4. (old).—A looking-glass.—B. E. (c. 1696); Dyche (1748); Grose (1785).
Single peeper, subs. phr. (common).—A one-eyed man.—Grose (1785).
Peeping. A peeping Tom, subs.
phr. (common).—An inquisitive
person; a Paul Pry (q.v.).
[From the Coventry legend.]—Grose
(1785).
Peep-O'-day boy, subs. phr. (old).—A
street roister [Regency].
1821. Egan, Life in London, ii. vi. Jerry and Bobby, . . . With the Peep-o'-day boys, Hunting after wild joys.
Peepsies, subs. (street performers').—The
pan-pipes.
Peepy, adj. and adv. (old).—Drowsy;
sleepy. To go to
peepy (or peep-) by = to sleep.—B.
E. (1696); Grose (1785).
Peery(or Peerie), adj. (old: now
recognised).—Suspicious; knowing;
sly; sharp-looking: also as
verb. = to look about suspiciously.—Head
(1665); B. E. (c. 1696);
Grose (1785).
1703. Ward, London Spy, xi. 259. Another . . . look'd as Peery as if he thought every fresh Man that came in a Constable.
1751. Fielding, Amelia, ii. ix. You are so shy and peery, you would almost make one suspect there was more in the matter.
1758. Cibber, Refusal, iii. Are you peery, as the Cant is?
1819. Moore, Tom Crib, 20. Fixing his eye on the Porpus's snout, Which he knew that Adonis felt peery about.
Peety, adj. and adv. (Old Cant).—Cheerful.—Bailey
(1726).
Pee-wee, subs. phr. (nursery).—(1)
The penis and (2) the female
pudendum. See Prick and
Monosyllable. Also as verb.
= to urinate. See Pee.
3. (school).—A small marble.
Peg, subs, (common).—1. A dram;
a 'drink'; a go (q.v.): specifically
(in India), a 'brandy-and-soda.'
In the 16th century
'peg-tankards' held two quarts,
divided by seven pegs or pins, one
above the other, into eight equal
portions. Hence, to drink to
pegs = to drink the draught
marked in a peg tankard; to
add (or drive) a peg (or nail)
into one's coffin = to drink
hard; to go a peg lower = to
drink to excess; a peg too low
= (1) drunk, and (2) low-spirited;
pegger = a persistent drinker, or
nipster (q.v.).
1821. Egan, Life in London, ii. ii. To chaff with the flash Mollishers, and in being home to a peg in all their various sprees and rambles.
1871. Figaro, 15 Oct. A man who, in the days of peg tankards, would have got on peg by peg, marvellously rapidly to the state of the 'much-loved intemperance of the Saxons'—as the old chronicler, Brady, has it.
1871. Sala [Belgravia, April]. Ensign Plume of the 200th Foot, at present languishing obscure at 'Gib' and taking too many pegs of brandy and soda when on guard.
1883. Graphic, 17 March, 286, 3. The dispensation of food and liquor, however, never entered into the calculations of the Anglo-Indian of the last generation. Even the shopkeepers used to think nothing of giving their customers pegs.
1884. World, 16 April, 18, 2. And then he took to play and pegs, and his naturally excitable disposition did the rest.
1894. Illustrated Bits, 31 Mar., 7, i. Come and have a peg, he cried.
