1532. Sir T. More, Wks. [1557], folio 715. [He] feareth [not] to mocke the Sacrament, the blessed body of God, and ful like a stretch hempe, call it but cake, bred, or starch.
1566. Gascoigne, Supposes, iv., 3. If I come near you, hempstring, I will teach you to sing sol fa.
1598. Shakspeare, 2 Henry IV., ii., 1. Do, do, thou rogue, thou hemp-seed.
1606. Chapman, Mons. D'Olive, Act v., p. 135. (Plays, 1874). Van. A perfect young hempstring. Va. Peace, least he overhear you.
1659. Lady Alimony, iv., 6. (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., p. 350). Now, you hempstrings, had you no other time to nim us but when we were upon our visits?
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hemp, young-hemp, An appellation for a graceless boy.
1817. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. xxxiv. She's under lawful authority now; and full time, for she was a daft hempie.
1839. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard, [Ed. 1840], p. 139. 'We'll see that, young hempseed,' replied Sharpies.
2. (old).—A halter.
1754. Fielding, Jonathan Wild, iv. 14. Laudanum, therefore, being unable to stop the health of our hero, which the fruit of hempseed, and not the spirit of poppy-seed, was to overcome. . . .
Verb (American).—To choke or strangle.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.
To wag hemp in the wind, verb. phr. (old).—To be hanged. See Hempen Fever and Ladder.
1532. Sir T. More, Wks. [1557]. folio 715. Tindall calleth blessing and crossynge but wagging of folkes fingers in the æyre, and feareth not (like one yt would at length wagge hempe in the winde) to mocke at all such miracles.
Hempen-bridle, subs. (old).—A
ship's rope or rigging. See Horse
and Tree.
Hempen Collar (candle,
circle, cravat, croak,
garter, necktie, or habeas),
subs. (old).—The hangman's
noose; a halter. Also Hemp,
and the Hearty-choke. Cf.,
Anodyne neck-lace. See
quot. 1595.
1530-95. Turbervile, Of Two Desperate Men. A man in deepe despaire, with hempe in hand, Went out in haste to ende his wretched dayes.
c. 1586. Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iv, 4. When the hangman had put on his hempen.
1594. Shakspeare, 2 Henry VI., iv., 7. Ye shall have a hempen candle then, and the pap of a hatchet.
c. 1785. Wolcot [P. Pindar], Rights of Kings, Ode xviii. Your hemp cravats, your pray'r, your Tyburn miser.
1819 Scott, Bride of Lammermoor, ch. xvi. I wad wager twa and a plack that hemp plaits his cravat yet.
1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Hempen Habeas. He will get over it by a hempen habeas.
1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, ch. iv. If ever I know as how you makes a flat of my Paul, blow me tight, but I'll weave you a hempen collar: Ill hang you, you dog, I will.
1886. Miss Braddon, Mohawks, ch. xxviii. A full confession were perhaps too much to expect. Nothing but the immediate prospect of a hempen necklace would extort that.
Hempen Fever. To die of a
hempen fever, verb. phr. (old).—To
be hanged. For synonyms,
see Ladder.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hempen Fever, a man who was hanged, is said to have died of a hempen fever; and in Dorsetshire to have been stabbed with a Bridport dagger; Bridport being a place famous for manufacturing hemp into cords.
1839. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 76. She had been married four times; three of her husbands died of hempen fevers.
Hempen-fortune, subs. (old).—Bad
luck; a term for the gallows.
