1863. All the Year Round, x., 180. How's your poor feet? a year ago cheated half the natives of Cockaigne into the belief that they were gifted with a special genius for repartee.
1863. G. A. Sala, Breakfast in Bed, p. 163 (1864). But how would you like a screeching multitude, fifty thousand strong, and with not one of whom, to the best of your knowledge, you had even a bowing acquaintance, to vociferate in your track—in the public street, mind—'Ya-a-a-h! HOW ARE YOUR POOR FEET?'
1890. Town and Country (Sydney), 11 Jan., p. 19, c. 4. Henry Irving's revival of 'The Dead Heart' has revived a bit of slang. . . . When the play was brought out originally, where one of the characters says, 'My heart is dead, dead, dead!' a voice from the gallery nearly broke up the drama with How are your poor feet? The phrase lived.
How'll you have it, phr. (common).—An invitation to drink. For synonyms, see Drinks.
How we apples swim (sometimes amplified by Quoth the horse-turd)! verb. phr. (old).—Said in derision of a parvenu; of a person in better company than he (or she) has any right to keep; or of a pretender to honour or credit he (or she) does not deserve.
1670. Ray, Proverbs, s.v.
1697-1764. Hogarth (Works by J. Ireland and J. Nichols, London, 1873) III., p. 29. And even this, little as it is, gives him so much importance in his own eyes, that he assumes a consequential air, sets his arms akimbo, and strutting among the historical artists cries, how we apples swim.
1860. Cornhill Mag. (D. Mallett, Tyburn), Dec., p, 737. While tumbling down the turbid stream, Lord, love us, HOW WE APPLES SWIM.
Howard's Garbage, subs. phr.
(military).—The Nineteenth Foot.
Also Green Howards.
Howard's Greens, subs. phr.
(military).—The Twenty-fourth
Foot. [From its facings and its
Colonel's name, 1717-37.]
How-do-you-do, subs. (colloquial).—A
'to do'; a 'kettle of fish'; a
'pass.'
1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xxvi. Thinks I, here's a pretty HOW DO YOU DO; I'm in for i now, that's a fact.
Howler, subs. (common).—An unblushing
falsehood; an enormous
blunder; a serious accident: and
so forth. To come (or GO) A
HOWLER = to come to grief; to
run amuck.
1885. Daily News, 16 May, p. 4, c. 8. Now, to speak respectfully of old scholars that were before us, the translators of the Bible constantly made what undergraduates call HOWLERS, or grievously impossible blunders.
1886. Stephens and Yardley, Little Jack Sheppard, p. 34. Jack. My dears, you're late. Bess. Our hansom came a HOWLER.
1888. Indoor Paupers, p. 24. As to how we are to spend the eight hours, or thereabouts, that remain after meals, church, and HOWLERS are disposed of, nobody, except ourselves and a few private friends outside, cares in the least.
1891. Moonshine, 14 Mar. Oh, I saw some piece in which a Johnnie smoked some cigarettes, and at last CAME A HOWLER, and wanted to commit suicide.
1891. Pall Mall Gaz., 12 Sep., p. 2, c. 3. We wondered yesterday how many of our classical readers would see the HOWLER—or the joke.
Howling, adj. (common).—A
general intensitive. E.g., Howling-swell
= a man in the extreme
of fashion; HOWLING-LIE = a
gross falsehood; HOWLING-BAGS
= trousers extravagant in cut or
pattern; HOWLING-CAD, etc.
