heels is first found, I believe, in the Irish saying, 'A Waterford heifer, beef to the heels.'"
Dolly was not a fine woman, as they say, at all; not beef to the heels, by any means; in a grazier's eye she would have had no charm whatsoever.—Rhoda Broughton: Cometh up as a Flower.
Beefy (common), unduly thick, commonly said of women's ankles; also rich, juicy, plenteous. To take the whole pool at loo, or to have any particular run of luck at cards generally, is said by players to be very beefy (Hotten). Beefy is also applied to a bloated, red-faced person.
Bee-gum (American), a hollow gum-tree in which bees have hived. This is more technical than slang.
Bob tuck him by de skin,
As de bear wus comin' in,
An' he pull, an' he pull till down de holler tree cum;
Den nigger Bob come out,
An' run like nigger mout,
While de bear tink he got de debbil in de bee-gum.
Bee in the bonnet (common). To have a bee in one's bonnet, is to be odd, eccentric, fantastical, whimsical, or half-crazy. It is supposed to be a peculiarly Scottish phrase, because Scotsmen wear "bonnets," and Englishmen do not. Its use, however, is not confined to Scotland, but was known in England in the seventeenth century, and is still common. It occurs in a song by Herrick, entitled the "Mad
Maiden," of the date of 1648:—
"For pity, sir, find out that bee,
Which bore my love away;
I'll seek him in your bonnet brave,
I'll seek him in your eyes."
A friend speaking to an Edinburgh lady of a late eminent professor in the University, said he was an excellent man, but he had a bee in his bonnet. "Don't say that," replied the lady, assuming a look and tone of reproof. "You under-rate him. A bee in his bonnet! Why, he has a whole hive of bees in it!" The French have the corresponding expression "avoir un hanneton"—a may-bug.
Been in the sun (popular), intoxicated, alluding to the flushed countenance of one who has been drinking heavily.
Been measured for a new umbrella (American), said originally of a man that nothing fitted him but his umbrella. An old joke, reproduced by Artemus Ward, who took his own generally wherever he found it.
"Wall, about this time there was a man in an adjacent town who had a green cotton umbrella."
"Did it fit him well? Was it custom-made? Was he measured for it?"
"Measured for what?" said Abe.
"The umbreller?"—Artemus Ward.
Beeno (gypsy), born. "Ki sos o tikno beeno?"—"Where was the babe born?"
Been to Bungtown. Been to Boston (American). It is re-
