Heading
of gamblers, whose office it is to bully the 'pigeon,' who refuses to pay.—Grose. Cf., Captain, sense 2.
Captain Tom, subs. phr. (old).—The
head or leader of a mob; also
the mob itself.—Grose.
Caravan, subs. (old).—1. A dupe;
gull; a subject of plunder.—See
Bubble.
1676. Etherege, Man of Mode, III., iii., in wks. (1704), 233. What spruce prig is that? A caravan, lately come from Paris.
1688. Shadwell, Sq. of Alsatia. [In list of cant words prefixed to.] Caravan: a bubble, the cheated.
1889. G. L. Apperson, in Gentleman's Magazine ('Seventeenth Century Colloquialisms'), p. 598. Towards the end of the century a person easily gulled, or 'bubbled' was known as a caravan, but earlier the term 'rook' which is now restricted to a cheat or sharper, appears to have been applied to the person cheated.
2. (old).—A large sum of money.
1690 B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Caravan: a good round sum of money about a man, and him that is cheated of it.
3. (pugilistic).—A railway train, especially a train expressly chartered to convey people to a prize fight. [Early in the present century caravan, now shortened to 'van,' was applied to a third class covered railway carriage; now a pleasure party is so described; also a gypsy's cart; also the wheeled cages of a travelling menagerie.]
Caravansera, subs. (pugilistic).—A
railway station. As thus:
'The scratch must be toed at
sharp five, so the caravan will
start at four from the caravansera.'—Hotten.
See Caravan,
sense 3.
Card, subs. (common).—1. A
device; expedient; or undertaking;
that which is likely to
attain its object, or through
which success is sure. Thus we
have such expressions as a 'good
card,' a 'strong card,' a 'safe
card,' a 'likely, or a doubtful
card.' [Figurative; from card
playing.] That's a sure card
sounds modern, but as Lowell
has pointed out it is to be found
in the old interlude of 'Thursytes'
(1537).
1690. B. E., Dic. Cant. Crew. A sure card, a trusty Tool, or Confiding Man.
1763. Fr. Brooke, Lady J. Mandeville, in Barbauld Brit. Novelists (1820) xxvii., 23. Poor fellow! I pity him; but marriage is his only card. [m.]
1826. Scott, Woodstock, III., xiv., 358. No card seemed to turn up favourable to the royal cause.
2. A character; an odd fish; an eccentric; generally coupled with such adjectives as 'knowing,' 'old,' 'queer,' 'downy,' 'rum,' etc. [Apparently derived from the card-table, such expressions as a 'sure card,' a 'sound card,' being of very ancient use. Osric tells Hamlet that Laertes is the card and calendar of gentry.—(Hamlet, v., 2.)]
1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, 264. Mr. Thomas Potter, whose great aim it was to be considered as a knowing card.
1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xx., p. 173. 'Such an old card as this; so deep, so sly, and secret.'
1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. ii. Frank Hardingstone was, to use their favourite word, 'a great card' amongst all the associates of his age and standing.
1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. xii. A quaint boy at Eton, cool hand at Oxford, a deep card in the regiment, man or woman never yet had the best of 'Uppy.'
