1883. Clark Russell, Sailor's Language, xii. I have known many a strong stomach, made food-proof by years of pork eaten with molasses, and biscuit alive with worms, to be utterly capsized, by the mere smell of soup-and-bouilli. Jack calls it 'soap-and-bullion, one onion to a gallon of water,' and this fairly expresses the character of the nauseous compound.
Soap-crawler, subs. phr. (common).—A
toady.
Soap-lock (or curl), subs. phr.
(American).—A soaped lock of
hair on the temple.
1844. Major Jones's Courtship [Bartlett]. The way my last letter has cradled off the soaplocks, and imperials, and goatlocks . . . is truly alarming.
2. (American).—A rowdy (Bartlett).
Soap-suds, subs. phr. (old).—'Gin
and water, hot, with lemon and
lump sugar' (Bee).
Soap-trick, sub. phr. (American
thieves').—A variety of the well-known
purse swindle. A cake of
soap is sold for a dollar to a gull
who thinks he has that one he
has wrapped a five-dollar bill in,
and marked himself. Hence
soaper = a soap-trick swindler.
Soary, adj. and adv. (American).—Inclined
to 'draw the long
bow'; high-falutin' (g.v.).
Sobersides, subs. (colloquial).—A
sedate person.
1852. Bronte, Villette, xxviii. You deemed yourself a melancholy sobersides enough! Miss Fanshawe there regards you as a second Diogenes in his tub.
Sober-water, sub. phr. (common).—Soda-water.
Soc, subs. (printers').—'Society':
non-Soc-man = a rat (q.v.), a
blackleg, a non-Union-man.
SOCIUS, subs. (Winchester).—A
chum; a companion. As verb. =
to accompany. [The School precept
is Sociati omnes incedunto.]
Sock, subs. (Old Cant).—1. A
pocket: 'Not a rag in my sock'
= penniless (B. E.).
2. (Eton College).—Edibles of any kind: spec. dainties, tuck (q.v.). As verb. = (1) to eat outside regular meals; (2) = to treat (q.v.); whence (3) = to give.
c.1550. Machyn, Diary [Camden Soc.] [Oliphant, New Eng., i. 534. The substantive suckett appears for dainty . . . hence, perhaps, the sock so dear to Etonians.]
1881. Pascoe, Every-day Life, &c. The consumption of sock, too, in school was considerable, and on occasion very conspicuous.
1883. Brinsley Richards, Seven Years at Eton. We Eton fellows, great and small socked prodigiously.
1889. Buckland, Eton Fifty Years Ago [Macm. Mag., Nov.]. My governor has socked me a book . . . A boy has also been heard to ask another to sock him a construe of his lesson.
3. (common).—Credit; jawbone (q.v.): also as verb. = (1) to get credit, and 2 (American) = to pay: also TO SOCK down.
4. (common).—An overgrown baby [Ency. Dict.]
5. (old).—A comedy. [The Sock, an ancient ensign of Comedy; the Buskin = Tragedy.] Whence sock-and-buskin = (1) THE PROFESSION (q.v.).
1590. Spenser, Tears of the Muses, 176. Where be the sweete delights of learnings treasure, That wont with Comick sock to beautefie The painted Theaters.
1637. Milton, L'Allegro, 132. Then to the well-trod stage anon, If Jonson's learned sock be on.
