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To cry [or call] a go, verbal phr. (common).—To give in, as one unable to proceed. An expression borrowed from cribbage signifying that the player who makes use of it has nothing playable in his hand, and is compelled to 'cry a go.'] Cf., Pass
1880. Punch's Almanack. Got three quid; have cried a go with Fan, Game to spend my money like a man.
To cry cupboard, verbal phr. (common).—To be fasting, hungry, banded (q.v.). Fr., n'avoir rien dans le cornet; avoir le buffet vide; and danser devant le buffet.
1738. Swift, Polite Conversation (conv. iii.), Footman. Madam, dinner's upon the table. Col. Faith, I'm glad of it; my belly began to cry cupboard.
Cry matches! intj. phr. (American).—An exclamation of surprise. [Variously derived: (1) a corruption of 'Crime hatches'; (2) cry = XPI or Christ, no suggestion being offered to account for 'marches'; and (3) a conversion of the Fr. cré matin, presumably Canadian. Cf., Crimini.] Quoted in N. and Q., 5 S., viii., 491, and ix., 55, 318.
Cry off, verb (general).—To retreat; to back out from an engagement.
1866. London Miscellany, 5 May, p. 201. 'London Revelations.' 'Why this gent told me to bid,' said the dealer, patting his tingling fingers sharply, 'and now he wants to cry off.'
To cry stinking fish.—See Stinking fish.
C.T.A., phr. (circus and showmen's)—The police.
Cub or Unlicked-Cub, subs. (colloquial).—An awkward, sulky girl; a mannerless, uncouth lout of a boy. [In allusion to the clumsiness of bear cubs till their dam has 'licked them into shape.'] Cf., Bear-leader.
1602. Shakspeare Twelfth Night, Act v., I., 167. Duke. O thou dissembling cub! what wilt thou be When time hath sow'd a grizzle on thy case?
1693. Congreve, Old Batchelor, Act iv., Sc. 8. A country squire, with the equipage of a wife and two daughters, came to Mrs. Snipwell's shop while I was there—but, oh Gad! two such unlicked cubs!
1762. Foote, Liar, II., ii. I don't reckon much upon him: for you know, my dear, what can I do with an awkward, raw, college cub?
1773. O. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, Act iv., Sc 1. 'A poor contemptible booby that would but disgrace correction.' . . . 'An insensible cub.'
1880. A.. Trollope, The Duke's Children, ch. ix. And Tommy, you are an uncivil young,—young,—young,—I should say cub if I dared, to tell me that you don't like dining with me any day of the week.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xxix. I don't see why that infernal young cub of a Clive is always meddling in our affairs.
Cubitopolis, subs. (obsolete).—The Warwick and Eccleston Square districts. [From the name of the builders, see quot., 1864.] Cf., Albertopolis, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, The New Jerusalem, Slopers' Island, etc. (q.v.).
1864. The Press, 12 Nov. Cubitopolis received its felicitous cognomen from Lady Morley.
1866. E. Yates, Land at Last, ch. iii. There are men yet living among us whose mothers had been robbed on their way from Ranelagh in crossing the spot, then a dreary swampy marsh, on which now stands the city of palaces known as CUBITTOPOLIS.
Cuckoo, subs. (popular).—1. A fool. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.
