From "Frontier Slang, Lingo & Phrases" by Kathy Weiser-Alexander.
Abisselfa
By itself.
Abandons
Foundlings. Also applied to a street prostitute.
Above-Board
In open sight, without artifice, or trick.
Above One’s Bend
Out of one’s power, beyond reach.
Above Snakes
If you were “above snakes,” you were above ground - meaning still alive.
Absquatulate
To leave or disappear.
Ace in the Hole
A hideout or a hidden gun.
Ace-High
Depending upon the context, this might mean “first-class and respected”, or it could mean a winning poker hand.
According to Hoyle
Correct, by the book. “Hoyle” is a dictionary of rules for card playing games.
Acknowledge the Corn
To admit the truth, to confess a lie, or acknowledge an obvious personal shortcoming.
Acock
Knocked over, defeated, astounded, suddenly surprised.
Acorn Calf
A weak or runty calf.
Acquisitive
Booty, plunder.
Acreocracy
Signifies a landlord interest.
Across Lots
The fastest way possible, in the most expeditious manner.
Actual
Money.
Adam’s Ale
Water.
Addle-headed
Empty-headed, not smart.
Addle-pot
A spoilsport
Advantage
Pocket advantage - Carrying a derringer in a coat pocket that is charged and at half cock. Sometimes a shot is fired through the pocket itself.
Afeared
Scared, frightened.
Afterclaps
Unexpected happenings after an event is supposed to be over.
Afly
To become an expert at.
Agee, Ajee
Askew, crooked.
A Hog-Killin’ Time
A real good time. “We went to the Rodeo Dance and had us a hog-killin’ time.”
Airin’ the Lungs
A cowboy term for cussing.
Airin’ the Paunch
Vomit, throw-up, regurgitate. He’s “airing the paunch” after a heavy bout of drinking.
Airish
A little cool.
Air Line Road
A railroad track when it passes over the level unbroken prairie.
Airtights
Canned goods, such as canned beans, milk, or fruit.
Alfalfa Desperado
What cowboys often called a farmer.
A Lick and a Promise
To do a haphazard job. “She just gave it a lick and a promise.”
All Abroad
At a loss, not comprehending.
All Beer and Skittles
Unpleasant, not so happy.
All Down But Nine
Missed the point, not understood. This referenced missing all nine pins in bowling. (Yes, there was bowling during Old West times.)
All-fired
Very, great, immensely; used for emphasis. He is just too all-fired lazy to get any work done around here. Also “hell-fired” and “jo-fired.”
Allers
Always
All My Eye
Nonsense, untrue.
All Over
Bearing a resemblance to some particular object
All-overish
Uncomfortable. “I was just all-overish around that steely-eyed man.”
All the Caboose
Everywhere
All the Shoot
The whole assembly, all the party.
All to Pieces
Completely, absolutely.
Allot Upon
To intend, to form a purpose. “I allot upon going to Boston.”
All-Standing
Without preparation, suddenly.
Ambush
The scales used by grocers, coal-dealers, etc. Call such because the were always “lying in weight.”
Among the Willows
Dodging the Law.
Amputate Your Timber, or mahogany
Go way, run off.
Anasazi
Navajo for “ancient ones,” this word describes an ancient tribe of the Southwest. Some Navajo say this meaning is a mistranslation for a word that means “ancient enemies.” Another interpretation is “ancient ancestors.”
Angelicas
Young unmarried women.
Anglomaniacs
Another name for those “back east,” ultra-English.
Angoras
Hair-covered, goat-hide chaps. Especially good in cold weather.
Annex
To steal. This became popular at the time Texas was annexed, which was regarded by many as a theft.
Anti-fogmatic
Raw rum or whiskey. “I see that bartender is mixing a couple of anti-fogmatics.”
Anti-goglin
Lopsided.
Apple
Saddle horn.
Apple Jack
A liquor distilled from cider, also called cider brandy.
Apple Peeler
Pocket Knife
Apple Pie Order
In top shape, perfect order.
Making Coffee/Arbuckle’s
Slang for coffee, taken from a popular brand of the time. “I need a cup of Arbuckle’s.”
Argufy
Argue, to have weight as an argument.
Argy
Argue
Arikara (also Arikaree)
This term is believed to mean “horns,” after this tribe’s ancient custom of wearing hair ornaments that stuck upright and were made of bone.
Arkansas Toothpick
A long, sharp knife. Also known as a California or Missouri toothpick.
Armas
Spanish forerunner of chaps. Cowboys fastened two large pieces of cowhide to the side of the saddle that protected their legs from thorns and brush.
Ary
Either.
Ash-Hopper
A lie cask, or box for ashes, resembling a hopper in a mill.
Ask No Adds
Ask no favor.
At Sea
At a loss, not comprehending. “When it comes to understanding women, I’m at sea.”
Attitudinize
To assume an affected attitude.
Atween
Between.
Atwixt
Between. “There were hard feelings atwixt them.”
Auger
The big boss.
Axle Grease
Butter
Bach
To bachelor it. For men to keep house without a woman’s help. Pronounced, and sometimes spelled, “batch”.
Backdoor Trots
Diarrhea
Bacon
Meaning to save one’s self from injury. To save one’s bacon.
