Heading
Another Old Cant term for a cloak was calle (q.v.), and the French have un bleu, whilst the Italian Fourbesque has toppo and manto, the latter probably meaning 'a long black veil'; Calaõ. tralha. The Germania renders cloak by noche (literally 'night,' and signifying also in a canting sense 'sadness' and 'sentence of death'); nube (literally a 'cloud'); pelosa (specially applied to a cloak worn in the morning; literally 'shaggy' or 'hairy'); bellosa or vellosa (a sailor's cloak).
1567. Harman, Caveat [E. E. Text Soc., 1869], p. 77. He walketh in softly a nights, when they be at their rest, and plucketh of as many garmentes as be ought worth that he may come by, . . . and maketh porte sale at some conuenient place of theirs, that some be soone ready in the morning, for want of their Casters and Togemans.
1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37 (H. Club's Repr., 1874). Caster: a Clocke.
1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue [s.v.].
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum [s.v.].
2. (colloquial).—A cast-off or rejected person or thing. [From cast, thrown, + er.]
1859. Lang, Wand. India, p. 144. The horse which drew the buggy had been a caster . . . a horse considered no longer fit for the cavalry or horse artillery, and sold by public auction, after being branded with the letter R on the near shoulder. [m.]
Castieu's Hotel, subs. phr.
(Australian thieves').—The Melbourne
gaol, so called from Mr.
J. B. Castieu. For list of nicknames
of this description, see
Cage.
18(?). Australian Printers Keep-*sake. He caught a month, and had to white it out at diamond-cracking in Castieu's Hotel.
Castle-Rag, subs. (rhyming slang).—A
flag or fourpenny piece. For
synonyms, see Joey.
Cast-Offs, subs. (nautical).—1.
Landsmen's clothes. For synonyms,
see Togs.
2. In singular (general).—A discarded mistress.
Castor, subs. (old).—A hat. [From
Latin castor, a beaver, hats
having formerly been made of
beaver's fur.] For synonyms, see
Golgotha.
1640. Entick, London, II., 175. Beaver hats, Demi-casters. [m.]
1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict., 2 ed. Castor: lat., 1, a beaver, a beast like an otter. 2, a fine hat made of its fur.
1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Sc. 5. Jerry. (Walks about, and, by mistake, takes Logic's hat, which he puts on.) Damn the cards! Log. (Following Jerry, and rescuing castor.) Don't nibble the felt, Jerry!
1857. O. W. Holmes, Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, ch. viii. The last effort of decayed fortune is expended in smoothing its dilapidated castor. The hat is the ultimum morieus of 'respectability.'
1860. Morning Post, Jan. 30. Such as tin for money, castor for hat, brick for good fellow, gemman for gentleman.
Cast Sheep's Eyes, verbal phr.
(common).—To ogle; to leer or
'make eyes' at; formerly to look
modestly and with diffidence, but
always with longing or affection.
[Probably in allusion to the quiet,
gentle gaze of sheep.] The
phrase has been varied by to
cast lamb's eyes. Fr. ginginer;
lancer son prospectus, and un oeil
en tirelire = an eye full of amorous
expression.
1590. Greene, Francesco's Fortunes, in wks. VIII., 191. That casting a sheepe's eye at hir, away he goes; and euer since he lies by himselfe and pines away.
