1887. Bonwick, Romance of Wool Trade, 273. I hear him sing out 'sold again, and got the sugar'; 'half a sheep for a shilling.'
2. (old).—Flattery; gammon (q.v.). Also as verb. etc.
1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, iii. 1. 48. With devotion's visage And pious action we do sugar o'er The devil himself.
Verb. (rowing).—To malinger at the oars; to shirk while pretending to row hard.
To sugar off, verb. phr. (American).—To amount to: in speaking of large sums of money.
Sugar-candy, subs. phr. (rhyming).—Brandy.
Sugar-basin. See Sugar-stick.
Sugared, adj. (common).—Astonished;
perplexed; gammoned
(q.v.).
1901. Troddles, 38. He stood there aghast with his mouth wide open . . . and ever and again he murmured in profound astonishment . . . 'Well—I'm—sugared!'
Sugar-loaf, subs. phr. (old).—A
high-crowned hat: conical
like a sugar-loaf.
Sugar-stick, subs. phr. (venery).—The penis: see Prick (Grose). Sugar-basin = the female pudendum: see Monosyllable. To suck the sugar-stick = to receive a man.
Sugar-stick Brigade, subs. phr.
(military).—The Ordnance Store
Corps.
Suicide, subs. (old).—Four
horses driven in a line; harum-scarum.
See Tandem, Random,
Unicorn, etc. (Grose).
Suit, subs. (old).—1. See quot.
1785. Grose, Vulgar Tongue, s.v. Suit. In general synonymous with game; as, what suit did you give it to 'em upon? in what manner did you rob them, or upon what pretence, etc., did you defraud them? One species of imposition is said to be a prime suit, another a queer suit: a man describing the pretext he used to obtain money from another, would say, I draw'd him of a quid upon the suit of so and so, naming the ground of his application. A person having engaged with another on very advantageous terms to serve or work for him, will declare that he is upon a good suit. To use great submission and respect in asking any favour of another, is called giving it to him upon the humble suit.
2. (thieves').—See quot.
1839. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard. Bargaining with a pickpocket for a suit, or to speak in more intelligible language, a watch and seals.
3. (colloquial).—Generic for completeness: e.g. a suit (= full head) of hair; a suit (= a complete set) of teeth; a suit of mourning = two black eyes (Grose). See subs. 2.
1870. Judd, Margaret, ii. 1. The face of this gentleman was strikingly marked by a suit of enormous black whiskers that flowed together and united under his chin.
Suit-and-cloak, subs. phr. (Old
Cant).—'Good store of Brandy
or any agreable Liquor, let down
Gutter-lane' (B. E. and Grose).
Suit to a Hair. See Hair.
Sukey, subs. (common).—1. A
kettle (Bee).
2. (common).—A common name for a general servant or slavey (q.v.): cf. Jeames = footman. Sukey-tawdry = 'a slatternly female in fine tawdry' (Grose).
