1888. Harper's Magazine, LXXVII., 139. Flinging off his gossamer and hanging it up to drip into the pan of the hat rack.
To give (or get) goss, verb. phr. (American).—To requite an injury; to kill; to go strong; to get an opportunity; to put in big licks (q.v.). Sometimes ejaculatory, as 'Give me goss and let me rip!'
1847. Robb, Squatter Life, p. 75. Gin him goss without sweetin.
1847. Darley, Drama in Porterville, p. 114. Divers hints passed from one to another among the more excitable citizens, that 'Old Sol' was going to get goss, sure.
1847. Porter, Quarter Race, etc., p. 115. Shouts of 'Fair play,' 'Turn 'em out,' 'Give him goss,' were heard on all sides.
a. 1852. Traits of American Humour, II., 261. Ef I don't, the old man will give me goss when I go back.
Gossoon, subs. (colloquial Irish).—A
boy. [A corruption of Fr.,
garçon = a boy.]
GOTCH-GUTTED, adj. (old).—Pot-bellied;
'a gotch in Norfolk,
signifying a pitcher or large round
jug.'—Grose.
Got 'em Bad, phr. (common).—A
superlative of earnestness or
excessiveness: e.g., anyone doing
his work thoroughly, a horse
straining every nerve, a very
sick person, especially a patient
in the horrors (q.v.), is said to
have got 'em bad.
Got 'em On (or All On), phr.
(common).—Dressed in the height
of fashion. See Rigged Out.
1880. Punch, 28 Aug., p. 90.
188(?). Broadside Ballad, Arry.' Where are you going on Sunday, 'Arry, now you've got 'em on?
188(?). Broadside Ballad. 'He's got 'em on.'
Goth, subs. (common).—A
frumpish or uncultured person;
one behind the times or ignorant
of the ways of society.
1712. Spectator, No. 367. But I shall never sink this paper so far as to engage with Goths and Vandals.
1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. lxi. You yourself are a Goth . . . to treat with such disrespect a production which . . . will, when finished, be a masterpiece of its kind.
1865. Ouida, Strathmore, ch. ii. For God's sake don't suppose me such a Goth that I should fall in love with a dairymaid, Strath!
Gotham, subs. (common).—New
York City. Gothamite, a New
Yorker. [First used by Washington
Irving in Salmagundi (1807).]
1852. Jutson, Mysteries of New York. ch. xiii. One of the vilest of all hells in Gotham.
1852. Bristed, Upper Ten Thousand, p. 37. The first thing, as a general rule, that a young Gothamite does is to get a horse.
Gothic, adj. (old).—See Goth.
1700. Congreve, The Way of the World, iv. 4. Ah, rustic, ruder than Gothic!
1773. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, ii., 8. Why, with his usual Gothic vivacity, he said I only wanted him to throw off his wig to convert it into a tête for my own wearing.
Go-to-meeting Bags (or
Clothes, Dress, etc.), subs.
phr. (common).—Best clothes.
[As worn on Sundays, or holiday
occasions.]
1837-40. Haliburton, The Clockmaker, p. 243 (Ed. 1862). If he hadn't his go-to-meetin' dress and looks on this day to the jury, it's a pity.
1854. Bradley, Verdant Green, Pt. II., p. 5. Besides his black go-to-meeting bags please to observe the peculiarity, etc.