Back Seats
An obscure and modest position, usually referring to politics.
Back Staircase
A derisive term for a bustle. Also called a “bird cage” or “canary cage.”
Bad Box
To be in a bad box, is to be in a bad predicament.
Bad Egg
A bad person.
Bad Hoss
A bucking Bronco
Bad Hoss
A bad or wild horse.
Badlands
From a French term meaning “bad country for travel.” The term applied to barren areas of South Dakota, as well as other inhospitable western locations.
Bad Medicine
Bad news.
Bag of Nails
Everything in confusion, topsy-turvy.
Bait
Food
Baker’s Dozen
Thirteen.
Bake
To overheat a horse by riding too fast, long, or hard.
Bakes
One’s original stake in a game.
Balderdash
Nonsense, foolishness; empty babble.
Baldface Dishes
China dishes.
Ballast
Money
Balled Up
Confused.
Ballyhoo
Sales talk, advertising, exaggeration.
Balmy
Sleepy, weak-minded, dull.
Balls
To make a mistake, to get in trouble. Or, rubbish such as “all balls” - all rubbish.
Bamboozle
To deceive, impose upon, confound. “After Nick had bamboozled about the money, he was arrested.”
Banagher
To bang
Banco or Bunko Steerer or Roper
A sharper, confidence-trick man.
Banded
Hungry
Band Wagon
Peddler’s wagon.
Bandero
Widow’s weeds.
Bangtail
A wild horse - mustang.
Banjo
A miner’s term for a short-handled shovel.
Banquette
The name for a side-walk in some of Southern cities.
Bar Dog
Bartender.
Bared
Shaved
Barber’s Cat
Half-starved, sickly-looking person.
Barber’s Clerk
A conceited, over-dressed fellow who tries to act like a “gentleman.”
Barefoot
An unshod horse.
Bark
To scalp.
Barkin’ at a Knot
Doing something useless; wasting your time, trying something impossible.
Barking Irons
Pistols.
Barnum
“To talk Barnum” is to not indulge in extravagant, hugh falutin’ talk, but talks in a quiet manner.
Barrens
Elevated lands, or plains upon which grow small trees, but never timber.
Barrow-tram
A rawboned, awkward looking person.
Barrel Boarder
A bum, a low sot.
Barrel Fever
A hangover.
Base Burner
A drink of whiskey.
Bat
A frolic, a spree.
Batting His Eyes
A gambler’s term for men who look on but don’t play.
Battlin’ Stick
A stick to stir clothes in the wash pot.
Bat Wings
Chaps.
Bay
A horse of light-red color.
Bay-window
Pregnancy.
Bazoo
Mouth. “Shut your big bazoo.”
Beads
The bubbles which rise on a glass of wine or spirits.
Bean Master
The cook
Bear Sign
A cowboy term for donuts made while they were on the range. A cook who could and would make them was highly regarded.
Beating the Road
Traveling on a railroad train without paying, usually referring to a bum.
Beat the Dutch
To beat all or beat the devil. “It was rainin’ to beat the Dutch.”
Beat the Devil around the Stump
To evade responsibility or a difficult task. “Quit beatin’ the devil around the stump and ask that girl to marry you.”
Becase
Because.
Bed Ground
Where cattle are held at night.
Bed Him Down
To kill a man.
Bed-house
Brothel.
Bed-post
A moment, an instant, jiffy. “He got over here in the twinkling of a bed-post.”
Bed-rock
Not able to go lower. “Is that the bed-rock price?”
Bee
A gathering of friends, family and neighbors to get a specific job done Usually used with women’s quilting get togethers - a quilting bee.
Bee in Your Bonnet
An idea.
Beef
To kill. (This came from killing a cow for food.) “Doc Holiday beefed a man today.”
Beef-headed
Stupid, dull as an ox.
Beef Tea
Shallow water where cows have stood.
Been in the Sun
Drunk
Been Through the Mill
Been through a lot, seen it all.
Bee-sweetening
Honey
Beetle-crushers
Feet
Beeves
Cattle
B’hoy
A rowdy young man, reveler or ruffian.
Beliked
Liked; beloved.
Bellyache
Complain.
Belly Cheater
A cook.
Belly Robber
The cook.
Belly Through the Brush
Dodge the law.
Belly Wash
Weak coffee.
Belvidere
A handsome man.
Bend an Elbow
Have a drink. “He’s been known to bend an elbow with the boys.”
Bender
Initially referred to a spree or a frolic. Later, and now, also used to describe someone on a drinking binge.
Benzinery
A low-grade drinking place. Cheap whiskey was sometimes called benzene.
Best Bib and Tucker
Wearing your best clothes. “There’s a dance Saturday, so put on your best bib and tucker.”
Betterments
The improvements made on new lands, by cultivation and the erection of buildings.
Bettermost
The best.
Betty
A pear-shaped bottle wound around with straw which contains Italian olive oil.
Between Hay and Grass
Neither man nor boy, half-grown.
B’hoys
Noisy young men of the lower ranks of society.
Bible
A small packet of papers used to roll cigarettes. Also called a “dream book” or a “prayer book.”
