Heading
St. Nicholas' clerk or clergyman (old).—A highwayman.
1589. R. Harvey, Pl. Perc., I, A quarrel, by the highway side, between a brace of Saint Nicholas Clargie men. [m.]
1597. Shakspeare, King Henry IV., i. 1. Sirrah, if they meet not with St. Nicholas' clerks, I'll give thee this neck.
Clerked, ppl. adj. (old). Imposed
upon; 'sold' (q.v.).
1785. Grose, Dick. Vulg. Tongue. The cull will not be clerked.
Clerks.—See St. Nicholas'
Clerk.
Clerk's Blood, subs. (old).—Red
ink. A common expression of
Charles Lamb's.
Clever Shins, phr. (school).—Sly
to no purpose.
Cleymes, subs. (old).—Artificial
sores, made by beggars to excite
charity.
Click, subs. (pugilistic).—A blow.
For synonyms, see Dig, bang
and wipe. Also a hold in wrestling.
1819. T. Moore, Tom Crib's Memorial, p. 18. Home-hits in the bread-basket clicks in the gob. Ibid, p. 30.
1871. Daily Telegraph, 8 April. C. and W. Wrestling Society. The various competitors struggled hard and put on all they knew in 'hipes,' 'hanks,' 'clicks,' 'strokes,' and 'buttockings.'
Verb (old).—See quots., and Cf., Clicker.
1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Click (v.) . . . or to stand at a shop-door and invite customers in, as salesmen and shoemakers do.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. To click a nab; to snatch a hat.
Clicker, or Klicker, subs. old).—1.
A shop-keeper's tout. [Formerly
a shoemaker's doorsman or
barker (q.v.), but in this particular
trade the term is nowadays
appropriated to a foreman who
cuts out leather and dispenses
materials to workpeople; a sense
not altogether wanting from the
very first.]
c. 1690. B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew. Clicker: the shoemaker's journeyman or servant, that cutts out all the work, and stands at or walks before the door, and saies, 'What d'ye lack, sir? what d'ye buy, madam?'
1698. Ward, London Spy, pt. V., p. 117. Women were here almost as Troublesome as the Long-Lane Clickers.
1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Clicker (s.): the person that stands at a shoe-maker's door to invite customers to buy the wares sold there.
1864. Hotten, Slang Dictionary. Clicker: a female touter at the bonnet shops in Cranbourne Alley. In Northamptonshire, the cutter out in a shoemaking establishment.
2. (popular).—A knockdown blow.—See Click, subs. sense.
3. (thieves').—One who apportions the booty or 'regulars.'
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Clift, verb (thieves').—To steal.
For synonyms, see Prig.
Climb Down, subs. and verb (colloquial).—The
abandonment of a
position; downward or retrograde
motion; the act of surrender.
At first American.
1871. Rev. H. W. Beecher, Star Papers, p. 41, quoted in De Vere's Americanisms. To climb down the wall was easy enough, too easy for a man who did not love wetting. Ibid. I partly climbed down, and wholly clambered back again, satisfied that it was easier to get myself in than to get the flowers out.
1889 St. James's Gazette, 22 Nov, p. 12, col. 2. I am particularly pleased (adds our correspondent) with the noble
