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1846. Thackeray, V.F., vol. 1., ch. xxvi. 'He's going it pretty fast,' said the clerk. 'He's only married a week, and I saw him and some other military chaps handing Mrs. Highflyer to her carriage after the play.'
1860. The Atlas, 7 July. Lord William belongs to the genus fast and we presume to the species soft—contradictions more apparent than real.
1870. Daily Telegraph, 11 July. Having a delightful air of being mildly fast and decorously on the loose.
1880. G. R. Sims, Three Brass Balls, Pledge xi. She knew he could not afford to gamble and keep fast company night after night.
3. (common).—Impudent; 'cheeky': e.g., 'Don't you be so fast' = Mind your own business.
To play fast and loose, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To be variable; inconstant; to say one thing and do another. [From the ancient game now known as prick the garter (q.v.).]
1557. Tottel's Miscellany, p. 157 (Arber's ed.), 'Of a new maried studient that plaied fast or lose' [Title of Epigram].
1593. G. Harvey, New Letter, in wks., i., 274 (Grosart). If he playeth at fast and loose (as is vehemently suspected by strong presumptions) whom shall he cunny catch, or cros-bite, but his cast-away selfe?
1599. Jonson, Ev. Man out of his Hum., I. Nor how they play fast and loose with a poor gentleman's fortunes, to get their own.
1632. Chapman and Shirley, The Ball, Act ii. Fr. Is't come to this? if lords play fast and loose, What shall poor knights and gentlemen?
1710. Ward, Vulgus Britannicus, ch. iv., p. 50. On second Thoughts, we should excuse, The People's playing Fast and Loose.
1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. lvii., p. 477. I'm a practical one, and that's my experience. So's this rule. Fast and loose in one thing, Fast and loose in everything.
Fastener, or Fastner, subs. (old).—A
warrant.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.; 1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue's Lexicon, s.v.
Fast-fuck, subs. (prostitutes').—An
act of trade done standing, or
at least in quick time: as opposed
to trade with an all-night lodger.
Fat, subs. (thieves').—1. Money;
Fr., de la graisse (= grease or
tallow). For synonyms, see Actual
and Gilt.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue's Lexicon, s.v.
2. (printers').—Composition full of blank spaces or in many lines. Verse is fat, while this dictionary, with its constant change of type, is lean (q.v.). Hence, work that pays well. Fr., une affaire juteuse = a 'fat job.'
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Fat amongst printers means void spaces.
1856. Notes and Queries, 2 S., I., 283, s.v.
1868. O. W. Holmes, Guardian Angel, ch. xxiv., p. 203 (Rose Lib.). If collected and printed in large type, with plenty of what the unpleasant printers call fat ensuring thereby blank spaces upon . . . thick paper.
1885. Athenæum, 27 June, p. 817, col. 1. With the aid of wide margins and a liberal amount of fat, as the printers call it, the text is doled out in pages of but nineteen lines each, and thus the three articles are successfully expanded into a booklet of over two hundred pages.
3. (theatrical).—A good part; telling lines and conspicuous or commanding situations. [Cf., sense 2.] Fr., avoir des côtelettes = to have a bit of fat (Dictionnaire Historique et Pittoresque du Theâtre. Paris, 1884).
1883. Referee, 18 March, p. 2, col. 4. They look miserable because they have nothing to do, all the fat having been seized by Terry.