Bible Bump
A bump (or cyst) on the wrist or hand that old timers say would disappear if whacked by a large book - such as the bible.
Biddable
Docile, obedient, tractable.
Biddy
Hen. Also used to refer to a nagging or complaining woman.
Biff
To strike in ones face.
Big Augur
Ranch Owner.
Big Bug
Important person, official, boss. “He’s one of the railroad big bugs.”
Big Figure
To do things on on a large scale.
Big Fifty
A .50 caliber Sharps rifle used by professionals for buffalo hunting. It was 16 pounds unloaded, with three-quarter inch, 120-grain black powder cartridges loaded for differing ranges.
Biggest Toad in the Puddle
The most important person in a group.
Biggity
Large, extravagant, grand, hauty.
Big Guns
Men of importance, great people.
Big Jump
Death.
Big Nuts to Crack
A difficult or large undertaking.
Big Pasture
The penitentiary
Big Sugar
Ranch owner.
Bill Show
A Wild West show. Probably derived from the names of the two leading show promoters - William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody and Gordan William “Pawnee Bill” Lillie.
Bilk
Cheat.
Bime-By
By-and-by, soon, in a short time.
Biscuit
Saddle horn.
Biscuit Roller
The cook.
Biscuit Shooter
The cook.
Bishop
An appendage to a lady’s wardrobe, more commonly called a bustle.
Bite the Ground
To be killed.
Bit House
A cheap saloon.
Black-eyed Susan
A six-gun.
Black
To look black at one is to look at one with anger or deep resentment.
Black-Leg
A gambler.
Blacksmithing
Pimping for a prostitute.
Black Snake
A long whip.
Black Spot
Shade.
Blackstrap
Gin and molasses
Black Water
Weak coffee.
Blame
Euphemism for damn.
Blarney
Stories, flattery, tall tales, idle discourse.
Blather
Impudence. “I’ll have none of your blather.”
Blatherskite
A blustering, noisy, talkative fellow.
Blazes
Euphemism for hell or the devil.
Blow
To taunt; to ridicule. Also means to turn informer on an accomplice.
Blow Out
A feast; also called a tuck out.
Blue
Drunk.
To Look Blue At Someone
To look at one with displeasure or dissatisfaction.
Blue Belly
A Yankee.
Blue Devils
Dispirited. “I have the blue devils today.”
Blue John
Skimmed Milk
Blue Lightnin’
A six-gun.
Blue-Skins
A nickname applied to the Presbyterians, from their alleged grave deportment.
Blue Stocking
An epithet applied to literary ladies.
Blusteration
The noise of a braggart.
Boatable
Navigable for boats, or small river-craft
Bobbery
A squabble, argument.
Bobtail Guard
The first cowboy guarding the cattle at night.
Bockey
A bowl or vessel made from a gourd.
Bocking
Cotton or woollen cloth used to cover floors or to protect carpets.
Bodega
Spanish term for a cheap saloon.
Boggy Top
A pie baked without a top crust.
Bog-Trotter
One that lives in a boggy country.
Bogus
A liquor made of rum and molasses.
Boil Over
A horse that starts bucking.
Bolt
To swallow food without chewing
Bonanza
The discovery of an exceptionally rich vein of gold or silver.
Bone Orchard
Cemetery.
Boodle
A crowd of people.
Boogered Up
Crippled or badly injured.
Boot-licker
The equivalent of an ass-kisser.
Boom Along
A seaman’s term meaning to move rapidly.
Boose
Drink liquor.
Boosy
Fuddled or a little intoxicated.
Boosily
Lazily, in a state of intoxication.
Boot Yard
This was a cemetery, especially for those who died with their boots on; also called boothill, bone yard, bone orchard, grave patch.
Bonny
Clapper or Bonny-Clabber - An Irish term for sour buttermilk.
Bo-Peep
To play at bo-peep. To peep out suddenly from a hiding place, and cry bo! a children’s game.
Born Days
All one’s lifetime; since one was born. “In all my born days I never saw a man so big.”
Bosh
Nonsense. “It was absolute bosh what he said.”
Boss
The best, top. “The Alhambra Saloon sells the boss whiskey in town.”
Bossy
A familiar name applied to a calf.
Boston Dollar
A penny.
Bothahrayshun
A bother
Bottom
Low land with rich soil.
Bottom-Lands
In the Western States, this name was given to the rich flat land on the banks of rivers.
Bottled Courage
Whiskey.
Bouncing
Large, heavy. “Sally gave birth to a bouncing baby girl.
Bouge
To swell out, to bulge.
Bowie-Knife
A knife from ten to fifteen inches long and about two inches broad, so named after its inventor, James Bowie.
Box Herder
The person in charge of the “girls” at a brothel or saloon. Their job was to keep the “ladies” in line.
Brack
A breach, a broken part.
Brain Tablet
Cigarette.
Brand Artist
A rustler who alters brands with a running iron.
Brash
Brittle.
Breachy
A term applied to unruly oxen.
Bread Jerker
Adam’s apple.
Brick in One’s Hat
To be drunk. That old man’s got one hellofa brick in his hat.
Brigham Young Cocktail
Strong whiskey.
Brisk Up
To come up with life and speed, take an erect or bold attitude.
Broke in Two
A horse bucking.
