1846. Dickens, Cricket on the Hearth, i. Remarkably beautiful child . . . May seem impossible to you, but feels his legs already.
To put one's best leg fore-*most, verb. phr. (colloquial).—1. To make haste; and (2) to exert oneself.
1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe [Grosart (1885), v. 277]. Well, thither our Fisherman set the best leg before, and vnfardled to the King his whole sachel of wonders.
As right as my leg, phr. (colloquial).—As right as may be. But see quot 1767.
1719. Durfey, Pills to Purge etc., i. 93. Jolly Ralph was in with Peg, Though frekl'd like a Turkey Egg, And she as right as is my leg, Shee gave him leave to towze her.
1762. Wilson, The Cheats, ii. 4. Fear nothing. All's well, and as right as my leg.
1767. Ray, Proverbs [Bohn (1893), 64]. A whore, she's as right as my leg.
To put the boot on the other leg, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To 'turn the tables.'
1850. New York Herald, 24 May. The Eternal City is in a very curious position. The Pope has returned to his ancestral home; but he has nothing in his pocket, and Rothschild refuses to let him have any more money. A thousand years ago, and the boot would have been on t'other leg.
1890. Pall Mall Gaz., 22 Feb., p. 2, col. 2. The Times correspondent at Durban alludes to a rumour which at the first blush seems to put the boot quite on the other leg.
To stretch one's legs, verb. phr. (common).—To take a walk. Hence, leg-stretcher (q.v.) = a drink.
To make indentures with one's legs, verb. phr. (old).—To be drunk. For synonyms see Drinks and Screwed.—Ray (1767).
More belongs to marriage than four bare legs in a bed, phr. (old).—Said of the engagement or wedding of a portionless couple. Ital. Inanzi il maritare, abbi l'habitare.—Ray (1670).
Leg-and-leg, adv. phr. (cards').—The
state of the game when each
player has won a 'leg' (q.v.);
horse-and-horse (q.v.).
Leg-bags, subs. (common).—1.
Stockings; and (2) trousers.
Leg-bail (or leg bail and land
security), subs. phr. (common).—Escape
from custody. Fr. lever le
pied. See Bail.
1767. Ray, Proverbs [Bohn (1893), 55]. He has given him leg-bail; i.e., decamped.
1774. Ferguson, Poems, ii. 10. They took leg-bail and ran awa'.
1775. Adair, American Indians, 277. I had concluded to use no chivalry, but give them leg-bail instead of it, by . . . making for a deep swamp.
1816. Scott, Antiquary, ch. xxxix. I wad gie them leg-bail to a certainty.
1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue (3rd ed.), s.v. Leg. Leg-bail and land security, to run away.
1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, ii. 4. 'Tis my painful duty to commit you, unless you can find good bail. Tom. We'll give you leg bail.
1838. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. xix. He has us now if he could give us leg-bail again.
1848. Marryat, Poacher, xxii. Given them leg-bail, I swear.
1870. Wilkie Collins, Man and Wife (in Cassell's Mag., p. 309). 'Ow! ow! that's bad. And the bit husband-creature danglin' at her petticoat's tail one day, and awa' wi' the sunrise next mornin'— have they baith taken leg-bail together?'
