Sa, adj. (showmen's).—Six.
1893. Emerson, Lippo, xx. Vell, when I got well I was hired out to a woman for sa soldi a day.
Sabbath-day's journey, subs.
phr. (colloquial).—A short walk:
also (ironically) an excuse for not
stirring.
Sabe (save, or savvy), subs.
(American).—Shrewdness; nous
(q.v.); gumption (q.v.).
Sable-Maria. See Black Maria.
Sabin, subs. (old).—A whimster.
1637. Holland, Camden, 542. Grimsby, which our Sabins, or conceited persons dreaming what they list . . . will have to be so called of one Grimes a merchant.
Saccer, subs. (Harrow School).—The
sacrament: cf. soccer,
rugger, brekker, collecker,
&c.
Sacheverel, subs. (old).—'The
iron door, or blower, to the
mouth of a stove: from a divine
of that name who made himself
famous for blowing the coals of
dissension in the latter end of the
reign of Queen Ann' (Grose,
Halliwell).
Sack, subs. (Old Cant).—A pocket.
As verb = to pocket; to dive
into a sack = to pick a pocket.—B.
E. (c. 1696); Dyche (1748);
Grose (1785); Vaux (1812);
Egan (1823). Cf. Doodlesack.
1858. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, III. iii. I've brought a couple of bene coves, with lots of the Queen's pictures [money] in their sacks.
Phrases are: To give (or get) the sack (bag, billet, bullet, canvas, kick-out, mitten, pike, or road) = to give or get discharge: from employment, office, position, &c.: see Bag: also to sack and to bestow (or get) the order of the sack; to buy the sack = to get drunk (Grose); to break a bottle in an empty sack = 'a bubble bet, a sack with a bottle in it not being an empty sack' (Grose); more sacks to the mill! = (1) Pile it on! a call to increased exertion, and (2) plenty in store.
1607. Dekker and Webster, Westward Hoe, ii. 1. There's other irons i' th' fire, more sacks are coming to the mill.
1623. Middleton and Rowley, Spanish Gypsy, iv. 1. Soto. More sacks to the mill. San. More thieves to the sacks.
1837. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, xx. I wonder what old Fogg would say?. . . I should get the sack, I suppose.
1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 247. Don't . . . fancy, because a man's nous seems to lack, That whenever you please, you can give him the sack.
1864. Yates, Broken to Harness, xxi. If it rested with me, doctor, I'd give him unlimited leave, confer on him the order of the sack.
