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Brewer's: Bushrangers
Escaped convicts who have taken refuge in the Australian “bush,” and subsist by plunder. “The bushrangers at first were absentees [i.e. escaped convicts] who were soon allured or driven to…Brewer's: Choke
May this piece of bread choke me, if what I say is not true. In ancient times a person accused of robbery had a piece of barley bread, on which the mass had been said, given him to swallow…Brewer's: Dark
To keep dark. To lie perdu; to lurk in concealment. (Ang. Sax. deorc.) “We'd get away to some of the far-out stations ... where we could keep in the dark.” —Boldrewood: Robbery Under Arms…Brewer's: Sponge
Throw up the sponge. Give up; confess oneself beaten. The metaphor is from boxing matches. “We must stand up to our fight now, or throw up the sponge. There's no two ways about the matter…Brewer's: Toby
(the dog), in Punchinello, wears a frill garnished with bells, to frighten away the devil from his master. This is a very old superstition. (See Passing Bell.) The Chinese and other…Brewer's: Reel
Right off the reel. Without intermission. A reel is a device for winding rope. A reel of cotton is a certain quantity wound on a bobbin. (Anglo-Saxon reol.) Reel A Scotch dance. (…Brewer's: Scarborough Warning
No warning at all; blow first, then warning. In Scarborough robbers used to be dealt with in a very summary manner by a sort of Halifax gibbet-law, lynch-law, or an à la lanterne. Another…Brewer's: Screwed on Right
His head was screwed on right. He was clear-headed and right-thinking. “His heart was in the right place ... and his head was screwed on right, too.” —Boldrewood: Robbery under Arms, xv…Brewer's: Wages of Sin
(The). To earn the wages of sin. To be hanged, or condemned to death. “I believe some of you will be hanged unless you change a good deal. It'…Brewer's: Aldabella
or Aldabelle (in Orlando Furioso). Sister of Oliviero and Brandimarte, daughter of Monodantes, and wife of Orlando. Aldabella. A marchioness of Florence, who gave entertainment to the…Trending
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