Heading
1859. Punch, vol. XXXVII., p. 54. 'Essence of Parliament.' July 25, Monday. Lord Lyndhurst let fly and caught him what (if pugilistic terms be not out of place when one is alluding to so pacific a personage) may be designated an extremely neat one on the conk.
1860. Chambers' Journal, vol. XIII., p. 348. His nose is his conk.
1887. Atkin, House Scraps. His 'dexter ogle' has a 'mouse'; His conk's devoid of bark.
1889. Answers, 9 Feb. That portion of his countenance which is euphemistically described in the language of lower London as a conk.
Conoodle.—See Canoodle.
Conscience, subs. (theatrical).—Thus
explained in Slang, Jargon,
and Cant: A kind of association
in a small company for the allotment
of shares in the profits, etc.
The man who is lucky enough to
have a concern of his own, generally
a very small affair, however
badly he may act, must be the
leading man or first low comedian,
perhaps both. He becomes the
manager, of course, and thus has
one share for 'fit-up,' one for
scenery, one and a half for
management, one for wardrobe,
one and a half as leading man;
and the same is given to the wife,
who, of course, will not play
anything but the juvenile lead,
but who at any other time would
be glad to play first old woman.
Considerable Bend. To go on
the Considerable Bend, verb.
phr. (common).—To go in for a
bout of dissipation.
Consonant-Choker, subs. (common).—One
that clips his G's
and muffles his R's.
Constable. To out or over-run
the constable, verbal phr.
(common).—To live beyond one's
means and get into debt; also, in
a figurative sense, to escape from
a bad argument; 'to change the
subject'; to talk about what is
not understood.
1663. Butler, Hudibras, pt. I., canto iii., l. 1367. Quoth Hudibras, Friend Ralph, thou hast Out-run the constable at last; For thou art fallen as a new Dispute, as senseless as untrue, But to the former opposite, And contrary as black to white.
1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xxiii. He inquired, 'how far have you overrun the constable?' I told him that the debt amounted to eleven pounds.
1766. Anstey, New Bath Guide, letter vii. And some people think with such haste he began, That soon he the constable greatly outran.
1782. Wolcot ('P. Pindar'), Rights of Kings, ode xi. Got deep in debt, the constable out-ran.
1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xli., p. 357. 'He run a match agin the constable, and vun it.' 'In other words, I suppose.' said Mr. Pickwick, 'he got into debt.' 'Just that, sir,' replied Sam.
Constician, subs. (theatrical).—A
member of the orchestra.
Constitutional, subs. (colloquial).—A
walk undertaken for the sake
of health and exercise [i.e., for
the benefit of the constitution].
Tronchiner, from Doctor Tronchin,
is French for the verb,
tronchinade for the act.
1850. F. E. Smedley, Frank Fairleigh, ch. xxix. One evening, about a week before the examinations were to begin, I was taking my usual constitutional after Hall.
1853. Rev. E. Bradley ('Cuthbert Bede'), Verdant Green, pt. II., p. 41. At one time he was a great friend of Cocky Palmer's, and used to go with him to the Cock fights at Wheatley—that Village just on the other side Shotover Hill—where we did a constitutional the other day.