Bronc Buster
A cowboy who could tame wild horses. Contrary to popular thinking, not all cowboys could ride just any horse, though most could ride any broken mount. But the bronc buster, also called a “bonc peeler” and a “bronc breaker,” was a breed apart. These men, with a special type of “horse sense” earned not only the esteem of the other cowboys, but usually better wages.
Broken Wind
A lung infection in horses.
Broomtail
A long, bushy-tailed range mare, usually unbroken. Also called a “broomie.”
Brother-Chip
A fellow-carpenter; in a more general sense, a person of the same trade.
Brown Study
Deep thought; absence of mind. “He is in a brown study.”
Brown Gargle
Coffee.
Brush
A skirmish, or fight.
Bub
Brother
Buckaroo
A cowboy, usually from the desert country of Oregon, Nevada, California, or Idaho.
Bucket of Blood
A violence-prone frontier saloon.
Bucket Shop
A gin mill or distillery.
Bucking the Tiger
Playing Faro or poker. Also referred to as “twisting the tiger’s tail.”
Buckle Bunnies
Female groupies who follow and befriend rodeo riders.
Buck Up
Cheer up; chin up.
Buckle To
Set about any task with energy and a determination.
Buffaloed
Confused.
Bug Juice
Booze, firewater, whiskey.
Build a Loop
Shaking out a coil of rope in preparation for roping.
Bull
An officer of the law.
Bullboat
A craft with a willow frame covered by buffalo hide.
Bulldoze
To bully, threaten, or coerce.
Bulldozer
A big person.
Bull Nurse
A cowboy.
Bully
Exceptionally good, outstanding. (Used as an exclamation.) “Bully for you!”
Bully For You!
Well done, good job, good for you.
Bullwhacker
A person who drives a team of oxen, usually walking beside them.
Bumblebee Whiskey
Liquor strong enough to “sting.”
To Bundle
A man and woman lying on the same bed with their clothes on, usually separated by a “bundling board.” The practice was used when there was a scarcity of beds
Bungo
A kind of boat used at the South.
Bunko Artist
A con man.
Burg
A town, rather than the common camps and small settlements.
Burn the Breeze
Ride at full speed.
Burnt His Fingers
When a person has suffered loss by a speculation, he is said to have burnt his fingers.
Burrow Milk
Nonsense.
Bushwhack
A cowardly attack or ambush.
Bushwhacker
A raw countryman, a green-horn. Also applies to ambushers.
Buss
Kiss.
Button
A young boy.
Buzzard Bait
A worn out horse.
Buzzard Food
Dead.
By Hook or Crook
To do any way possible.
Buster
Anything large in size or a man of great strength.
Buster or Bust
A frolic, a spree. “They were on a buster, and were taken in by the police.”
Bustle
A pad stuffed with cotton or feathers, worn by ladies for the double purpose of giving a greater prominence to the hips, and setting off the smallness of the waist. Bustles had a number of names including bird cage and canary cage.
By The Bye
By the way, in passing.
By Good Rights
By right, by strict justice, entitled. “By good rights Mr. Clay ought to be President of the United States.”
By Gum!
An inoffensive oath
By The Skin Of One’s Teeth
When a man has made a narrow escape from any dilemma, barely.
Caboodle
The whole thing. Also called “kit and caboodle.”
Caboose
A ship’s cooking-range or kitchen.
Cady
Hat
Cahoots
Partnership, company or band. “Those to are in cahoots together.”
Calaboose
Jail.
Calamity Jane
Obviously the hard-cussing, heavy-drinking frontier woman, but is also a gambling term for the Queen of Spades.
Calash
A covering for the head, usually worn by ladies to protect their head-dresses when going to evening parties, the theatre, etc.
Calf Slobbers
Meringue on the top of pie.
Calibogus
Rum and spruce-beer.
Calico
A paint horse.
Calico Queen
Prostitute.
California Collar
A hangman’s noose.
California Prayer Book
Gambling term for a deck of cards.
California Widow
A woman separated from her husband, but not divorced. (From when pioneer men went West, leaving their wives to follow later.)
Callin’
Courting.
Calk
Sharp points of iron on horse or ox shoes to prevent their slipping on ice.
Came Apart
A horse bucking.
Candle-light
Dusk. The dance will start at early candle-light.
Canister
Gun
Canned Cow
Canned milk.
Cannon
A revolver
Can Openers
Spurs
Can’t Come It
Cannot do it. “You can’t come it over me so.”
Caporal
The ranch foreman or roundup boss.
Cap the Climax
To beat all, surpass everything.
Cardinal
The name of a woman’s cloak, from the red or scarlet habit worn by cardinals.
Carryall
A four-wheeled pleasure carriage, capable of holding several persons.
Cash In
To die.
Catalogue Woman
A mail order bride.
Catawampous
Fiercely, eagerly, awry, cockeyed, crooked, skewed. Also “catawamptiously.”
Catawamptiously Chawed Up
Completely demolished, utterly defeated.
Catch A Tartar
To attack one of superior strength or abilities.
Catch a Weasel Asleep
Referring to something impossible or unlikely, usually used in regard to someone who is always alert and seldom or never caught off guard. “You can’t sneak up on that dude any sooner than you can catch a weasel asleep.”
