I
- I
- Crank Cuffin, do swear to be a true brother, and that I will in all things obey the commands of the great tawney prince, and keep his counsel and not divulge the secrets of my brethren.
- Idea Pot
- The knowledge box, the head. See KNOWLEDGE BOX.
- Impost Takers
- Usurers who attend the gaming-tables, and lend money at great premiums.
- Impudent Stealing
- Cutting out the backs of coaches, and robbing the seats.
- Impure
- A modern term for a lady of easy virtue.
- In Twig
- Handsome; stilish. The cove is togged in twig; the fellow is dressed in the fashion.
- Inching
- Encroaching.
- India Wipe
- A silk handkerchief.
- Indies
- Black Indies; Newcastle.
- Indorser
- A sodomite. To indorse with a cudgel; to drub or beat a man over the back with a stick, to lay CANE upon Abel.
- Inexpressibles
- Breeches.
- Inkle Weavers
- Supposed to be a very brotherly set of people; 'as great as two inkle weavers' being a proverbial saying.
- Inlaid
- Well inlaid; in easy circumstances, rich or well to pass.
- Innocents
- One of the innocents; a weak or simple person, man or woman.
- Inside and outside
- The inside of a **** and the outside of a gaol.
- Irish Apricots
- Potatoes. It is a common joke against the Irish vessels, to say they are loaded with fruit and timber, that is, potatoes and broomsticks. Irish assurance; a bold forward behaviour: as being dipt in the river Styx was formerly supposed to render persons invulnerable, so it is said that a dipping in the river Shannon totally annihilates bashfulness; whence arises the saying of an impudent Irishman, that he has been dipt in the Shannon.
- Irish Beauty
- A woman with two black eyes.
- Irish Evidence
- A false witness.
- Irish Legs
- Thick legs, jocularly styled the Irish arms. It is said of the Irish women, that they have a dispensation from the pope to wear the thick end of their legs downwards.
- Irish Toyles
- Thieves who carry about pins, laces, and other pedlars wares, and under the pretence of offering their goods to sale, rob houses, or pilfer any thing they can lay hold of.
- Iron
- Money in general. To polish the king's iron with one's eyebrows; to look out of grated or prison windows, or, as the Irishman expresses them, the iron glass windows. Iron doublet; a prison. See STONE DOUBLET.
- Ironmonger's Shop
- To keep an ironmonger's shop by the side of a common, where the sheriff sets one up; to be hanged in chains. Iron-bound; laced. An iron-bound hat; a silver-laced hat.
- Island
- He drank out of the bottle till he saw the island; the island is the rising bottom of a wine bottle, which appears like an island in the centre, before the bottle is quite empty.
- Itchland
- or SCRATCHLAND. Scotland.
- Ivories
- Teeth. How the swell flashed his ivories; how the gentleman shewed his teeth.
- Ivy Bush
- Like an owl in an ivy bush; a simile for a meagre or weasel-faced man, with a large wig, or very bushy hair.