rhyming slangn.
/ˈrʌɪmɪŋ ˈslaŋ/, U.S. /ˈraɪmɪŋ ˌslæŋ/ A variety of (originally Cockney) slang in which a word is replaced by words or a phrase rhyming with it, sometimes with the rhyming part of the substituted phrase omitted.The first work containing a substantial collection of rhyming slang is ‘Ducange Anglicus’ Dict. Slang Words & Phrases, collected in London, 1856 & 1857, published in the author's Vulgar Tongue (1857). By contrast no such vocabulary is found in H. Brandon Dict. Flash or Cant Lang. in W. A. Miles Poverty, Mendicity & Crime (1839), which appears to confirm the statements of Mayhew and Hotten that rhyming slang arose not long before the 1850s.
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the mind > language > a language > register > [noun] > slang > particular types of
rhyming slang1859
back-slang1860
marrowskya1861
prune juice1904
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 418/1 The cadgers' talk is quite different now... You see the flats got awake to it, so in course we had to alter the patter. The new style of cadgers' cant is nothing like the thieves' cant, and is done all on the rhyming principle... Suppose I want to ask a pal to come and have a glass of rum.., I should say, if there were any flats present, ‘Splodger, will you have a Jack-surpass of finger-and-thumb.’.. [author's comment] In this it will be observed that every one of the ‘cant’ words rhymes with the words ordinarily used to express the same idea.]
1859 J. C. Hotten Dict. Slang 134 The cant, which has nothing to do with that spoken by the costermongers, is known in Seven Dials and elsewhere as the Rhyming Slang, or the substitution of words and sentences which rhyme with other words intended to be kept secret.
1859 J. C. Hotten Dict. Slang 135 I learn that the rhyming slang was introduced about twelve or fifteen years ago.
1895 Pall Mall Gaz. 25 Nov. 2/2 Finger-and-toe sounds like rhyming slang, but it isn't.
1911 J. W. Horsley I Remember xi. 252 The more modern rhyming slang..invented and chiefly used by costermongers, to whom ‘daisy roots’ is a substitute for the word boots.
1933 ‘G. Orwell’ Down & Out xxxii. 238 Twenty-five or thirty years ago..the ‘rhyming slang’ was all the rage in London. In the ‘rhyming slang’ everything was named by something rhyming with it—a ‘hit or miss’ for a kiss, ‘plates of meat’ for feet, etc.
1973 B. Aylwin Load of Cockney Cobblers p. vi Of course the Cockney—a born linguist—will adapt his rhyming slang specifically for the Common Market.
1997 Daily Tel. 30 Apr. 27/3 Mick Tobin had a way with words, even if his addiction to rhyming slang too often sprinkled the conversation with whistles (suits) or Irishes (wigs).
Derivatives
ˌrhyming ˈslanger n. = rhyming slangster n.
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the mind > language > a language > register > [noun] > slang > one who uses
flashmonger1825
slangsterc1830
slangist1885
rhyming slangster1948
rhyming slanger1977
1977 Listener 5 May 588/3 Any speaker of Anglo-American knows that ‘bread’ as a synonym for ‘money’ is the work of those dreary cockney rhyming-slangers. ‘Bread and honey’, money.
2003 R. Puxley Britslang (2004) 22 Ball & Chain, rhyming slangers attached it to ‘Jane’, a term for a girlfriend.
ˌrhyming ˈslangster n. a person who uses or devises (esp. Cockney) rhyming slang.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > a language > register > [noun] > slang > one who uses
flashmonger1825
slangsterc1830
slangist1885
rhyming slangster1948
rhyming slanger1977
1948 E. Partridge et al. Dict. Forces' Slang 155 Before the First World War, it was in common use in the Forces, even in Scottish regiments, such was the influence of the Cockney, who is the expert rhyming slangster.
1993 Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 25 Nov. (Green Guide) 22 It was a simple step for the Cockney rhyming slangster to refer to the ‘Old Bill Bailey’ and then on to ‘the Old Bill’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1859