Old West glossary, no. 32

Montana cowboys, c1910

Here’s another set of terms garnered from early western novels. Definitions were discovered in various online dictionaries, as well as searches in Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang, Dictionary of the American West, The New Encyclopedia of the American West, The Cowboy Dictionary, The Cowboy Encyclopedia, The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology, The Oxford Dictionary of Idioms, and The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary.

These are from Willis George Emerson’s Buell Hampton, about the carry-on in a small town in west Kansas, and Ridgwell Cullum’s The Story of the Foss River Ranch, about the fate of a man who cheats at cards. Once again, I struck out on a few. If anyone has a definition for “sugar-bagging,” “slapsided,” “choyeuse,” or “neche,” leave a comment below.

Room with wicker chairs, c1905

basket chair = a chair made of wickerwork, a wicker chair. “Then he lounged into his basket chair and rubbed his fleshy hands reflectively.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

bob = a short sleigh runner. “The sleigh sped along with that intoxicating smoothness only to be felt when traveling with double ‘bobs’ on a perfect trail.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

boodle = large amount of money. “You told me to lift his boodle. Time was short—he wouldn’t play for long.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

box stove = a box-shaped wood-burning stove, widely used from colonial times in public buildings and residences. “The old farmer at once set about kindling, with the aid of some coal-oil, a fire in the great box-stove.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

Poster for Chickering pianos, 1918

brain fag = mental exhaustion. “I’m mighty near worked to death in my office,—fact is, I’m ’lowin’ I’ll have the brain fag if things don’t let up.” Willis George Emerson, Buell Hampton.

Chickering = American piano manufacturer located in Boston, founded in 1823. “A Chickering upright stood in one corner, strangely contrasting with the rude sideboard-table, which was supported by pins fastened in the wall.” Willis George Emerson, Buell Hampton.

deadwood = discarded playing cards. “Bill gathered up the ‘deadwood,’ and, propping his face upon his hands, watched the betting.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

duffing = cattle stealing. “According to your message you are the chief victim of this ‘duffing’ business?” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

Earthen and iron pots, Cobb 2nd Reader, 1911

earthen and iron pots = a fable in which an earthen pot is shattered by an iron pot, the moral being that one should keep the company of one’s own kind. “Nothing will satisfy them but a human sacrifice on the altar of a questionable nobility, and a repetition of the old fable of the earthen and iron pots.” Willis George Emerson, Buell Hampton.

flank = throw a calf onto its side for branding. “Roping and flanking calves has an interest peculiar to itself.” Willis George Emerson, Buell Hampton.

flannel-mouthed = slow talking; loud; boasting; characterized by deceptive speech. “You ask for dirty work to be done, an’ when that dirty work’s done, gorl-darn-it you croak like a flannel-mouthed temperance lecturer.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

Louis Wain, Cats Playing Poker, c1915

flutter = wagering at cards. “He would hurry off to the saloon for ‘half an hour’s flutter,’ which generally terminated in the small hours of the morning.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

funk = shirk, evade, back out. “You lead right on. Where you can travel I’ve a notion I’m not likely to funk.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

get the bulge on = take advantage. “I guess the half-breed’s got the bulge on us.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

Advertisement for gold cure patent medicine

gold cure = treatment of alcoholism consisting of hypodermic injections of strychnine and atropine, the solution being gold in color; also “jag cure.” “I took my friend Major Hampton’s advice, availed myself of the gold cure at his expense, an’ by the great horn spoon, I’ll never drink nary another drop.” Willis George Emerson, Buell Hampton.

gopher = an offensive or stupid person. “What, do they take us for a lot of ‘gophers’?” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

jimmy = a short housebreaker’s crowbar. “Avondale was a mercenary adventurer, and used his newly acquired title as a social ‘jimmy’ to break into the sanctity of our home.” Willis George Emerson, Buell Hampton.

jin up = to stir up, enliven; also “gin up.” “They needed a ‘jinning’ up.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

joe-dandy = wonderful, excellent, superlative. “Nothing came amiss to him. In his own line Peter was a Jo-dandy.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

Johnny-jump-up (heartsease), c1920

johnny-jump-up = wild pansy. “Springing up from among these very bones, and enriched by them, would grow the johnny-jump-ups, the daisies, and the dandelions.” Willis George Emerson, Buell Hampton.

joram = large drinking bowl, large amount. “He poured out a joram of hot whisky for each of the men.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

lag = to arrest. “I’ve kind of seen to the end of this racket. Maybe there’s trouble coming. Who’s to be lagged I can’t say.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

lug = ear. “Them lugs o’ yours is gettin’ old.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

monkey stick = a traditional percussion instrument, widely used in folk music, made popular by buskers in Victorian London. “I’ll swear he don’t know the horn o’ his saddle from a monkey stick.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

mouche = wander; also “mooch.” “He allowed the horse to mouche, with slovenly step, over the sodden prairie.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

muskeg = a swamp or bog consisting of a mixture of water and partly dead vegetation, frequently covered by a layer of moss. “The muskeg—the cruel, relentless muskeg, that mire, dreaded and shunned by white men and natives alike.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

Old Dan Tucker, Scribner's Magazine, 1877

“Old Dan Tucker” = an American song popularized in 1843 by the blackface troupe, the Virginia Minstrels. “‘Oh, anything,’ replied the jovial old captain, ‘anything from “Old Dan Tucker” to the “Fisher’s Hornpipe”.’” Willis George Emerson, Buell Hampton. Listen here.

play up = give trouble. “He was equally ready to play his employer up should any one else offer a higher price.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

potato = a large hole in a sock. “The old woman bent over her darning, and the needle passed, rippling, round a ‘potato’ in the sock which was in her lap.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

project = wander around, stroll. “Hain’t seen him projectin’ ’round lately, but I’m allowin’ he’s at the bank as usual.” Willis George Emerson, Buell Hampton.

pusky = a mixed-blood frontier gathering for dancing and drinking. “This pusky. I suppose it will be the usual drunken orgie?” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

ruffle it = wager at cards. “The Mexican was enabled to ruffle it with the best in the settlement, whilst people wondered where he got his money from.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

skate = a mean or contemptible person. “Collectively, I’m assoomin’ you’re the darndest lot of skates I ever run up agin’.” Willis George Emerson, Buell Hampton.

Mosquitoes

skitter = mosquito. “They were stretched out well to leeward of the fire, so that the smoke passed across them, driving away a few of the less audacious ‘skitters.’” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

slant = an opportunity to seize an advantage. “Silas was more than pleased to be able to get a ‘slant’ (to use his own expression) at his old enemy, Sim Lory.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

stocking = a store of money. “Peter must have a long stocking if he would pay for all.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

straddling = in poker, a bet made before cards are dealt. “Let us have a regulation ‘ante.’ No ‘straddling.”’ Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

tumultuous = over-excited, unruly. “Don’t suppose Hugh’ll get toomultuous-like an’ troubled with the swell-head, do you, now that he is financially loafin’ ’round in sight of a mint?” Willis George Emerson, Buell Hampton.

twisting = anxiety, unhappiness. “Them all-fired skitters is givin’ me a twistin’.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

Image credits: Wikimedia Commons

Coming up: Randolph Scott, The Man Behind the Gun (1953)