3. (old).—A toss-penny; a gambler with coins. From gaffing (q.v.).
1828. Jon Bee, Living Picture of London, p. 241. If the person calling for 'man' or 'woman' is not right or wrong at five guesses, neither of the gaffers win or lose, but go again.
Verb. (venery).—To copulate. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.
Gaffing, subs. (old).—See quot.
1821. Pierce Egan, Life in London, p. 279. Gaffing was unfortunately for him introduced. Ibid. Note.—A mode of tossing for drinks, etc., in which three coins are placed in a hat, shaken up, and then thrown on the table. If the party to 'call' calls 'heads' (or 'tails') and all three coins are as he calls them, he wins; if not, he pays a settled amount towards drinks.
1839. Brandon, Poverty, Mendicity, and Crime, s.v.
Gag, subs. (common).—1. A joke;
an invention; a hoax.
1823. Jon Bee, Dict. of the Turf, s.v. Gag—a grand imposition upon the public; as a mountebank's professions, his cures, and his lottery-bags, are so many broad gags.
1871. All the Year Round, 18 Feb., p. 288. You won't bear malice now, will you? All gag of mine, you know, about old Miss Ponsonby.
1885. Daily News, 16 May, p. 5, c. 2. 'The Mahdi sends you lies from Khartoum, and laughs when you believe them,' said a native, lately. We need not gratify the Mahdi by believing any bazaar-gag he may circulate.
2. (theatrical).—Expressions interpolated by an actor in his part: especially such as can be repeated again and again in the course of performance. Certain plays, as The Critic, are recognised 'gag-pieces,' and in these the practice is accounted legitimate. Cf., Hamlet, iii., 2: 'And let those, that play your clowns, say no more than is set down for them.' Cf., Wheeze. Fr., la cocotte (specifically additions to vocal scores). A typical example is the 'I believe you, my boy!' of the late Paul Bedford. In the quot. under 1851-61, it is probable that gag = patter (q.v.)
1841. Punch, i., p. 105. I shall do the liberal in the way of terms, and get up the gag properly.
1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, iii., p. 148. When I go out I always do my own gag, and I try to knock out something new.
1866. W. D. Howells, Venetian Life, ch. v. . . .I have heard some very passable gags at the Marionette, but the real commedia a braccio no longer exists.
1889. Globe, 12 Oct., p. 4, c. 4. In a high-class music hall it is a rule that no song must be sung till it is read and signed by the manager, and this applies even to the gag.
1890. Pall Mall Gazette, 5 Mar., p. 4, c. 3. Mr. Augustus Harris pointed out that if the clause were carried the penalty would, in many cases, be incurred twenty times in one scene, for actors and singers were continually introducing gag into their business.
3. (American).—A commonwealth of players in which the profits are shared round. Cf., Conscience.
1847. Darley, Drama in Pokerville, p. 124. The artist . . . merely remarking that he had thought of a gag which would bring them through, mounted a ladder, and disappeared.
4. (American).—A fool; i.e., a thing to laugh at. For synonyms, see Cabbage- and Buffle-head and Sammy Soft.
1838-40. Haliburton, The Clockmaker, p. 46. 'Sam,' says he, 'they tell me you broke down the other day in the House of Representatives and made a proper gag of yourself.'
