1885. Phillipps-Wolley, Trottings of a Tenderfoot. 'Oh, durn your rifles!' said an old settler to me. 'Give me a two-pipe scatter-gun and a spike-tailed smell-damp and I'm fixed.'
Two Sevens (The), subs. phr.
(military).—The second battalion
Duke of Cambridge's Own
Middlesex Regiment, late the
77th Foot.
Two-shoes, subs. phr. (nursery).—A
little girl: an endearment,
usually 'little two-shoes' (cf.
Goody Two-shoes = a kind of
fairy god-mother).
1858. Eliot, Mr Gilfil's Love Story, i. He delighted to tell the young shavers and two-shoes . . . whenever he put pennies into [his pocket] they turned into sugar-plums or gingerbread.
Two Sixes (The), subs. phr.
(military).—The second battalion
Princess Charlotte of Wales's
Royal Berkshire Regiment, late
the 66th Foot.
Two Tens (The), subs. phr.
(military).—The Lancashire
Fusiliers, late the 20th Foot.
Two-twos, subs. phr. (common).—A
moment; the shortest imaginable
space of time; in a
twinkling.
The Two Twos, subs. phr. (military).—The Cheshire Regiment, late the 22nd Foot.
Twoster. See Twist.
Two-to-one Shop, subs. phr.
(old).—A pawnbroker's; uncle's
(q.v.). [Grose: 'alluding to
the three blue balls, the sign of
that trade; or perhaps to its
being two to one that the goods
pledged are never redeemed.']
Two upon ten (or Two pun' ten), phr. (Hotten).—An expression used by assistants to each other, in shops, when a customer of suspected honesty makes his appearance. The phrase refers to 'two eyes upon ten fingers,' shortened as a money term to two pun' ten. When a supposed thief is present, one shopman asks the other if that two pun' (pound) ten matter was ever settled. The man knows at once what is meant, and keeps a careful watch upon the person being served. If it is not convenient to speak, a piece of paper is handed to the same assistant, bearing the, to him, very significant amount of £2, 10s. Cf. Sharp, John Orderly.
Twug, ppl. adj. (Harrow).—Caught:
i.e. the past ppl. of twig
(q.v.).
Twyford. My name is Twyford,
phr. (old).—'I know
nothing of the matter' (Ray): cf.
Sp. No se nada, de me vinas
vengo (a reply to an inconvenient
question, or when nothing is
wished to be known of a matter:
lit. 'I have been absent at my
vineyard).'
Tyburn, subs. (old).—The place
of execution for Middlesex to
1783: after which the death
penalty was enforced at Newgate
till the demolition of the prison
in 1903. The Tyburn gallows
stood in the angle formed by the
Edgware Road and Oxford Street.
In 1778 this was two miles out
of London. Hence Tyburn-blossom
= a young thief: 'who
in time will ripen into fruit borne
by the deadly never-green'
(Grose); Tyburn-check (pickadill,
tiffany, or tippet) = a
rope, a halter: Tyburn-tippet,
'rather obsolete in 1822' (Egan);
Tyburn-fair (-jig, -show, or
