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1785.—Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Camesa (cant, Spanish): a shirt or shift.
1812.—Byron, Childe Harold II., Tambourgi ii. Oh! who is more brave than a dark Suliote, In his snowy camese and his shaggy capote?
1834.—H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v. With my fawnied famms, and my onions gay, my thimble of ridge, and my driz (laced) kemesa.
Camister, subs. (thieves').—A preacher or clergyman. From the white gown or surplice. From Latin camisia, a linen tunic, alb, or shirt, + (probably) a termination suggested by 'minister.'] For synonyms, see Devil-dodger.
1851-61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 231. [List of patterer's words.] Camister = Minister.
Camp. To go to camp, phr. (Australian).—To go to bed; to take rest. [From the practice in the early settlers' days of forming a camp whenever a halt for the night was called.]
1887. All the Year Round, 30 July, p. 66, col. 2. To go to camp, by a transference of its original meaning, now signifies, in the mouth of a dweller in houses, simply 'to lie down,' 'to go to bed.'
TO TAKE INTO CAMP, phr. (Common).—To kill.
1878. S. L. Clemens ('Mark Twain') Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion, p. 66. Sure enough one night the trap took Mrs. Jones's principal tomcat into camp, and finished him up.
To camp, phr. (Australian).—To surpass; to 'floor.'
18(?) H. Kendall, Billy Vickers. At punching oxen you may guess There's nothing out can camp him; He has, in fact, the slouch and dress Which bullock-driver stamp him.
Campbell's Academy, subs. phr. (old).—The hulks, or lighters, on board of which felons were condemned to hard labour. Mr. Campbell was the first director.—Grose.—See Academy and Floating academy. For synonyms, see Cage.
1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 11. He was tried at Guildhall, Westminster, and sentenced to improve as a pupil in Mr. Duncan Campbell's Floating Academy for five years.
Camp-Candlestick, subs. (military)—An empty bottle, or a bayonet. Quoted in the Lexicon Balatronicum [1811]. For synonyms in the sense of 'an empty bottle,' see Dead-man.
Camp-Stool Brigade, subs. phr. (common).—Said in the first place of people who wait outside a place of entertainment to secure the best seats, and bring camp-stools with them to rest themselves.
1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 23 Sept., p. 5, col. 2. The first night of the Gaiety Wanderers will not be forgotten in a hurry. Seats for the occasion were booked a year ago last April! Can you wonder that the camp-stool brigade besieged the pit door as early as 10 a.m.?
Can, subs. (American).—1. A dollar piece.
2. (Scots).—A 'slavey.'
Canack, Canuck, Kanuck, K'nuck, subs. (American).—A Canadian, usually a K'nuck. [Obscure, and limited in its application within the Canadian frontier. There, a Canuck is understood to be a French Canadian, just as within the limits of the Union only New Englanders are termed Yankees; whereas elsewhere that appellation is given indiscriminately to
