the reputation of a 'debateable land.'
1688. Shadwell, Sq. of Alsatia I., in wks. (1720), IV., 25. Who are these? Some inhabitants of White-fryers; some bullies of Alsatia.
1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xvi. Whitefriars, adjacent to the Temple, then well known by the cant name of Alsatia.
2. Hence any rendezvous or asylum for loose characters and criminals, where immunity from arrest is tolerably certain; a haunt of thieves, and the criminal classes; a low quarter.
1787. Grose, Prov. Glossary, etc. (1811), p. 82. A 'squire of Alsatia. A spendthrift or sharper, inhabiting places formerly privileged from arrests.
1861. Miss Braddon, Trail of the Serpent, bk. II., ch. i. So Blind Peter was the Alsatia of Slopperton, a refuge for crime and destitution.
1876. Lord Justice James, in ex parte Saffery re Cooke, Law Times, 35, p. 718. The Stock Exchange is not an Alsatia; the Queen's laws are paramount there, and the Queen's writ runs even into the sacred precincts of Capel-Court.
Alsatian, subs. (old).--A rogue, or debauchee, such as haunted Alsatia or Whitefriars.
1691. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), II., 259. The benchers of the Inner Temple having given orders for bricking up their little gate leading into White-*fryers.... the Alsatians came and pulled it down.
c. 1700. Gentleman Instructed, p. 491 [10 ed., 1732]. He spurr'd to London, and left a thousand curses behind him. Here he struck up with sharpers, scourers, and Alsatians.
1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xvii. 'You shall sink a nobleman in the Temple Gardens, and rise an Alsatian at Whitefriars.'
Adj.--Pertaining to Alsatia; roguish; debauched.
1688. Shadwell, Sq. of Alsatia I. in wks. (1720), IV., 27. He came out of White Fryers: he's some Alsatian bully.
1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xvii. An extravagantly long rapier and poinard marked the true Alsatian bully.
1882. Besant, All Sorts and Conditions of Men, ch. vii. The road has come to be regarded with admiration as one of those Alsatian retreats, growing every day rarer, which are beyond and above the law.
Alsatia Phrase, subs. (old).--A slang or cant term, such as was used by Alsatians; or, now-a-days, by thieves and vagrants.
1704. Swift, Tale of a Tub. Apology for author. The second instance to shew the author's wit is not his own, is Peter's banter (as he calls it in his Alsatia phrase) upon transubstantiation.
Synonymous terms were Pedler's French, St. Giles' Greek, etc.
Altamel, Altemal, subs., adj., adv., and intj. (American thieves').--
Adv.--All together, as 'Let's anchor altemal,' i.e., 'Let us come to a stop altogether.'
Subs.--The sum total of a bill or story.
Intj.--An injunction to 'cut it short.'
Altemal is said to be derived from the Dutch altemal, but Murray has it as 'altumal' with a different derivation. [From L. altum, the deep, i.e., the sea + al.] Grose leans to the former and quotes Dutch reckoning as synonymous; from a verbal account without particulars, such as was given in brothels and sponging houses--accounts which allowed of no sort of verification. Cf., Flemish account and remarks under Dutch.
1711. Medleys, 29 Jan. (1712), 186. His altumal cant, a mark of his poor Traffick and Tar-Education.
1758. Chambers, Cycl. Supp. Altumal, a term used to denote the mercantile style, or dialect. In this sense, we
