Hop-o-my-thumb, subs. (common).—A dwarf.
1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, in Wks. v., 248. Though the greatnesse of the redde herring be not small (as small a hoppe-on-my-thumbe as hee seemeth).
1603. Dekker, etc., Patient Grissell, IV, ii., in Wks. (Grosart) vi., 195. Bab. No; he shall not haue them [children]: knocke out his braines, and saue the little hop-a-my-thombes.
1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xi. You pitiful hop-o'-my-thumb coxcomb.
1764. O'Hara, Midas, i., 5. You Stump-o'-the-gutter, you Hop-o'-my-thumb, A husband must for you from Lilliput come.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hop-o-my-Thumb. She was such a hop-o-my-thumb that a pigeon, on sitting on her shoulder, might pick a pea out of her a—se.
1821. Scott, Kenilworth, ch. xi. A mean-looking hop-o'-my-thumb sort of person.
1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends. 'Account of a New Play.' A hop-o'-my-thumb of a Page.
English Synonyms.—Go-by-the-ground; grub; grundy; Jack Sprat; little breeches; shrimp; stump-of-the-gutter; tom-tit. See also, Forty-foot.
Hopper, subs. (colloquial).—The
mouth. For synonyms, see Potato-trap.
To go a hopper, verb. phr. (sporting).—To go quickly.
Hopper-arsed (or Hipped), adj.
(old).—Large in the breech.
Also (as in quot. 1529) snaggy-boned.
Also as subs.
d. 1529. Dunbar, Poems, 'Complaint to the King' (1836, i., 144). With hopper-hippis and hanches narrow.
1672. Wycherley, Love in a Wood, ii., 1. Moreover, she is bow-legged, hopper-hipped, and, betwixt pomatum and Spanish red, has a complexion like a Holland cheese.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hopper-arst, when the Breach sticks out.
1704. King, Orpheus and Eurydice (Chalmers English Poets), vol. ix., p. 284. A lady of prodigious fame, Whose hollow eyes and hopper breech Made common people call her witch.
1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., vi., 351. And there'll be hopper-arsed Nancy.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Hopper-docker, subs. (old).—A
shoe. For synonyms, see
Trotter-cases.
Hop-picker, subs. (common).—1.
A prostitute; also Hopping-wife.
For synonyms, see Barrack-hack
and Tart.
1888. Indoor Paupers, p. 55. Numbers of them go regularly to the hop-gardens; and each man must have a female companion—a hopping wife as she is termed.
2. in. pl. (gaming).—The queens of all the four suits.
Hopping-Giles, subs. (common).—A
cripple. For synonyms, see
dot-and-go-one.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.
1885. Household Words, 27 June, p. 180. St. Giles is the patron saint of cripples; hence a lame person is mockingly called hopping giles.
Hopping-jesus, subs. (colloquial).
A lameter. For synonyms, see
dot-and-go-one.
Hopping-mad, adj. (American).—Very
angry.
Hop-pole, subs. (common).—A
tall, slight person, male or female.
For synonyms, see Lamp-post.
1850. Smedley, Frank Farleigh, p. 5. I was tall for my age, but slightly built, and so thin, as often to provoke the application of such epithets as hop-pole, 'thread-paper,' etc.
Horizontal-refreshment, subs.
(venery).—1. Carnal intercourse;
cf., Upright. For synonyms, see
Greens and Ride. [Fr., une
horizontale = a prostitute.] Also,
To Horizontalise.
