Brewer's: Slang

Slangs are the greaves with which the legs of convicts are fettered; hence convicts themselves; and slang is the language of convicts.

Slang

The difficulty of tracing the fons et origo of slang words is extremely great, as there is no law to guide one. Generally, a perversion and a pun may be looked for, as Monsengueur = toe (q.v.), Monpensier = ventre (i.e. monpanse, my paunch or belly), etc. (See Sandis,Squash, and numerous other examples in this dictionary. For ryming slang see Chivy.)

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