Air One's Heels, verb. phr. (popular).--To loiter; to hang about.
Air One's Vocabulary, verb. phr.
(old).--To talk for talking's
sake; to show off by one's
talk; 'to flash the gab.'
One of the wits of the time of
George IV., when asked what was
going on in the House of Commons
answered that Lord Castlereagh
was airing his vocabulary.
The term is now rarely
heard, but the practice is with
us always.
Airy, subs. (vulgar).--A corruption
of 'area,' e.g., 'Down the airy
steps.'
A-Jakes.--See Ajax.
Ajax, subs. (old). Pronounced
with both 'a's' long).--The
name of this hero furnished
many unsavoury puns to our
ancestors, from its similarity in
sound to the two English words,
a jakes. In some of the passages
the allusion is rather
obscure, as in this:
1609. Ben Jonson, Epicœne, or The Silent Woman, iv., 5. A stool were better, sir, of Sir Ajax, his invention.
It is plainer in Shakspeare:
1594. Love's Labour Lost, v., 2. Your lion, that holds his poll-ax, sitting on a close stool, will be given to Ajax.
The cause of all this vein of low wit was, perhaps, Sir John Harrington, who in 1596 published his celebrated tract called The Metamorphosis of Ajax, by which he meant the improvement of a jakes, or necessary, by forming it into what we now call a water-closet, of which Sir John was clearly the inventor. For this offence to her delicacy, Queen Elizabeth kept him for some time in disgrace. Used directly for a necessary house.
1611. Cotgrave, Eng. Treasury, p. 16. Which (like the glorious Ajax of Lincoln's Inne, I saw in London) laps up naught but filth and excrements.
1720. Hosp. of Incurab. Fooles, p. 6. Adoring Sterculio for a god, no lesse unworthily then shamfully constituting him a patron and protector of Ajax and his commodities.
To the above work of Sir J. Harrington, Ben Jonson seems to allude, as a masterpiece in its way, when, at the conclusion of a dirty poem, he says,
1574-1637. On the Famous Voyage, vol. VI., p. 290:
And I could wish for their eterniz'd sakes, My muse had plough'd with his that sung A-jax.
The rhyme here proves that the pronunciation of the time was suited to the English meaning. Even Camden condescends to play upon this word. Speaking of the French word pet, he says,
1605. Remains, p. 117. Inquire, if you understand it not, of Cloacina's Chaplains, or such as are well read in Ajax.--See Jakes.
Akerman's Hotel, subs. (obsolete).--Newgate
prison was once
so called. The governor's
name was Akerman.--See Cage.
Akeybo.--A slang phrase used in
the following manner:--He
beats akeybo, and akeybo beat
the devil.--Hotten.
a-la-mort.--See Amort.
Albany Beef, subs. phr. (American).--The
popular name of
the flesh of the sturgeon. This,
