1864. Mark Lemon, Jest Book, p. 236. Some people have a notion that villany ought to be exposed, though we must confess we think it a thing that deserves a HIDING.
1871. All the Year Round, 18 Feb. p. 288. Served me right if I'd got a HIDING.
1883. Pall Mall Gaz., 16 Apr., p. 7, c. 2. They should stone all boys they met who were not members of the society, or in default themselves receive a good HIDING.
1888. Sportsman, 22 Dec. The chairman told Deakin he could scarcely expect anything but a hiding for being connected with such a scurrilous publication.
1891. Licensed Vict. Mirror, 30 Jan., p. 7, c. 1. Before Paddock could claim the victory, which cost the Redditch fighter one of the severest hidings he ever had to put up with.
HIGGLEDY-PIGGLEDY, adj. (Old
Cant: now recognised).—In confusion;
topsy-turvy; at sixes and
sevens.
1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Alla rappa, snatchingly, higledi-pigledie, shiftingly, rap and run.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. HIGGLEDE-PIGGLEDY, all together, as Hoggs and Piggs lie Nose in Arse.
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1758. A. Murphy, The Upholsterer, ii. Ambassadors and Hair-Cutters, all higgledy-piggledy together.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1812. Johnson, Eng. Dict., s.v. Higgledy-piggledy, a cant word, corrupted from higgle, which denotes any confused mass, as higglers carry a huddle of provisions together.
1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, ch. xxii., p. 199. His name's got all the letters in it, higgledy-piggledy.
1873. Miss Broughton, Nancy, ch. ii. We are all higgledy-piggledy—at sixes and sevens!
1876. M. E. Braddon, Joshua Haggard, ch. xvi. 'If some of you will sit down,' remonstrated Judith, 'I'll pour out the tea. But I don't feel as if anybody wanted it while you're standing about higgledy-piggledy.'
Higgler, subs. (old).—A hawker.
High, adj. (American).—Drunk.
For synonyms, see Drinks and
Screwed.
2. (colloquial).—Stinking; GAMEY (q.v.).; whence, by implication, diseased (as a prostitute); obscene in intention and effect.
The high and dry, subs. phr. (clerical).—The High Church or Anglo-Catholic party in the Establishment, as opposed to the low and slow (q.v.), or Evangelical section. Cf., Broad and Shallow.
1854. Conybeare, Church Parties, 74. Its adherents [of the High Church] are fallen from their high estate, and are contemptuously denominated the high and dry, just as the parallel development of the Low Church is nicknamed 'low and slow.'
1857. Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers, ch. liii. Who belongs to the high and dry church, the High Church as it was some fifty years since, before tracts were written and young clergymen took upon themselves the highly meritorious duty of cleaning churches?
1886. Graphic, 10 Apr., 399. In the Church have we not the three schools of High and Dry, Low and Slow, and Broad and Shallow?
High and dry, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Stranded; abandoned; irrecoverable.
1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 18 Oct., 6, 1. It seems to me that Mr. Chamberlain must really look out or he will find himself, as the result of that insidious 'mellowing process' to which Mr. Matthews has testified, landed high and dry in a Toryism compared to which Sir Walter Barttelot will show in Radical colours.
High and mighty, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Arrogant; imperious; proud; 'on the high horse,' or the 'high ropes' (q.v.); full of SIDE (q.v.).