Catgut
Rawhide rope.
Cattle Baron
A cattle owner with numerous herds of stock, welding power and influence in an area.
Cattle Kate
A female cattle rustler.
Cats-Paw
To be made a cats-paw of. To be made a tool or instrument to accomplish the purpose of another.
Catstick
A bat used by boys in a game at ball
Catty-Cornered
Diagonally across. “The Courthouse is catty-cornered from the drugstore.”
Cavort
To frolic or prance about, to be lively, having fun.
Cat Wagon
A wagon that carried prostitutes along cattle trails
Cayuse
A cowboy’s steed.
Causey
A causeway, or way raised above the natural level
Cavallard
Caravans crossing the prairies.
Caveson
A muzzle for a horse.
Celestial
A term used in the West to refer to people of Chinese descent; the word derives from an old name for China, the “Celestial Empire.”
Chalk
Not by a long chalk. When a person attempts to effect a particular object, in which he fails, we say, “He can’t do it by a long chalk.”
Chap
A boy, lad, a fellow.
Charivari
(Commonly pronounced shevaree.) - A custom of serenading the newly married with noise, including tin horns, bells, pans, kettles, etc. This “serenade” is continued night after night until the party is invited in and handsomely entertained.
Chaw
Chew.
Chaw Up
To use up, demolish.
Chickabiddy
A young chicken. Used also as a term of endearment for children.
Chew
Eat
Chew Gravel
Thrown from a horse.
Chip
The money drawer in a bank.
Chink
Money.
Chinking And Daubing
The process of filling with clay the interstices between the logs of cabins.
Chirk
To make a peculiar noise by placing the tongue against the roof of the mouth, to urge horses on. Also refers to people as cheerful, good spirits, comfortable.
Chisel or Chiseler
To cheat or swindle, a cheater.
Chitlins
Fragments, small pieces. Also, refers to Chitterlings.
Chitterlings
The intestines of a pig that have been prepared as food.
Chock
To put a wedge under a thing to prevent its moving.
Chock Up
Close, tight, fitting closely together.
Chock-Full or Chuck-Full
Entirely full.
Choke Strap
A necktie.
Choke the Horn
To grab the saddle horn, something no cowboy wants to be seen doing.
Chop
A Chinese word signifying quality, first introduced to mariners in the China trade. Soon became a common word of seamen applied to fine silks, teas, tobacco, etc.
Chopper
The cowboy who cuts out the cattle during a roundup.
Chow
Food, dinner.
Chuck
To throw, by a quick and dexterous motion, a short distance.
Chuck
Food.
Chucklehead
A fool.
Chuck-Line Rider
An unemployed cowboy who rode from ranch to ranch, exchanging a bit of news and gossip for a meal. Also called a “grub-line rider.”
Chuckwagon
Place to get food. Cowboys would gathered around the chuckwagon ready for “chow” on the ranch.
Chuck Wagon Chicken
Cowboys humorously used the term for fried bacon.
Chuffy
Blunt, surly, clownish.
Churched
Expelled from church.
Churn Twister
A derogatory term for a farmer.
Claw Leather
To grab the saddle horn, something no cowboy wants to be seen doing.
Civism
Love of country, patriotism.
Civilizee
A civilized man, one advanced in civilization.
Clap Or Clap Down
To set down or charge to one’s account.
Clap-Trap
An artifice for attracting applause, used chiefly in theatrical or political events. Later, applied to someone’s mouth that constantly makes noise.
Clean his/your plow
To get or give a thorough whippin’.
Clean Thing
Denotes propriety or what is honorable. “He did the “clean thing” and turned himself in.”
Clip
A blow or a stroke with the hand. Also refers to running away - to “cut and run.”
Clitchy
Clammy, sticky, glutinous.
Clinch Mountain
Rye whiskey.
Clodhopper
A rustic, a clown.
Close-Fisted
Stingy, mean.
Clothes-Horse
A frame-work for hanging clothes on to dry after they have been washed and ironed, in the form of an opening screen.
Clothesline
Rope.
Clout
A blow or strike, usually with the fist.
Clum
Past tense of climb.
Coal-Hod
A kettle for carrying coals to the fire. Also called a coal scuttle.
Cocinero
The camp cook - also called “coosie” and “cusie.”
Cocked Hat
To knock someone senseless or to shock him completely. Old Joe knocked him into a cocked hat.
Coffee Boiler
Shirker, lazy person. (Would rather sit around the coffee pot than help.)
Coffin Varnish
Whiskey.
Coil
Rope.
Cold as a Wagon Tire
Dead.
Cold Meat Wagon
A hearse.
Colors
The particles of gold gleaming in a prospector’s gold pan.
Cooling yer heels
Staying for a while. “He’ll be cooling his heels in the pokey.”
Come a Cropper
Come to ruin, fail, or fall heavily. “He had big plans to get rich, but it all became a cropper, when the railroad didn’t come through.”
Compressed Hay
Cowchips.
Conniption Fit
A fit of hysteria.
Consumption
Tuberculosis.
Continental
The money issued by Congress during the Revolutionary War. It eventually became synonymous with anything worthless.
