1613. Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, bk. i., s. 7. Shackles, shacklockes, hampers, gives and chaines.
1690. B. E., Cant. Crew, s.v.
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.
Hampstead Donkey, subs. phr.
(common).—See quot. For synonyms,
see Chates.
c. 1870. Daily Paper. The witness testified to the filthy state of the linen which she wore, and also the state of the sheets. Was told not to get into bed until she had looked for the Hampstead donkeys. 'Did you know what that meant?'—'No sir, not until I looked on the pillow and saw three' (loud laughter). 'Do you mean lice?'—'Yes, sir, I do.'
Hampstead-heath, subs. phr.
(rhyming).—The teeth. For
synonyms, see Grinders.
1887. Referee, 7 Nov., p. 7, c. 3. She'd a Grecian 'I suppose,' And of Hampstead Heath two rows, In her 'Sunny South' that glistened Like two pretty strings of pearls.
Hampstead-heath Sailor, subs.
phr. (common).—A landlubber
(q.v.); a freshwater sailor
(q.v.). Fr., un marin d'eau douce
or un amiral Suisse (= a Swiss
admiral: Switzerland having no
seaboard).
Hanced, adj. (old).—In liquor.
[From Hance = 'to elevate.']
For synonyms, see Drinks and
Screwed.
1630. Taylor, Works. I doe finde my selfe sufficiently hanced, and that henceforth I shall acknowledge it; and that whensoever I shall offer to bee hanced again, I shall arme my selfe with the craft of a fox, the manners of a hogge, the wisdom of an asse, mixt with the civility of a beare.
Hand, subs. (colloquial).—Properly
a seaman; now a labourer, a
workman, an agent.
1658. Phillips, New World of Words, s.v. Hand . . . a Word us'd among Mariners . . . when Men are wanted to do any Labour they usually Call for more hands.
1632-1704. Locke, Wks. A dictionary containing a natural history requires too many hands, as well as too much time.
1711. Spectator, No. 232. The reduction of the prices of our manufactures by the addition of so many new hands, would be no inconvenience to any man.
1754. Fielding, Jonathan Wild, i, 14. The mercantile part of the world, therefore, wisely use the term 'employing hands,' and esteem each other as they employ more or fewer.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. We lost a hand, we lost a sailor.
1871. Chambers' Miscellany, No. 113, p. 3. He was admitted as a hand in an establishment already numbering three hundred active workers.
1892. Milliken, 'Arry Ballads, p. 70. The hands has all bloomin' well struck.
1892. National Observer, 22 Oct., vol. viii., p. 571. The dispute in the South-East Lancashire cotton trade is like to result in the stoppage of fourteen or fifteen million spindles which will take employment from sixty thousand hands, a fifth of them women and children.
1893. Fortnightly Review, Jan., p. 62. The wages paid to the operatives in our woollen industry are, to a marked extent, lower than those received by the hands employed in our cotton mills.
2. (coachmen's).—See quot.
1856. Whyte Melville, Kate Coventry, ch. xv. Lady Horsingham was tolerably courageous, but totally destitute of what is termed hand, a quality as necessary in driving as in riding, particularly with fractious or high-spirited horses.
A good (or cool, neat, old, fine, etc.) hand, subs. phr. (colloquial).—An expert.
1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.), s.v. Hand (v.). 'He is a good hand,' spoke of one that is an artist in some particular mechanical art or trade, etc.
