1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 293. (ed. 1854). Ah, Dame Lobkin, if so be as our little Paul vas a vith you, it would be a gallows comfort to you in your latter hend!
1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, III., 90. I'll be smothered if I'm going to look down that gallows long chimney.
1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. xli. And the pleece come in, and got gallus well kicked about the head.
1869. Greenwood, Seven Curses of London, p. 244. Put it on your face so gallus thick that the devil himself won't see through it.
Gallows-bird (also Newgate-bird),
subs. (common).—1. A son
of the rope; an habitual criminal;
a vagabond or scoundrel, old or
young; a crack-rope or wag-halter
(Cotgrave; a gallows-clapper
(Florio). Fr., gibier
de Cayenne, or de potence.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. One that deserves hanging.
1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xi. That very gallows-bird were enough to corrupt a whole ante-chamber of pages.
2. (common).—A corpse on, or from, the gallows.
1861. Reade, Cloister and Hearth, ch. xxviii. I ne'er minced (dissected) ape nor gallows-bird.
Gallows-faced, adj. (old)—Evil-looking;
hang-dog. Also gallows-looking.
1766. H. Brooke, Fool of Quality, ii. 16. Art thou there, thou rogue, thou hang-dog, thou gallows-faced vagabond?
1768. Goldsmith, Good-natured Man, Act v. Hold him fast, he has the gallows in his face.
1837. Barham, I. L. (Misadv. at Margate). A little gallows-looking chap—dear me! what could he mean?
Gallows-minded, adj. (colloquial).—Criminal
in habit and
idea; also, evil-hearted.
Gallowsness, subs. (old).—Rascality;
recklessness; mischievousness.
1859. G. Eliot, Adam Bede, ch. vi. I never knew your equal for gallowsness.
Gallows-ripe, adj. (old).—Ripe
for the rope.
1837. Carlyle, French Revolution, Pt. II., bk. v., ch. iii. Loose again, as one not yet gallows-ripe.
Gallus.—See Gallows.
Gally-foist—See Galley-foist.
Gallyslopes, subs. (Old Cant).—Breeches.
For synonyms, see
Kicks.
Galoot (also galloot and geeloot),
subs. (general).—A man
(sometimes in contempt); also
(in America) a worthless fellow
(or thing, see quot. 1888); a
rowdy; a cad (q.v.).
1835. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, ch. xxxiv. Four greater galloots were never picked up, but never mind that.
1869. S. L. Clemens (Mark Twain) Innocents at Home, p. 22. He could lam any galoot of his inches in America.
1871. John Hay, Jim Bludso. I'll hold her nozzle agin the bank Till the last galoot's ashore.
1885. Saturday Review, Feb. 7, p. 167. I'll never draw a revolver on a man again as long as I live.'. . . 'Guess I'll go for the galoot with a two-scatter shoot-gun.
1888. New York Tribune, May 16. It is better to have a Carrot for a President than a dead beat for a son-in-law. In this way we again score a live beat on the galoot.
1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 137. 'My dear boy, I may be a galoot about literature, but you'll always be an outsider in business.
On the gay galoot, adv. phr. (common).—On the spree,
1892. Milliken, 'Arry Ballads, p. 3. I'm off on the gay galoot somewheres.