Converter
A preacher.
Cookie
Ranch or cattle drive cook.
Coon’s Age
A long time.
Coosie
The camp cook.
Coot
An idiot, simpleton, a ninny.
Copper
A copper coin such as the American penny or British.
Copper a Bet
Betting to lose, or being prepared against loss. “I’m just coppering my bets.”
Copperhead
Northern person with Southern, anti-Union sympathies.
Corduroy Road
A road or causeway constructed with logs laid together over swamps or marshy places.
Corks
The steel points fixed under the shoes of horses, in the winter, to prevent them from falling on the ice.
Corn-Cracker
The nickname for a native of Kentucky.
Corn-Dodger
A kind of cake made of corn, and baked very hard.
Corned
Drunk.
Corn-Juice
Whisky.
Corral Dust
Lies and tall tales.
Cottonwood Blossom
A man lynched from the limb of a tree.
Cotton To
To take a liking to.
Countrified
Rustic, rude.
Couldn’t hold a candle to
Not even close. “She couldn’t hold a candle to that beauty across the room.”
Coverlid
A bed-quilt, counterpane.
Cowboy Cocktail
Straight whiskey.
Cowboy Up
Tuff-up, get back on yer horse, don’t back down, don’t give up, and do the best you can with the hand you’re dealt, give it all you’ve got.
Cow Chip
Dried cow manure.
Cow Grease
Butter, also called “cow salve.”
Cowhand
A cowboy, also called cowpoke, cowprod, and cowpuncher.
Cowhide
A particular kind of whip made of raw hide; it is also called a raw-hide. Term also refers to flogging with a cowhide - “to cowhide.”
Cow Juice
Milk
Cow-Lease
A right of pasturage for a cow, in a common pasture.
Cowpunching
Driving the cattle to market.
Cow Sense
Intelligence.
Cow Wood
Cowchips.
Crack
Most famous, best.
Cracked
Crazy.
Cracker
A small hard biscuit.
Crackerbox
A rodeo rider’s term for a bronc saddle.
Cracklings
Cinders, the remains of a wood fire
Crack Up
To brag or boast.
Cradle-Scythe
Called also simply cradle. A common scythe with a light frame-work, used for cutting grain instead of the sickle.
Crambo
A diversion in which one gives a word, to which another finds a rhyme. If the same word is repeated, a forfeit is demanded. It also refers to drinking.
Crash
A coarse kind of linen cloth used for towels.
Crawl His Hump
To start a fight.
Crazy as a Loon
Very crazy.
Creepmouse
A term of endearment to babies.
Crimany
Exclamation of surprise.
Critter
Creature, varmint. Sometimes used to describe a contemptible person.
Croaker
Pessimist, doomsayer. “Don’t be such an old croaker.”
Crock
The black of a pot; smut, the dust of soot or coal.
Crocky
Smutty.
Crooked As A Virginia Fence
A phrase applied to anything very crooked; and figuratively to persons of a stubborn temperament.
Cross-Grained
Perverse, troublesome.
Cross-Patch
An ill-tempered person.
Crotchety
Whimsical; fanciful.
Crotchical
Cross, perverse, peevish.
Crowbait
Derogatory term for a poor-quality horse.
Crowbar Hotel
Jail.
Cruller
A cake made of a strip of sweetened dough, boiled in lard, the two ends of which are twisted or curled together.
Crumb Castle
A chuckwagon.
Crumb Incubator
A cowboy’s bed.
Crummy
The caboose of a railroad train.
Crusty
Sturdy, morose, snappish.
Cubby-Hole or Cubby-House
A snug place for a child. Later, also used to denote any small space.
Curly Wolf
Real tough guy, dangerous man. “Ol’ Bill is a regular curly wolf, especially when he’s drinkin’ whiskey.”
Curmudgeon
An avaricious, churlish fellow, a miser.
Curry Favor
To seek or gain favor by flattery, caresses, kindness.
Curry the Kinks Out
To break a horse.
Cush
Sweet fried cornmeal cake. Also called “cushie.”
Cuss Words
The swear words back then are pretty much the same as they are now, though they were not used as prevalently back then. Profanity was frowned upon by polite society and old west cowboys rarely would swear in front of a lady.
Cut A Caper
The act of dancing in a frolicksome manner
Cut a Dash or Cut a Swathe
Make a great show; to make a figure.
Cut A Figure
To make an appearance, either good or bad.
Cut And Come Again
Implying that having cut as much as you pleased, you may come again; in other words, plenty; no lack; always a supply
Cut And Dried
Readymade.
Cut And Run
To be off, to be gone.
Cut Didoes
To get into mischief, frolicksome.
Cut Dirt
To run; to go fast.
Cut a Path
Leave, go. Are you ready to cut a path out of here?
Cut a Rusty
To go courtin’.
Cut a Swell
Present a fine figure. “He sure is cutting a swell with the ladies.”
Cut His Suspenders
A departed cowboy.
Cut Of His Jib
The form of his profile. “I knew him by the cut of his jib.”
Cutting Horse
A horse with the ability to cut cows out of a herd.
Cut Up
To criticize with severity; as, “he was severely cut up in the newspapers.”
Cut Up Shines
To cut capers, play tricks.
