Spew, verb. (venery).—To ejaculate; to spend (q.v.). Whence Spew Alley = the female pudendum: see Monosyllable.
d. 1680. Rochester, Works, 'Tunbridge Wells' (1718), i. 29. Importance, thinks too, tho she'd been no sinner To wash away some dregs he had spewed in her.
To spew oakum, verb. phr. (nautical).—A ship spews oakum when the seams start.
Spew Alley, subs. phr. (common).—The throat: see Gutter Lane.
Sphere, subs. (athletic).—A football.
Spice, verb. (thieves').—To rob: hence, the spice (or high toby spice) = highway robbery; spicer (or spice-gloak) = a footpad (Grose and Vaux).
c. 1800. Jackson [quoted by Byron in Don Juan, Notes to Canto xi.]. On the high toby spice flash the muzzle.
Spice-island, subs. phr. (old).—1. The rectum; and (2) = a privy; Stink-hole Bay; Dilberry Creek (Grose). Whence (3) = any filthy, stinking neighbourhood (Bee).
Spick-and-span new, adj. (colloquial).—Quite fresh; brand new: as a 'spike and chip' from the workman's hands. Also spick-and-span; spick-span new; span-new; and span-fire new. Also spick-and-span (span, or spandy), adv. = quite; wholly.
1369. Chaucer, Troilus, iii. 1665. This tale ay was span-newe to beginne.
1614. Tomkis, Albumazar [Dodsley, Old Plays (Reed), vii. 161]. Of a stark clown I shall appear speck and span gentleman.
1614. Jonson, Barthol. Fayre, iii. 5. Sir, this is a spell against them, spick and span new.
1619. Fletcher, False One, iii. 2. Am I not totally a span-new gallant, Fit for the choicest eye?
1628. Ford, Lover's Melancholy, ii. 1. 'Tis a fashion of the newest edition, spick and span new, without example.
c. 1630. Howell, Letters, 1. iv. 2. Blackfriars will entertain you with a Play spick and span new, and the Cockpit with another.
1663. Butler, Hudibras, 1. iii. 398. The honour thou hast got Is spick and span new, piping hot.
1718. Buckingham, Rehearsal. Why madam, an intire spick and span new piece of doctrine of my own invention.
d. 1779. Garrick [W. Cooke, Memoirs of S. Foote, 1. 107. From our poetic storehouse we produce A couple spick and span for present use.
1824. Scott, Redgauntlet, xi. In the same doings to make a spick-and-span new world.
1857. Tennyson, Northern Cobbler. Look at the cloaths on 'er back, thebbe ammost spick-span-new.
1877. Trollope, South Africa, II. vi. The Dutch Boer will not endure over him . . . a spick-and-span Dutch Africander from the Cape Colony.
1884. James, Little Tour, 178. Beside my hotel rose a big spick-andspan church.
1887. Referee, 27 Feb. The spick-and-span appearance presented by Marlow after their journey.
1888. L. M. Alcot, Hospital Sketches, 319. Thirty gentlemen with spandy clean faces and hands were partaking of refreshment.
Spicy, adj. (common).—1. Racy; full-flavoured (q.v.); smutty (q.v.); nutty (q.v.). 2. = showy, handsome, smart (q.v.).
1844. Puck, 14. The milliners' hearts he did trepan, My spicy, swell small-college man.
1868. Whyte Melville, White Rose, 1. xiii. Bless'd if there isn't Snipe . . . there's a drummer holding his nag. What a spicy chestnut it is.
d. 1872. Lever, Rent in a Cloud, 58. A spicy bit of scandal.
