Wheelbarrow. As drunk as a wheelbarrow (or as the drum of a wheelbarrow), phr. (old).—Very drunk indeed: see Screwed (Ray).
1675. Cotton, Burlesque upon Burlesque, 243. Besides, if he such things can do, When drunk as drum of wheelbarrow, What would not this God of October Perform, I prithee, when he's sober.
To go to heaven in a wheelbarrow, verb. phr. (old).—To go to hell. [In the painted glass at Fairford, Gloucestershire, the devil is represented as wheeling off a scolding wife in a barrow.]
d. 1655. Adams, Works, i. 144. This oppressor must needs go to heaven! what shall hinder him? But it will be, as the by-word is, in a wheelbarrow; the fiends, and not the angels, will take hold on him.
Wheeler, subs. (coaching).—A
horse driven in shafts or next
to the wheels: cf. Leader.
Also off-wheeler = a horse
driven on the right-hand side, i.e.
the side on which a postillion
never rides; near-wheeler =
the horse on the left-hand side.
1862. Thackeray, Philip, xiii. We saw the vehicle turn over altogether, one of the wheelers down with its rider, and the leaders kicking.
Wheel-horse, subs. phr. (American).—An
intimate friend; one's
right-hand man; a leading man
(Bartlett).
1877. New York Tribune, 26 Feb. It is probable that the only man put forward by the republican's wheel-horses of Illinois for high appointment under President Hayes will be the Honorable John A. Logan.
Wheel-of-life, subs. phr. (prison).The
treadmill, the everlasting-staircase
(q.v.).
1883. Echo, Jan. 25, p. 2, col. 4. The treadmill, again, is more politely called . . . the wheel of life, or the vertical care-grinder.
Wheeze, subs. (common).—Generic
for a gag (q.v.) of any
description: e.g. interpolated
lines (usually comic) in a play, a
bit of business (q.v.), a sidesman's
patter (q.v.), a bon-mot, joke,
and so forth. To crack a
wheeze = to originate (or adapt)
a smart saying at a 'psychological'
moment.
1897. Marshall, Pomes, 24. What laughter fills the Court, At the counsel's ribald attitude and tone! But each wheeze from legal throats, When to Parkinson it floats Is a groan.
1887. Referee, 1 May. The man who propounds conundrums to puzzle 'Brudder Bones,' and puts on the most solemn air of attention while the comic men spin out their 'wheezes.'
Verb (thieves').—To say, inform, peach (q.v.).
Wheezy, subs. (journalists').—The
first month of the French Republican
year: a free translation
of Vindémiare.
Whelk, subs. (common).—1. The
female pudendum: see Monosyllable,
and note the veiledly
obscene street catch-phrase of the
seventies, 'I'll have your whelk.'
2. (provincial).—A blow (also whelker), fall, blister, mark, or stripe.
3. (provincial).—A large number, a quantity: whence whelking = very large, big, numerous.
Whelp, subs. (colloquial).—A
youth, unlicked cub (q.v.);
puppy (q.v.): in contempt. As
verb (vulgar) = to be brought to
bed, to pup (q.v.).
