Stephen (or Steven), subs. (old).—Money: generic. 'Stephen's at home' = 'He's got 'em' (Grose and Vaux).
1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, 'Double Cross.' I rather fancies that it's news, How in a mill, both men should lose; For vere the odds are thus made even, It plays the dickens with the steven.
St. Stephen's loaf, subs. phr. (old).—See quot.
1696. Motteux, Rabelais, v. 42. Having said this, he took up one of St. Stephen's loaves, alias a stone, and was going to hit him with it about the middle.
Stepmother, subs. (colloquial).—A
horny filament growing up the
side of the finger-nail. Step-mother's
blessing = a 'hang-nail.'
Stepper, subs. (prison).—1. The
treadmill; the everlasting
staircase (q.v.).
2. (colloquial).—A high-spirited or full-actioned horse: also regular stepper and high-stepper. Hence anybody or anything more than usually good of its kind. Cf. Highflyer.
1886. Field, 16 Jan. The man who wants a pair of steppers.
Stepping-ken, subs. phr. (chiefly
American).—Dancing rooms:
espec. such as are frequented by
sailors.
Stereo, subs. (printers').—Stale
news: see George Horne.
Sterling. See Starling.
Stern, subs. (colloquial).—The
backside; the bum (q.v.). Hence
stern-foremost = backwards,
arse-first; astern = behind;
stern-uppermost = on one's
face; stern-chase = a pursuit;
stern-chaser = a sodomite.
1590. Spenser, Fairy Queen, 1. xi. 8. He . . . gan his sturdy sterne about to weld.
1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle's Log. Steer clear of the stem of a sailing ship, or the stern of a kicking horse, Tom.
1868. Furnivall [Book of Precedence (E. E. T. S.) Forewords, xxiii.]. We don't want to deceive ourselves about them, or fancy them cherubs without sterns.
1902. Athenæum, 8 Feb., 176, 3. He was taught nothing, except that jumping to any word of command saved his bows from cuffing, his stern from kicking.
To bring a ship down by the stern, verb. phr. (nautical).—To over officer.
1835. Dana, Before the Mast, xiv. We had now four officers, and only six in the forecastle. This was bringing her too much down by the stern for our comfort.
Stern-post, subs. phr. (venery).—The
penis: see Prick.
Steven. See Stephen.
Stever. See Stiver.
Stew, subs. (old colloquial and literary).—1.
A fish-pond. Whence
2. (colloquial and literary), in pl.
= a brothel, or a street of
brothels. Stew (old) = a harlot
is rare, and may very well be
an effect of ignorance or affectation
on the user's part. But
stewish (or stewed), adj. =
bordelesque, whorish, harlotry
(in the worst sense).
1362. Langland, Piers Plowman, 3936. Jonette of the stuwes.
1383. Chaucer, Cant. Tales, 'Friars Tale.' Wommen of the stives. Ibid. (C) xxiii. 159. Sleuthe . . . wedded one Wanhope, a wenche of the stewes.
c.1520. Hick Scorner [Dodsley, Old Plays (Hazlitt), i. 180]. My mother was a lady of the stews . . . And . . . my father wore an horne.
