c.1536. Copland, Spyttel-hous [Farmer, Musa Pedestris (1896), 2]. And thus they babble . . . I wote not what with their pedlyng frenche.
1567. Harman, Caveat (1841). vi. Their language which they terme peddelers Frenche or canting.
1595. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Gergare, to speake fustian, peddlers french, or rogues language, or gibbrish.
1611. Middleton and Dekker, Roaring Girl, v. 1. I'll give a schoolmaster half-a-crown a week, and teach me this pedler's French.
1622. Massinger, Virgin Martyr, ii. i. Why, fellow Angelo, we were speaking in pedlar's French, I hope.
1640. [Shirley], Captain Underwit, [Bullen, Old Plays, ii. 351]. Gis. One rime more and you undoe my love for ever. Out upon't! pedlars French is a Christian language to this.
1647. Beaumont and Fletcher, Faithful Friend, i. 2. 'Twere fitter Such honest lads as myself had it, that instead Of pedlar's French gives him plain language for his money.
1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood. Preface. Its meaning must be perfectly clear and perspicuous to the practised patterer of Romany, or Pedler's French.
Pedlar's-news, subs. phr. (common).—State
news; 'stereo.' Also
piper's (mung- or tinker's)
news.
Pedlar's-pony (-horse or -pad),
subs. phr. (common).—A walking-stick;
a Penang-lawyer (q.v.);
a waddy (q.v.).
Pee, verb, (chiefly nursery).—To
urinate; to pump ship (q.v.).
1788. Picken, Poems, 'The Favourite Cat,' 47. He never stealt though he was poor, He never pee'd his master's floor.
Peel, verb. (common).—To undress;
to strip.—Grose (1785).
Hence peeled = naked: see
Nature's Garb.
1811. Moore, Tom Crib, 13.
1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, i. Tom. Come Jerry, cast your skin—peel—slip into the swell case at once.
1827. Corcoran, The Fancy, Note, 89. Randull's figure is remarkable when peeled for its statue like beaty.
1827. Scott, Two Drovers, ii. Robin had not art enough even to peel before setting to, but fought with his plaid dangling about him.
1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford (1854), 256. You may call me an apple if you will, but I take it, I am not an apple you'd like to see peeled.
1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, 'The Double Cross.' They peeled in style, and bets were making.
1857. Holmes, Autocrat of Breakfast Table, i. What resplendent beauty that must have been which could have authorised Phryne to peel in the way she did!
1885. Field, 4 Ap. I got into bed, and under cover peeled off, one by one, those pieces of clothing.
1888. Detroit Free Press, 20 Oct. She peeled off her wedding dress and boots, . . . and threw them at him.
To peel it, verb. phr. (American).—To run at full speed.
To peel one's best end, verb. phr. (venery).—To effect intromission: see Greens and Ride.
To peel eggs, verb. phr. (common).—To stand on ceremony.
See Keep.
Peeler, subs. (common).—1. A
policeman: see Beak. [First
applied to the Royal Irish Constabulary
established by Sir
Robert Peel, when Irish Secretary
(1812-18), and subsequently,
for similar reasons (1828-39), to
the Metropolitan Police: see quot.
1889 and cf. bobby.]
1842-3. Dublin Monthly Mag. [Notes and Queries, 7th S. vii. 392], 'The Peeler and the Goat.' As some Bansha peelers were out wan night On duty and pathrollin, O.
