Polish, verb. (common).—To thrash; to punish (q.v.).
To POLISH OFF, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To finish out of hand; to get rid of summarily: as a dinner, or an adversary.
1834. Dowling, Othello Travestie, i. 6. Just wait awhile, And may be I won't polish you off in style.
1836. Dickens, Pickwick, xxvi. "Mayn't I polish that ere Job off, iu the front garden?" said Mr. Weller. "Certainly not," replied Mr. Pickwick.
1847. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xxxiv. 246. Bob had his coat off at once—he stood up to the Banbury man for three minutes, and polished him off in four rounds easy. Ibid. (1855), Newcomes, 11. 252. He expressed repeatedly a desire that some one would speak ill of the Colonel, so that he might have an opportunity Of POLISHING THAT INDIVIDUAL OFF in about two seconds.
1862. Cornhill Mag., vi. 643. I used to steal something and take it to the marine-store dealers. . . . As I got on in thieving, I left home, and was soon polished off into a first-class wire.
1870. Sunday Times, 21 May. If you keep a sharp look-out you may perchance see a critic, for, unfortunately, the Royal Academy cannot be polished off at a private view like other exhibitions.
1888. Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, i. He rolled into a man big enough to eat him, and polished him off.
TO POLISH (PICK, or EAT) A bone, verb. phr. (common).—To make a meal.—Grose (1785).
To polish the King's iron with THE EYEBROWS, verb. phr. (old).—'To look through the iron-grated windows of a prison.'—Grose (1785).
Polite. See Do, verb., sense 4.
Polka. The Matrimonial
Polka, subs. phr. (venery).—Copulation:
see Greens and
Ride.
Poll, subs. (Cambridge University).—1.
The ordinary examination
for the B.A. degree: as distinguished
from the Honours examination.
Whence (2) a student
taking the "pass" degree without
"Honours." [Gr. Hoi polloi =
the many.] Hence, to go out
IN the poll = to take an ordinary
degree. Also poll-man
and POLL-DEGREE.
1855. Bristed, Five Years in an English University, 62. Several declared that they would go out in the Poll.
1884. Payn, Cornhill, Ap., 370. I took my degree, however—a first-class poll; which my good folks at home believed to be an honourable distinction.
1889. Academy, 2 Mar. It is related of some Cambridge poll-man that he was once so ill-advised as to desert a private tutor.
3. (nautical).—A woman: generic. Hence (specifically) = a prostitute; polly-hood = a state of wantonness (Walpole accused the ladies of his day of POLLY-HOOD, 'more fond than virtuous'); TO poll up = (1) to court; and (2) to live in concubinage.
1893. Emerson, Lippo, ix. They began to give him money . . . a poll gave him a bob.
4. (old).—A wig.—Hall (1708); Grose (1785).
5. (thieves').—A decoy bitch. See Pill and Poll.
Verb. 1. See Pill and Poll.
2. (sporting).—To beat; to distance.
3. (common).—To snub.
To poll OFF, adj. phr. (common).—To To get drunk: see Drinks and Screwed.
