Heading
1871.—Echo, 4 Dec. Calf, cow, and bull week. We find a good illustration of the beneficial influence of the Factory Acts in the reports of the Government Inspectors just issued. The district inspector expresses the hope that the measures which he took against some offenders in bull week last year will extinguish for good and all this absurd and illogical custom.
Calf's Head, subs. (common).—A
stupid, witless individual. For
synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.
1600.—Shakspeare, Much Ado about Nothing, V., i., Claudio: 'I' faith, I thank him; he hath bid me to a calf's head and a capon; the which if I do not carve most curiously, say my knife's naught.
Calf-Lick.—See Cow-lick.
Calf-Lolly, subs. (old).—An
idle simpleton; a general term of
reproach.
1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, bk. I., ch. xxv. Jobbinol goosecaps, foolish loggerheads, flutch calf-lollies.
1708. Motteux, Rabelais, iv., xvii. I was a Calf-lolly, a doddipole.
Calf-Love, subs. (common).—A
youthful, romantic fancy. [A
sarcastic allusion to the blind
unreasoning character of boy and
girl attachments.]
1823. Galt, Entail, I., xxxii., 284. I made a calf-love marriage. [m.]
1863. Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, II., 104. It's a girl's fancy—just a kind o' calf-love—let it go by.
1884. Longman's Mag., IV., 50. I was still at the early and agonising stage of the passion which is popularly known as calf-love.
Calfskin-Fiddle, subs. (old).—A
drum.
1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
Calf-Sticking, subs. (thieves').—Explained
by quotation. [Cf.,
Calf and Stick].
1883. Daily Telegraph, 25 July, p. 2, col. 1. The venerable oarsman grinned, and set me right by explaining that what was called calf-sticking by those who practised it was the putting off of worthless rubbish, on the pretence that it was smuggled goods, on any foolish or unscrupulous person who could be inveigled into treating for the same.
Calibogus, subs. (American).—A
very old name for a mixture of
rum and spruce beer, being
quoted by Grose in 1785 as 'an
American beverage.' The last
two syllables of the word are
thought to be derived from the
French bagasse, the refuse of the
sugar cane. This view would
seem to be supported by the
fact that rum is itself a product
of the sugar cane.
1861. L. de Boileau. Recoll. Labrador Life, p. 162. Callibogus, a mixture of Rum and Spruce-beer, more of the former and less of the latter.
Calico, adj. (old).—Thin; wasted;
attenuated. [Calicut is the name
of the Indian city whence the
material of the comparison was
brought. The earliest reference
for original signification given by
Murray is 1505; but he omits the
cant meaning.]
1733. Nathaniel Bailey, Colloquies of Erasmus (translated), p. 37. In such a place as that your callico body (tenui corpusculo) had need have a good fire to keep it warm.
1861. Sala, Seven Sons of Mammon. A shrewd, down-east Yankee once questioned a simple Dutchman out of his well-fed steed, and left him instead a vile calico mare in exchange.
Calico-Bally, adj. (common).—Somewhat
'fast'; applied to
