Heading
to Calvert's malt liquors.] This regiment was also called the Old and Bold.
1780. R. Tomlinson, Slang Pastoral, canto viii. Gin! What is become of thy heart-chearing fire, And where is the beauty of Calvert's Intire?
1871. Chambers' Journal, 23 Dec, p. 803, col. 1. The 14th Foot, Calvert's Entire.
1886. Tinsley's Magazine, April, p. 322. A very curious name, Calvert's Entire, used to be attached to the 14th, but this as well as the circumstances which gave rise to it are forgotten.
Calves. Calves gone to grass, subs. phr. (old).—Said of spindle shanks; i.e., slender, undeveloped legs, with lack of calves.
There are many ways of DRESSING CALVES' HEADS, phr. (old).—Many ways of saying or doing a foolish thing; a simpleton has many ways of showing his folly; or, generally, if one way won't do, we must try another.
Calves' heads are best hot, phr. (common).—A sarcastic apology for one sitting down to eat with his hat on.—See Stand-*up.
Calx, subs. (Eton College).—The goal line at football. [From a Latin sense of calx = a goal, anciently marked with lime or chalk.] At Eton calx is a space so marked off at each end of wall; good calx is the end at which there is a door for a goal; bad calx the end where part of an elm tree serves the purpose.
1864. Daily Telegraph, Dec. 1. The Collegers were over-weighted . . . and the Oppidans managed to get the ball down into their calx several times. [m.]
Cambridge Oak, subs. (old).—A willow. [An allusion to the abundance of this tree in the county in question, which is situate in the Fen District.] Formerly many analogous sayings were in vogue; e.g., 'A Cotswold lion' for 'a sheep,' etc.—See also Cambridgeshire NIGHTINGALE.
Cambridgeshire or Fen Nightingale, subs. phr. (common).—A frog. [The county is scored with canals and dykes; the allusion is to the natural preponderance of the croaking of frogs over the singing of nightingales.] Cf. Cambridge oak and Cape nightingale.
1875. Chambers' Journal, No. 581, p. 107, col. 2. The male of the eatable frog is distinguished . . . by . . . a pouch . . . These pouches increase the volume of the croak, and render it so powerful that the possessors have, from the county in which they are particularly plentiful, received the nickname of Cambridgeshire NIGHTINGALES.
Camden-Town, subs. (rhyming slang).—A halfpenny, or 'brown.' For synonyms, see Mag.
Camel's Complaint, subs. phr. (common).—Low spirits; the HUMP (q.v.).
Camesa, subs. (thieves').—A shirt chemise, or 'shimmy.' [From the Spanish camisa, or Italian camicia.] The word appears in various forms from the beginning of the seventeenth century, e.g., 'camisa,' 'camiscia' 'kemesa,' 'camise,' and in a more genuinely English dress as 'commission' (q.v.), which in turn is shortened into mish (q.v.). For synonyms, see Flesh-bag.
1690.—B.E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Camesa: a shirt or shift.
