blue and white vases ornamented with figures of tall thin china-women) is a name derived undoubtedly from the German or Dutch. Our sailors and traders called certain Chinese vases from the figures which distinguished them, lange Lischen (= tall Lizzies) and the English sailors and traders promptly translated this into long elizas.
Long-eye, subs. phr. (pidgin).—The
female pudendum. For synonyms
see Monosyllable.
Long-faced one, subs. phr. (military).—A
horse. For synonyms
see Prad.
Long-feathers, subs. (military).—Straw;
strommel (q.v.). Fr.
piausser sur plume de Beauce
= to sleep in the straw.
1879. Correspondent of Notes & Queries, 5 S. xii. 246. Is this bit of ironical slang worth preserving? An old man, lately emerged from what we North-countrymen call the 'Bastile,' objected in my hearing to that institution, because, inter alia, 'you had to sleep there on long feathers,' that is, upon bedding stuffed with straw.
Long-firm, subs. (common).—See
quot. 1869. Fr. la bande noire.
A somewhat similar mode of
swindling is described in Parker's
View of Society (ii. 33.
1781).
1869. Orchestra, 2 Jan., 235, i. Dismal records of the doings of the long firm, a body of phantom capitalists who issue large orders to supply an infinite variety of goods—from herrings to harmoniums, from cotton-twist to pictures; the ledger of the long firm has room for the most multifarious transactions. The rule of procedure with the long firm is simple: a noble order, a moderate sum paid on account, bills for the remainder, an order to deliver the goods at some country warehouse or depository—and exit Montague Tigg. In the next town he changes his name and his partner's, and repeats the operation. From Liverpool and Manchester he flings the bait to London tradesmen, and now and then a fish is hooked.
1886. Daily News, 20 Sept., 7, 1. This was the usual case of what is termed long firm swindling. The prisoner pretended to carry on business in the city, and ordered goods of all descriptions, which were never used for legitimate purposes, but which were immediately pawned or otherwise disposed of.
1892. Pall Mall Gazette, 17 Oct., p. 5, c. 2. Not a few of the most dangerous of the long firm class (and there are some about at the present time) haunt the locality, as our criminal courts of justice revealed only a few months ago.
Long-fork, subs. (Winchester College).—See
quot.
1866. Mansfield, School Life, 80. We had not proper toasting forks, but pieces of stick called long forks.
Long-gallery, subs. (old).—See
quot.
1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue (3rd ed.), s.v. Long-gallery. Throwing, or, rather, trundling, the dice the whole length of the board.
Long-ghost, subs. (common).—A
gawk. For synonyms see Lamp-post.
Long-glass, subs. (Eton College).—See
quot.
1883. Brinsley-Richards, Seven Years at Eton, 321. A glass nearly a yard long, shaped like the horn of a stage-coach guard, and with a hollow globe instead of a foot. It held a quart of beer, and the ceremony of drinking out of it constituted an initiation into the higher circle of Etonian swelldom. There was long-glass drinking once or twice a week during the summer half. The invités attended in an upper room of Tap after two, and each before the long glass was handed to him had a napkin tied round his neck. It was considered a grand thing to drain the glass without removing it from the lips, and without spilling any of its contents. This was difficult, because when the contents of the tubular portion of the glass had been sucked
