To go a jump, verb. phr. (American thieves').—To enter a house by the window.—Matsell (1859).
To jump a bill, verb. phr. (common).—To dishonour an acceptance.
1892. Pall Mall Gazette, 17 Oct., p. 2, col. 3. Painting the town red . . . jumping bills . . . evading writters etc.
To see how the cat will jump, verb. phr. (common).—To watch the course of events; to sit on the fence (q.v.).
1825. Universal Songster, i. ('The Dog's-Meat Man'). He soon saw which way the cat did jump, And his company he offered plump.
1827. Scott, in Croker Pap. (1884), 1. xi. 319. Had I time, I believe I would come to London merely to see how the cat jumped.
1853. Bulwer Lytton, My Novel, iv. p. 228. 'But I rely equally on your friendly promise.' 'Promise! No—I don't promise. I must first see how the cat jumps.'
1859. Lever, Davenport Dunn, iii. 229. You'll see with half an eye how the cat jumps.
1874. Sat. Rev., p. 139. This dismays the humble Liberal of the faint Southern type, who thinks that there are subjects as to which the heads of his party need not Wait to see how the cat jumps.
1887. 'Pol. Slang,' in Cornhill Mag., June, p. 626. Those who sit on the fence—men with impartial minds, who wait to see, as another pretty phrase has it, how the cat will jump.
To jump upon, verb. phr. (coloquial).—To maltreat, physically or otherwise; to criticise severely; to take it out of (q.v.); to sit upon (q.v.).
1872. M. E. Braddon, Dead Sea Fruit, v. When a wretched scribbler was, in vulgar phraseology, to be jumped upon, honest Daniel put on his hobnailed boots, and went at the savage operation with a will.
To jump bail, verb. phr. (common).—To abscond.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.
To jump the Broomstick.—See Broomstick.
To jump up (tailors').—To get the best of one, or the reverse.—Slang, Jargon & Cant.
To jump the game, verb. phr. (American police).—To raid a gambling den.
To jump up behind, verb. phr. (general).—See quot.
1865. Daily Telegraph, 9 Mar. 'Has he no friend,' he asks him, 'who will jump up behind, that is endorse the acceptance.'
To jump out of one's skin.—See Skin.
On the keen jump, adv. phr. (U. S. colloquial).—On the 'go'; violently at work.
b.1884. T. Winthrop, Saccharissa Mellasys [in Century]. De tar-kittle's a-bilin' on de keen jump.
Jump-down, subs. (colonial).—See
quot. Also jumping off place;
a destination.
1885. Staveley Hill, From Home to Home. Colonially known as the jump-down, that is the last place that is in course of erection on the outskirts of what is called civilized life.
1887. Scribner's Magazine. It is a sort of jumping-off-place.
Jumped-up, adj. phr. (common).—Conceited; arrogant: also perturbed; upset.
Jumper, subs. (old).—1. See quot.
1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, p. 172. Jumper, a tenpenny-piece.—Ibid. p. 114. I got three jumpers and a kid's-eye.
2. (thieves').—A thief who enters houses by the windows: cf. Jilter.
1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.
1825. Mod. Flash Dict., s.v.
