Rebec (or Rebeck), subs. (old colloquial).—An old woman: in reproach: cf. RibIbe.
1383. Chaucer, Cant. Tales, 'Friar's Tale,' 275. Here woneth an old rebekke That hadde almost as lief to lese hire nekke As for to geve a peny of hir good.
Receipt-of-Custom, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum; the Custom's-house ('where Adam made the first entry'): see Mono-*syllable. Hence Custom's-house officer = the penis (Grose).
Receiver-general, subs. phr. (old).—1. A prostitute: Tart.
2. (pugilists').—A boxer giving nothing for what he gets.
Recker, The (or Rekker), subs. (Harrow).—The town recreation-*ground. [Where the school sports are held.]
Reckon, verb, (once literary: now American).—To think; to suppose; to consider—peculiar to the Middle and Southern States, and provincial [Halliwell] in England: cf. guess and CALCULATE.
1611. Bible, Isaiah xxxviii. 13. I reckoned [margin, R.V. = thought] till morning that as a lion, so will he break all my bones. Ibid., Rom. viii. 18. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy, &c.
d.1745. Swift, Nobles and Commons, v. I reckon it will appear to many as a very unreasonable paradox.
1776. Foote, Bankrupt, iii. What, you are a courtier, I reckon?
1825. Scott, St. Roman's Well, x. I reckon you'll be selling out the whole—it's needless making two bites of a cherry.
1889. Century Dict. [American], s.v. Reckon, v. ii. 6. The use of reckon in this sense [to hold a supposition or impression] though regularly developed and found in good literature . . . has by reason of its frequency in colloquial speech in some parts of the United States, especially in the South (where it occupies a place like that of 'guess' in New England), come to be regarded as provincial or vulgar].
1892. Gunter, Miss Dividend, iii. Reckon your pap has had too much railroad and mine on his hands to be able to even eat for the last month.
To RECKON UP, verb phr. (colloquial).—To gauge a person; to MEASURE (q.v.); TO SIZE (q.v.). Hence, to slander; to back-bite.
1852. Dickens, Bleak House, liv. 447. Mr. Tulkinghorn employed me [Bucket, the detective] to reckon up her Ladyship.
1877. Five Years' Penal Servitude, i. 33. The officer spotted him directly, and if he could not reckon him up himself, would mark him for the attention of some-*one else.
See Chickens and Host.
Reckoning. See Accounts.
Record. To beat (break, cut, lower, or smash) the record, verb phr. (colloquial: chiefly athletic).—To surpass all previous performances, 'to go one better' (q.v.).
Recordite, subs, (obsolete clerical).—The Low Church Party of the Established Church. [Their organ was The Record.]
1854. Conybeare, Church Parties, 16. This exaggeration of Evangelicalism, sometimes called the Puritan, sometimes, from its chief organ, the Recordite party. Ibid. It is a popular delusion that the Recordites are excluded from public amusements.
RECREANT, subs. (old: now recognised).—'A Poltron, or Coward, one that eats his Words, or un-*saies what he said.'—B.E.(c. 1696.)
Recruit, subs. (Old Cant).—In pl. = money in prospect: e.g., 'Have YOU RAISED THE RECRUITS?' =
