Perambulator, subs. (streets').—See quot.
1870. Hazlewood and Williams, Leave it to Me, i. Joe's a perambulator; . . . a perambulating greengrocer, called by vulgar people a costermonger.
Perch, subs. (colloquial).—A high
seat; a resting place.
To drop (hop or fall) off (or tip over) the perch, verb. phr. (common).—To die: see Hop the Twig. Also to perch.
1594. Nashe, Nuf. Traveller [Grosart. Works, v. 41]. It was inough [in the time of the 'sweating sickness'] if a fat man did but trusse his points, to turne him ouer the pearch.
1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, iii. Prol. Through negligence, or want of ordinary sustenance, they both tipt over the perch.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa, vi. 350. Her late husband . . . tipt off the perch in it, neither knowing how to yield, nor knowing how to conquer.
1821. Scott, Pirate, xl. He . . . expired without a groan. I always thought him a d—d fool . . . but never such a consummate idiot as to hop the perch so sillily.
1886. Sporting Times, 3 Aug. 1, 3. Well, s'pose I perched first? Well, replied Pitcher, I should just come in where you were lying in the cold-meat box, and I should whisper in your ear, etc.
To knock off the perch, verb. phr. (common).—To upset; to defeat: to do for (q.v.).
Percher, subs. (Winchester College).—A
Latin cross laid horizontally
against the name of an
absentee on any roll.
Perfect-lady, subs. phr. (common).—A
prostitute: see Tart.
Perfectly demmy, adj. (American
cadet).—Stylishly dressed.
Perforate, verb. (venery).—1. To
take a maidenhead: see Greens
and Ride.
Perform, verb. (colloquial).—1. To
carry out a design: generally a
dishonest one; to play; to work.
To perform on a flat = to
cozen a fool.
2. (venery).—To copulate: see Greens and Ride. Hence, performer = a whoremonger.
Perger. See Purger.
Pericranium (or pericrane), subs.
(old: now recognised).—The
head or skull. [Properly the
lining membrane of the bones of
the skull.].—B. E. (c.1696).
1690. Durfey, Collin's Walk, i. Attempt to storm thy pericrane.
Periodicity-rag, subs. phr. (common).—The
menstrual cloth; the
flag (q.v.)
Perished, adj. (colloquial).—Starved
with cold: hence, collapsed,
as from fear or pain.
1888. Boldrewood, Robbery under Arms, xli. Says Aileen, looking regularly perished, You don't mean to say they've taken him?
Perisher, subs. (common).—1. A
short-tailed coat; a jacket: also
bum- (or arse-) perisher.
2. (common).—A consummation; an extreme.
1888. Boldrewood, Robbery under Arms, xli, Then he most times went in an awful perisher—took a month to it, and was never sober day or night the whole time.
1890. Lic. Vict. Gaz., 7 Nov. He went in a perisher last night, laying against Sir Tatton Sykes for the Derby with a half-a-dozen thousand pound notes in his hands, all of which he will lose.
