Old Harry, subs. (common).—The devil. For synonyms, see Skipper.
1693. Congreve, Old Bachelor, ii., 1. By the Lord Harry I'll stay no longer.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.
1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, ch. iv. May Old Harry fly off with him.
1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (1865), p. 406. Shall I summon Old Harry himself to this spot?
Harry of the West, subs. phr. (political American).—Henry Clay.
To play old Harry, verb. phr. (common).—To annoy; to ruin; to play the devil.
1889. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 18 Jan. Otherwise played old Harry with the guardians of the peace.
Tom, Dick, and Harry, phr. (common).—Generic for any and everybody; the mob.
1886. R. L Stevenson, Kidnapped, p. 287. He rode from public house to public house and shouted his sorrows into ug of Tom, Dick, and Harry.
What Harry gave Doll, verb. phr. (old venery).—The penis: also generic for fornication.
Harry-bluff, subs. (rhyming).—Snuff.
Harry-common, subs. phr. (old).—A
general wencher.
1675. Wycherley, Country Wife, v., 4. Well, Harry Common, I hope you can be true to three.
Harry-soph, subs. (Cambridge
Univ.: obsolete).—See quots.
1795. Gent. Mag., p. 20. A Harry, or errant Soph, I understand to be either a person, four-and-twenty years of age, and of an infirm state of health, who is permitted to dine with the fellows, and to wear a plain, black, full-sleeved gown: or, else, he is one who, having kept all the terms, by statute required previous to his law-act, is hoc ipso facto entitled to wear the same garment, and, thenceforth, ranks as bachelor, by courtesy.
1803. Gradus ad Cantabrigiam. Harry Soph; or Henry Sophister; students who have kept all the terms required for a law act, and hence are ranked as Bachelors of Law by courtesy. They wear a plain, black, full-sleeved gown.
Harum-scarum, adj. and subs.
(old colloquial).—1. Giddy; careless;
wild; a thoughtless or reckless
fellow.
1740. Round about our Coal Fire, c. i. Peg would scuttle about to make a toast for John, while Tom run harum scarum to draw a jug of ale for Margery.
1780 Mad. D'Arblay, Diary, i., 358 [ed. 1842]. He seemed a mighty rattling harem-scarem gentleman.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Harum Scarum, he was running harum scarum, said of any one running or walking carelessly and in a hurry, after they know not what.
1836. Marryat, Japhet, ch. xcii. I'm not one of those harum-scarum sort, who would make up a fight when there's no occasion for it.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. v. They had a quarrel with Thomas Newcome's own son, a harum-scarum lad, who ran away, and then was sent to India.
1870. London Figaro, 19 Oct. 'Within an inch.' Tom—that's my son—has worked with me in the mine ever since he was quite a little chap; and a harum-scarum young dog he was, when a boy.
2. (sporting).—Four horses driven in a line; suicide (q.v.).
Has-been, subs. (colloquial Scots').—Anything
antiquated; specifically
in commendation: as 'the
good old has-beens'; cf., never
was.
1891. Sportsman, 1 Apr. Big Joe M'Auliffe proved conclusively that he is one of the has beens or else one of the never wasers, as Dan Rice, the circus man, always called ambitious counterfeits.
