1765. Walpole, Letters, 13 Oct. Yes, yes, Madam, I am as like the Duke de Richelieu as two peas; but then they are two old withered grey peas.
Pease-kill. To make a pease-kill,
verb. phr. (Scots' colloquial).—To
squander lavishly:
e.g. when a man's affairs go
wrong and interested persons get
the management of his property
it is said 'They're makin' a bonny
pease-kill o't.' A law-suit is
said to be a pease-kill for the
lawyers. [Jamieson.]
Peas-field. To go into the
peas-field, verb. phr. (old).—To
fall asleep: see Balmy.—Ray
(1670).
Peat, subs. (old).—A delicate person:
esp. a young girl. Also =
(ironically) a spoilt favourite.
1578. King Lear [Nares]. To see that proud pert peat, our youngest sister.
1593. Shakspeare, Taming of Shrew, i. 1. A pretty peat! 'tis best Put finger in the eye.
1605. Jonson, Chapman, &c., Eastward Hoe [Old Plays (Reed), iv. 279. God's my life, you are a peat indeed.
1632. Massinger, Maid of Honour, ii. 2. You are a pretty peat, indifferent fair too.
Pea-time. In the last of pea-time
(or -picking), phr. (American
colloquial).—In decline of
years; 'hard-up'; passé. Pea-time
is past = dead; ruined;
gone beyond recall.
1848. Lowell, Biglow Papers . . . There's oller's chaps a-hangin' roun' that can't see pea-time's past.
Pebble, subs. (venery).—In pl. =
the testes: see Cods.
My pebbles, phr. (old).—A familiar address.
1843. Moncrieff, Scamps of London, iii. 1. Dick, my pebble. Ibid. Now, my pebbles, I'll give you a toast.
Pebbly-beached, adv. phr. (common).—Without
means; stony-broke
(q.v.); high-and-dry
(q.v.). Hence to sight (or
land on) a pebbly beach = to
be face to face with ruin; to
pebble beach = to suck dry, to
clean out: see Dead-broke.
1836-96. Marshall, Age of Love ['Pomes,' 26]. Yiffler could see himself stranded, for he could sight a pebbly beach. Ibid. (Beautiful Dreamer), 65. I was able to see that my beautiful dreamer had pebble-beached me.
1889. Lic. Vict. Gaz., Jan. One of those mysteries which only those who have been pebbly-beached can reveal.
1898. Pink 'Un and Pelican, 278. Fleet St. can possibly 'give a bit of weight' to most places as a 'run' for the utterly wagless, rapless, and pebble-beached.
1901. Referee, 21 Ap., 9, 2. In the slang of the day a gentleman who is "stony broke" describes himself as Pebbly Beach. With a deficit of fifty-three millions to warrant the change, "Hicks Beach" may now be fairly substituted.
Pec, subs. (Eton College: obsolete).
Money: see Rhino. [From
Latin pecunia.]
Peccavi, intj. (colloquial).—An
acknowledgment of offence, mistake,
or defeat. To cry peccavi
= to confess to wrong-doing or
failure. [Latin = 'I have sinned.']—Grose
(1785).
1578. Whetstone, Promos ana Cassandra, 32.
1611. Beaumont and Fletcher, Knight of the Burning Pestle, iy. 1. Make him sing peccavi ere I leave him.
Peck (or pek), subs. (Old Cant).—1. Food of any kind; grub (q.v.); a meal; a feed: also peckage. Hence ruff-peck (q.v.) = bacon; gere-peck = a turd; peck and booze = meat and drink; rum-peck (q.v.) =
