1691-2. Gentlemen's Journal, Mar., p. 3. Here's novels, and new-town adventures . . . and the Lord knows what not.
2. See What's-his-name, 2.
What ho! phr. (old).—A summons or call: once the recognised formula: long disused save in melodrama and burlesque, but latterly recrudescent in vulgar salutation and expletive.
1598. Shakspeare, 1 Henry IV., ii. 1. 52. Gads. What ho! chamberlain! Chamb. [Within] At hand, quoth pick-purse.
1898. Marshall, Pomes, ii. Where 'e let me in for drinks all round, and as I'd but a bob, I thought, 'What ho! 'Ow am I a-going on?'
What price? phr. (racing and common).—How's that? What do you think? How much? What odds?
1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, xiv. What price you, when you fell off the scaffold?
1895. Pocock, Rules of the Game, ii. 10. What price Mr. Jack Hayles, eh, boys? That proves he's a thief.
1898. Cigarette, 26 Nov., 13. 1. Ain't he gone on saucy colours, Eh? What price the green and red?
1899. Whiteing, John St., i. ix. What price grammar? It don't seem to teach people to keep a civil tongue in their head.
1901. Free Lance, 13 Ap., 28. 2. 'It is all very well,' writes a traveller, 'to legislate with regard to pure beer, but what price pure wine?'
What (Who, When, Where, or How) the Devil, phr. (common).—An expletive of wonder, vexation, etc.
c. 1360. Alliterative Poems [Morris], 97. [Jonah is asked by his shipmates] What þe devel hat þou don?
b. 1688, d. 1744. Pope [quoted in Annandale]. The things we know are neither rich nor rare; But wonder how the devil they got there.
1776. David Garrick. Bon Ton, or High Life Above Stairs, ii. 1. Sir T. Why, what the devil do you make one at these masqueradings?
1780. Mrs. Cowley, The Belle's Stratagem, i. 3. Har. Who the devil could have foreseen that?
1827. R. B. Peake, Comfortable Lodgings, i. 3. What the devil is all this about?
1836. Michael Scott, Cruise of the Midge [Ry. ed. 1860], 134. How the devil can you get anything out of an empty vessel?
Whatabouts, subs. (colloquial).—A
matter in hand, something
under consideration.
1830. Southey, To G. C. Bedford, 3 Mar. You might know of all my goings-on and whatabouts and whereabouts from Henry Taylor.
What-like, adj. phr. (colloquial).—Of
what kind.
1865. Dickens, Mutual Friend, iii. 2. She knows Miss Abbey of old, remind her, and she knows what-like the home, and what-like the friend is likely to turn out.
What-nosed, subs. phr. (common).—Drunk,
hot-nosed from
drinking: see Screwed.
Whatsomever, adv. and pro.
(once literary: now vulgar).—Whatsoever:
also whatsomdever.
1360. Chaucer, Rom. of the Rose, 5041. Whatsomever woo they fele They wol not pleyne, but concele.
14[?]. Babees Book [E.E.T.S.], 45. Doughtir, loke that thou be waare, what-*sumeuere thee bitide, Mak not thin husbonde poore with spendinge ne with pride.
Whay-worm (or Whey-worm),
subs. phr. (old).—A whim,
crotchet, maggot (q.v.).—Skelton.