Cut Stick
To be off, to leave immediately and quickly.
Cutter
A one horse sleigh.
Dab Or Dabster
One who is expert in anything, a proficient.
Daisy
Good; excellent.
Dander
Passion, emotion, anger. “Her eyes blazed giving evidence to how he quickly he could get her dander up.”
Dang
Euphemism for damn.
Dangler
An express train.
Dash
Euphemism for damn.
Dead-Alive
Dull, inactive, moping.
Dead As A Door Nail
Utterly, completely dead.
Deadening
When new areas were settled in the west, “clearings” were made by cutting down the trees. Others were “girdled,” or when the majority of trees are deadened, the clearing was called a deadening.
Dead Man’s Hand
A poker hand consisting of a pair of aces and a pair of eights. Traditionally, Wild Bill Hickok was holding this hand when he was shot dead by Jack McCall. Some sources dispute the hand, saying that it really contained two jacks, not aces and two eights.
Dead Meat
A corpse.
Deadshot
Strong liquor.
Death On
Very fond of or very talented at. He made a “death on” speech at last night’s meeting.
Deef
Deaf.
Demijohn
A glass vessel or bottle, with a large body and small neck, protected and strengthened by a covering of wicker-work.
Desert Canary
A burro.
Deuce
A euphemism for devil.
Devil
An expletive, expressing wonder or vexation, sometimes used as a term for mischief.
Devilish
Atrocious, enormous, excessively, exceedingly
Devil’s Addition
Red Light District.
Deviltry
Mischief, devilry.
Dice House
Bunkhouse.
Dickens
Euphemism for devil, overmuch, a lot - a word most often used in explanations of confusion or pain; “the dickens you say,” or “it hurt like the dickens.”
Dicker
Barter, trade.
Didn’t Have a Tail Feather Left
Broke
Die-up
The deaths of several cattle from exposure, disease, starvation, or other widespread catastrophe.
Difficulted
Perplexed.
Diggers
Spurs.
Diggings
One’s home, lodgings, or community. Also commonly referred to prospector’s mining claims.
Dilly-Dally
To delay.
Ding
Beat, bang, used tedious repetition, as, “Why do you keep dinging that in my ears?”
Ding or Dinged
Excessively, very. “It is so ding hot out here.”
Dipping
Chewing snuff.
Dip Snuff
A manner of using tobacco, generally by wetting a small stick and dipping it into snuff (tobacco) and placing in the mouth. Sometimes tied in a small bag to chew it.
Directly
Soon. “She’ll be down, directly.”
Dirk
A dagger, dirking would refer to stabbing with a dagger.
Dinero
From the Spanish, a word for money.
Dish
To ruin, to frustrate. “He dished us too.”
Disremember
Forget or choose to forget.
Ditched
Arrested.
Ditty
A which-i-ma-call-it.
Dive
Bunkhouse.
Docity
Quick comprehension, usually used in a negative way. “He has no docity.”
Doctor
The cook on board a ship, so-called by seamen.
Dog Cheap
Anything exceedingly cheap.
Doggery
A cheap saloon.
Dogie
An orphaned calf or small calf; by extension, any cattle.
Dog House
Bunkhouse.
Dogs
To go to the dogs. destruction, ruined, destroyed. “She has let that house go to the dogs.”
Doings
Cooked food, also called fixins.
Done Brown
Thoroughly, effectually cheated or bamboozled.
Done Up
Ruined by gambling or extravagance
Don’t Care a Continental
Don’t give a damn.
Don’t Get Your Dander Up
Anxious; excited.
Dough Belly
The cook.
Doughgods
Biscuits.
Dough Boxer
The camp cook.
Dough Puncher
The camp cook.
Dough Wrangler
The Camp cook, also called “Dough Puncher.”
Douse-the-Lights
Lights out. Time to hit the hay.
Dowd
A woman’s night-cap.
Down In The Mouth
Dispirited, dejected, disheartened
Down to the Blanket
Almost broke.
Doxology Works
A church.
Drabble
To make dirty by dragging in dirt and water, to wet and befoul, as, to drabble a gown or cloak.
Dragged Out
Fatigued, exhausted, worn out.
Dram Shop
A small drinking establishment, used in the early 19th century.
Drat or Dratted
A good-humored oath meaning very, exceedingly.
Draw
Drawing your gun "border style" consisted of pulling your pistol, worn backward in the holster, by putting your arm across the front of your body. This fancy stuff was popular down around the Mexican border.
Draw Cuts
A common way of deciding by lots, by drawing paper or straws.
Dreadful
Very, a lot, exceedingly. “He’s just got a dreadful amount of money.”
Dreambook
A small packet of papers used to roll cigarettes. Also called a “prayer book” or a “bible.”
Driving the Nail
A sport consisting of attempts to drive a nail into a post with rifle or pistol fire.
Droger
Lumber droger, cotton droger, etc. A vessel built solely for burden, for transporting cotton, lumber, and other heavy articles.
Drumming
Soliciting of customers in a retail establishment, such as “can I help you find something?”
Dry Gulch
To ambush someone, especially when the ambusher hides in a gully or gulch near a road and jumps the passersby.
Ducky
Used in early century as term of endearment.
