii. (III., p. 22). Dr. R., who buckles beggars for a tester [sixpence] and a dram of Geneva.
Buckled, ppl. adj. (thieves').—Arrested; taken into custody; 'scragged.'
Buckle Down, verb (common).—To 'settle down'; to become reconciled to; a variant of to 'knuckle down' (q.v.).
1874. Jos. Hatton, Clytie, bk. III., ch. iv. 'But you do not buckle down to your position,' said Cuffing . . . 'you wrangle, you higgle.'
Buckler, subs. (American thieves').—A collar. Cf., All-rounder.
Buckles, subs. (old).—Fetters of any kind. For synonyms, see Darbies.
