can and colonial adjectival use of the word in the sense of fine, 'crack.'
4. (American thieves'.)—A weapon formed by tying a stone or a piece of lead in a handkerchief. This is used knuckleduster fashion.
Adj. (American).—Fine; capital; crack; 'spiff.' Applied to persons only, this adjective is traceable as far back as 1681; it seems, however, to have fallen into disuetude and to have been subsequently revived in a much more extended sense in the U.S.A., whence it has made the circuit of the English speaking world. Now applied to anything deserving of commendation, and used very much in the same way and with the same shades of meaning as 'crack.'
English Synonyms. See A1.
French Synonyms. In addition to those given under A1 may be mentioned the following:—muche; pas piqué des hannetons (popular: literally not bitten or stung by May-bugs or cock-*chafers).
1681. Chetham, Anglers' Vade Mecum (1689), pref. From such bully fishers this book expects no other reception.
1855. Cairo City Times. The bully steamboat 'Crystal Palace' passed up to St. Louis on Monday. We have no doubt she left papers.
1870. Meade, New Zealand, p. 331. The roof fell in, there was a 'bully' blaze.
1875. N. Amer. Review, vol. CXX., p. 128. 'That,' replied Earney, 'is Mercury, the god of merchants and thieves.' 'Good! that's bully!' exclaimed Tweed.
1880. Bret Harte, A Lonely Ride. 'I thought you changed horses on the road?' 'So we did. Two hours ago.' 'That's odd. I didn't notice it.' 'Must have been asleep sir. Hope you had a pleasant nap. Bully place for a nice quiet snooze,—empty stage, sir!'
That's bully for you, phr. (American).—Grand or fine; this phrase, during the Civil War, had a remarkably popular run.
1873. Justin McCarthy, Fair Saxon, ch. xix. 'Darling boy! I had thought of this already.' 'Bully for you, mamma! Of course you did.'
Bully boy or bully boy with the glass eye, phr. (American).—A good fellow.
1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xxxiv. 'Well said, my hearty captain!' cried Glossin, endeavouring to catch the tone of revelry. . . . 'That's it, my bully boy! Why, you're alive again now!—'
1817. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. viii. 'And you, Mr. Frank Osbaldistone, are not the first bully-boy that has said stand to a true man.'
1869. S. L. Clemens ('Mark Twain'), Innocents at Home, p. 20. You ought to seen him get started once. He was a bully boy with a glass eye.
Bully-Back or Bully-Buck, subs. (old).—Thus described by Grose: A bully to a bawdy house, one who is kept in pay, to oblige the frequenters of the house to submit to the impositions of the mother abbess or bawd, and who also sometimes pretends to be the husband of one of the ladies, and under that pretence extorts money from greenhorns, or ignorant young men, whom he finds with her. Cf., Bully-boss.
1626. Amherst, Terræ Fil., xxxiii., 179. They have spirtual bravves on their side, and old lecherous bully-backs to revenge their cause. [m.]
Bully Beef, subs, (military).—Tinned meat. Also called iron ration (q.v.). In the navy by
