Heading
1874. Mrs. H. Wood, Johnny Ludlow, 1 S., No. xxv., p. 446. And I fit to eat my head off with having nothing to do.
Eat one's head, hat, boots, etc., verb. phr. (common).—A locution of emphatic asseveration. [Probably Dickensonian, influenced by the proverbial saying, 'To eat one's heart out'—to undergo intense struggle, and also To eat one's head off (q.v.).]—See Notes and Queries, 7 S., iii., 7, 94, 197, 352, 433.
1836. Dickens, Pickwick, xlii., 367. 'Well, if I knew as little of life as that, I'd eat my hat and swallow the buckle whole,' said the clerical gentleman.
1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. xiv. This was the handsome offer with which Mr. Grimwig backed and confirmed nearly every assertion he made; and it was the more singular in his case because, even admitting, for the sake of argument, the possibility of scientific improvements being ever brought to that pass which will enable a man to eat his own head in the event of his being so disposed, Mr. Grimwig's head was such a particularly large one that the most sanguine man alive could hardly entertain a hope of being able to get through it at a sitting, to put entirely out of the question a very thick coating of powder.
1887. E. E. Money, Little Dutch Maiden, II., viii., 148. And if you don't run up against him next day in Bond Street, you may eat your hat!
To eat one's terms, verb. phr. (legal).—To go through the prescribed course of study for admission to the bar. [In allusion to the dinners a student has to attend in the public hall of his inn.]
To eat one's words, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To retract a statement; to own a lie.
To eat up, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To vanquish; to ruin. [Originally Zulu.]
1890. National Observer, 13 Dec, p. 88, col. 2. But buttons tarnish, hot gospelling palls, the eating-up of white men is in strictest consonance with regal tradition and the regal habit.
Eaves, subs. (American).—A hen-roost.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue's Lexicon, s.v.
Eavesdropper, subs. (American).—A
chicken thief; also generally,
any petty pilferer.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum,or Rogues Lexicon, s.v.
Ebenezer, subs. (Winchester
College).—A stroke at fives:
when the ball hits 'line' at such
an angle as to rise perpendicularly
into the air.
Ebony, subs. (common).—1. A
negro; otherwise Blackbird
(q.v.) and Black Ivory. Thomas
Fuller (1608-1661) spoke of the
negro race as 'God's images
cut in ebony.' For synonyms, see
Snowball.
2. The publisher of Maga.: i.e., Blackwood.—(See Noctes Ambrosianæ passim.)
Ebony-optics, subs. (old).—Black
eyes. Ebony-optics albonized
= black eyes painted white.
Edgabac, subs. (back slang).—Cabbage.
Edge. Stitched off the edge,
phr. (tailors').—Said of a glass
not filled to the top.
Side-edge, subs. (tailors').—Whiskers.
Short top edge, subs. phr. (tailors').—A turn-up nose or celestial (q.v.).
