Work, verb (thieves').—To steal. Ft. travailler; Sp. trabajar.
Phrases. To make work = to cause (or make) a disturbance, kick up a shindy (q.v.); to work the oracle = to manœuvre, to victimise.
World. All the world and
his wife, subs. phr. (common).—Everyone.
1709-10. Swift, Polite Conversation, iii. Miss. Pray, Madam, who were the company? Lady Sm. Why there was the world and his wife.
1766. New Bath Guide, Letter xiii. How he welcomes at once all the world and his wife, And how civil to folk he ne'er saw in his life.
1865. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, 1. xvii. All the world and his wife and daughter leave cards. Sometimes the world's wife has so many daughters that her card reads rather like a miscellaneous lot at an auction.
Worm, subs. (common).—A
policeman.
Worm-crusher, subs. phr.
(military).—A foot soldier: cf.
Mudcrusher.
Worm-fence, subs. phr. (American).—A
zig-zag rail-fence; a
Virginia-fence (q.v.).
1839-40. Irving, Wolfert's Roost, 251. We drove Master Jack about the common, until we had hemmed him in an angle of a worm fence.
Worricrow, subs. (old).—A
scarecrow.
. . . Naylor, Reynard the Fox, 39. What a worricrow the man doth look!
Worth. See Bean; Candle;
Cent; Cracker; Curse;
Fig; Fly; Game; Louse;
Nutshell; Pear; Rap;
Straw; Turd, etc., etc.
W. P. See Warming-pan.
Wrap-rascal, subs. phr. (Old
Cant).—A cloak, or coat.
1753. Adventurer, 101. Some of them had those loose kind of great-coats on, which I have heard called wrap-rascals.
1853. Wh.-Melville, Digby Grand, xix. Cram on a wrap-rascal and a shawl choaker. Never mind the gold-laced overalls and spurs.
1860-3. Thackeray, Roundabout Papers, xviii. There is the cozy wrap-rascal, self-indulgence, how easy it is.
1898. Whiteing, John St., xxiv. The humble individual in slouch felt and threadbare wrap-rascal.
Wren, subs. (military).—A prostitute
frequenting the Curragh
Camp.
1869. Greenwood, Seven Curses of London. These creatures are known in and about the great military camp and its neighbourhood as wrens. They do not ' live in houses or even huts, but build for themselves 'nests' in the bush.
Wretch. Poor wretch, subs.
phr. (provincial).—A term of
endearment.
Wretchcock (or Wrechock),
subs. (old).—A puny, insignificant
person, a poor wretch.
Wriggling-pole, subs. phr.
(venery).—The penis: see Prick.
To wriggle navels = to copulate:
see Greens and Ride.
c.1720. Durfey, Pills to Purge, etc. (1720), vi. 91. 'The Jolly Tradesmen.' But if my Oven be over-hot, I dare not thrust it in, Sir; For burning of my Wrigling-Pole, My Skill's not worth a Pin, Sir.
Wright (Mr.), subs. phr. (prison).—A
warder acting as go-between
for a prisoner and his friends.
