1612. Beaumont and Fletcher, Cupid's Revenge, iv. 3. So am I, and forty more good fellows, that will not give THEIR HEADS FOR the WASHING, I take it.
1621. Fletcher, Wild Goose Chase, v. 4. And give her but a washing blow.
1663. Butler, Hudibras, 1. iii. 255. For my part, it shall ne'er be said, I for the WASHING GAVE MY HEAD.
1710. Ward, Hudibras Rediv., 14. Some of the laundry were (no flashing) That would not give their heads for WASHING.
To wash (or sluice) the IVORIES, verb. phr. (common).—To drink: Fr. se rincer la dent. Also TO WASH ONE'S NECK.
1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, ii. 6. Mr. J. Vash your ivories, will you? Green. I've got no hiveries to wash. Mr. J. Drink, vill you? don't you understand Hinglish.
1882. Punch, lxxxii. 185. 2. I never heard of him sluicing his ivories with what you call S. and B.
To wash one's sheep with SCALDING WATER, verb. phr. (old).—To do the absurd: a simile of folly (Ray). Also to WASH THE CROW (THE ETHIOPIAN, A BLACKAMORE, etc.), WHITE.
Washical, phr. (old).—What-D'-YE-CALL-IT (q.v.).
1551. Still, Gammer Gurton's Needle [Dodsley, Old Plays (Reed), ii. 67]. Geve my gammer again her washical [meaning her needle] thou stole away.
Washing. To give one's head FOR A WASHING. See WASH.
Washman, subs. (Old Cant).—A beggar 'faked out' with sores; 'a washman is called a Palliard [q.v.], but not of the right making. He vseth to lye in the hye way with lame or sore legs or armes to beg. These men ye right Palliards wil often times spoile, but they dare not complayn. They be bitten with spickworts, and sometime with rats bane' (Awdeley, Frat. Vacabondes, 1561).
WASH-POT, subs. phr. (Collegiate and University).—A hat, a Moab (q.v.): see Golgotha.
Wasp, As quiet as a wasp in one's nose, phr. (old).—Very much alive.
Waspish, adj. (B. E.).—'Peevish.'
Waste-butt, subs. phr. (thieves').—An eating-house, GRUBBING-KEN (q.v.), MUNGARLY-CASA (q.v.).
Waster, subs. (once literary: now colloquial).—1. A prodigal, a spendthrift; also WASTREL, WASTE-GOOD, WASTE-THRIFT. Also 2 (modern) = a generic form of contempt, a ne'er-do-well, BAD-EGG (q.v.), ROTTER (q.v.); 'a useless, clumsy, or ill-made person' (Hotten). Wastrel (q.v.) (modern) = a neglected child, street-ARAB.
1383. Chaucer, Cant. Tales, Merchant's Tale,' 231. A cludestere or wastour of thy good.
1534. Udal, Roister Doister, i. 1. Sometime Lewis Loiterer biddeth us come near; Somewhiles Watkin Waster maketh us good cheer.
1592. Nashe, Pierce Pennilesse, 18. A young . . . cockney, that . . . have playde the waste-good at the Innes of the Court.
1592. Greene, Quip for Upstart Courtier [Harl. Misc., v. 420]. This first . . . is a wast-good and an unthrift.
1608. Middleton, Trick to Catch, ii. 1. A wastethrift, a common surfeiter, and, to conclude, a beggar.
1610. Beaumont and Fletcher, Knight of the Burning Pestle, i. 4. Thou art a wastethrift, and art run away.
