1598. Shakspeare, King Henry IV., ii., 4. Doll. Away, you cut-purse rascal! you filthy bung, away! By this wine, I'll thrust my knife in your mouldy chaps, an' you play the saucy cuttle with me.
1658. An Age for Apes, p. 232. My bung observing this, takes hold of time, Just as this lord was drawing for a prime, And smoothly rims his purse that lay beside him.
3. (common.)—A brewer; landlord of a public house, etc. [An allusion to the bungs, or large corks used in the 'mouths' of beer barrels.]
1863. Cornhill Magazine (The Inner Life of a Man-of-War), Feb. From time immemorial these gentlemen [master's assistants] have had to stand at the grog-butt and see the grog served out—an important duty, the discharge of which has invested them, such is the playfulness of naval humour, with the title of bungs.
1884. Graphic, Feb. 23, p. 170, col. 1. That Sir Wilfrid Lawson had turned bung, and applied for a spirit licence.
Verb (pugilistic).—1. Generally bung up, i.e., to close or shut up the eyes by means of a blow that causes a swelling. Formerly used of the mouth, ears, etc., and in literary use, but now regarded as a vulgarism. Cf. verb, sense 2.
1593. G. Harvey, Pierces Super., in wks. (Grosart) II., 128. That will bung-up their mouthes with a Collyrium of all the stale iestes in a country.
1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, in wks. V., 247. The waies beyond sea were so bungd vp with your dayly oratours or Beadsmen and your crutchet or crout-*chant friers . . . that a snaile coulde not wriggle in her homes betwixt them.
1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xix. 'I bunged up both eyes for him.'
2. (old.)—To give; pass; hand over; drink; or to perform almost any action. 'Bung over the rag,' hand over the money. Used by Beaumont and Fletcher, and Shakspeare. Also, to deceive one by a lie, to Cram, which see.
Bungay. Go to Bungay! phr. (general).—A euphemistic objurgation equivalent to consignment to a region the climate of which is tropical in character. For analogous phrases, see Go to hell.
Bung-Eyed, comp. ppl. adj. (common).—1. Drunk; fuddled; Screwed, which see for synonyms. [Derivation uncertain: possibly from the Scotch 'bung,' a low word quoted by Jamieson as meaning tipsy or fuddled, with perhaps an indirect allusion to the bunged or crooked distorted eye, the result of a fight or squabble.—See sense 2.]
1858. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, bk. III., ch. iii., p. 268. One coarse-featured fellow, who was nearly bung-eyed over his beer (as they call being drunk).
2. Cross-eyed; unable to see straight; 'boss-eyed' or 'squinny-eyed' (q.v.).
Bungfunger, verb (American).—To startle; to confuse. Compare With bumbsquabbled. Also used as an adjective for 'confounded.'
1835-40. Haliburton, The Clock-*maker, p. 91 (ed. 1862). 'Well, father, I thought he'd a fainted too, he was so struck up all of a heap; he was completely bung-fungered.'
Bung-Juice, subs. (thieves').—Porter, or beer. [From bung, a stopper for casks in which beer is kept, + juice. Cf., Cow-juice for milk, etc.] For synonyms, see Drinks and Swipes.
