'Has the money come in?'—B. E. Whence (Grose) recruiting service = 'robbing on the highway.'
Rector, subs. (common).—1. A
poker kept for show: curate
(q.v.) = the work-a-day iron; (2)
the bottom half of a tea-cake or
muffin (as getting more butter),
the top half being the curate,
and so forth.
Rector of the females, subs. phr. (venery).—The penis: see Prick.
1647-80. Rochester, Poems. Then pulling out the rector of the females, Nine times he bath'd him in their piping tails.
Red, subs. and adj. (thieves').—1.
Gold: also red-un: Fr. jaune
(= yellow); Ital. rossume (=
redness). Red-rogue (old) = a
gold piece; red-toy (or kettle)
a gold watch; red-tackle
a gold chain. Cf ruddock. Red-un also = a sovereign.
1617. Fletcher, Mad Lover, v. 4. There's a red rogue, to buy thee handkerchiefs.
1879. Macm. Mag., xl. 502. I touched for a red toy and red tackle.
1888. Sims, Plank Bed Ballad [Referee, 12 Feb.]. A toy and a tackle—both red-'uns.
c. 1886. Sporting Times [S. J. and C.]. "There's a red-'un—or in other words 'a quid.'"
1901. D. Telegraph, 14 May, 11, 5. You have got a fine red-'un. Ibid. You just now alluded to your watch as a red-'un.—Cooper: I did. And then you explained that "red-'un" was thieves' slang.—So it is.
2. (common).—Variously applied to objects red in colour: as (1) a red herring (q.v.); (2) in pl., the menses: whence red-rag = the menstrual cloth; to flash the red rag = to have one's courses; (3) in pl. = blushes: also red-rag, whence to mount the red rag (or flag) = to blush; (4) a Red Republican: spec. (France '93) a violent revolutionary of the established order. See also Admiral, Red-cent, and Red-coat.
Combinations are numerous—The red-ace (or C) = the female pudendum: see Monosyllable; red-book = a book of the officers of State or the Peerage: cf. Blue-book; redbreast = a Bow-St. runner (they wore red waistcoats); also see infra; red-cent (see quot. 1889, Nary and Nickel); red-coat = a soldier: also the reds; red-cock = an incendiary fire; red-cross (see quot. 1626); red-dog (see Shinplaster); red-eel = a term of contempt; red-eye (or red-head) = fiery whiskey; red-eye sour = whiskey and lemon; red-flannel = the tongue: see Rag, 2; red-fustian = (1) port, (2) claret (B. E. and Grose), and (3) porter: also red-tape; red-grate (see red-lattice); red-head = a red-haired person, a carrots (q.v.); red-herring = a soldier: cf. soldier = a red-herring; red-horse = a native of Kentucky; red-hot (adj.) = violent, extreme: red-letter day = (1) a Church festival (printed in red characters in the Calendar): hence (2) a happy day or lucky occasion (Grose): whence red-letter man = a Roman Catholic (B. E. and Grose); red-liner (see quot. 1851); red-petticoat (see quot. 1670); red-rag (see Rag and Red), and (2) = a source of annoyance or disgust: usually 'a