Dude
Commonly, the term applied to an Easterner, or anyone in up-scale town clothes, rather than plain range-riding or work clothes. However, the term began as an insult, as cowboys first used the word to mean a pimple or boil on someone’s backside, caused by riding in the saddle all day when one wasn’t used to it. Hence, the cowboys called those “wanna-be” wrangers “dudes.”
Dug-Out
A canoe or boat, hewn or dug out of a large log.
Dull Music
A term applied to anything tedious.
Dump
Jail or boarding house.
Dumpish
Sad, melancholy
Dun
To dun is to urge for payment, to demand a debt in a pressing manner
Dunderhead
Blockhead, dolt.
Dusted
Thrown from a horse.
Dynamite
Whiskey.
Dyed In The Wool
Ingrained, thorough.
Eagle
A gold ten dollar coin.
Ears
To be by the ears, denotes being in a quarrel or fight.
Eatin Irons
Silverware.
E’en A’most
Almost.
Elephant
Short for ‘to see the elephant’; to go to town, or to see the world, usually for the first time.
Equalizer
A pistol.
Eucher, euchered
To out-smart someone, to be outwitted or suckered into something.
Eventuate
To issue, come to an end, close, terminate.
Excuse-me-ma’am
A bump in the road.
Exfluncticate
To utterly destroy.
Express
The mails or mail stage.
Fag
In cowboy talk, to get out fast.
Fagged Out
Fatigued, worn out.
Fair to Middlin’
Feeling pretty good.
Fair Shake
A fair trade, a satisfactory bargain or exchange.
Falutin
See High-Falutin
Family Disturbance
Whiskey
Fandango
From the Spanish, a big party with lots of dancing and excitement.
Faro
A card game that took its name from faroon, a derivative of pharaon (pharoah.) The Pharoah was the king of hearts in a regular deck of cards. Players bet on the order in which cards would be drawn from a box.
Fat In The Fire
To have one’s plans frustrated. “If I don’t get this job completed, the fat’s going to be in the fire.”
Feeze
To be in a feeze is to be in a state of excitement.
Feller
Fellow. “That big feller over there is the sheriff.”
Fetch
Bring, give. “Fetch me that hammer.” “He fetched him a punch in the nose.”
Fetch Up
Stop suddenly.
Fice
A worthless dog, mongrel. Also referred to as fiste and tyst.
Fid Of Tobacco
A chew, or quid of tobacco.
Fiddle
A horse’s head.
Fiddle Faddle
Trifling discourse, nonsense
Fight like Kilkenny Cats
Fight like hell.
Fill a Blanket
Roll a cigarette.
Find One’s Self
To provide for one’s self through labor and wages.
Fine as cream gravy
Very good, top-notch.
Finefied
Made fine, dandified.
Finical
Nice, foppish, pretending to superfluous elegance.
Fire-New
Brand new.
Firewater
Liquor
First-Swathe
First quality.
Fish
A cowboy’s rain slicker, from a rain gear manufacturer whose trademark was a fish logo. “We told him it looked like rain, but left his fish in the wagon anyhow.”
Fish or Cut Bait
Do it or quit talking about it.
Fit
Often used instead of “fought.”
Fit
A short return after intermission, a turn, a period or interval. “I almost lost my crops after that fit of cold weather.”
Fits And Starts
At short and sudden intervals interruptedly.
Five Beans in the Wheel
Five cartridges in the six chambers of a rvolver. Westerners often left the chamber under the hammer empty for safety reason.
Fix
A condition, predicament, dilemma.
Fix One’s Flint
To settle, to do for, to dish.
Fixin’
Intending. “I’m fixin’ to get supper started.”
Fixings or Fixins’
Cooked food, also called “Doings.” Arrangements, embellishments, trimmings, garnishings. The term was also used for the tobacco and paper needed to roll cigarettes.
Fix One’s Flint
To settle a matter.
Flack
Sales talk, advertising, exaggeration.
Flannel Mouth
An overly smooth or fancy talker, especially politicians or salesmen. “I swear that man is a flannel-mouthed liar.”
Flap-Jack
A fried cake, pancake, fritter.
Flat
A foolish fellow, a simpleton. Also refers to a flat-bottomed boat.
Flats
Low lands, valley
Flat Out
To collapse, to prove a failure.
Flea-Trap
Cowboy’s bedroll.
Flinders
Shreds, splinters, broken pieces
Fling
A sneer or contemptuous remark
Flitter
A corruption of the word fritter, a pancake.
Flummux
Perplex, embarrass, put to a stand.
Flunk Out
To retire through fear, to back out.
Flusteration
Heat, hurry, confusion
Fob Off
To delude by a trick.
Fogy
A stupid fellow, as, “He is an old fogy.”
Folded Up
A horse bucking.
Fore-Handed
To be in good circumstances, to be comfortably off.
Fork a Hoss
To ride a horse.
Fornent
Opposite to.
Forted In
Entrenched in a fort.
Forty Rod
Liquor.
Four-flusher
A cheat, swindler, liar.
Fox Boots
To fox boots is to repair them by adding new soles or leather.
French Leave
To depart without taking leave, to run away.
French Pox
Syphilis.
Freshet
A flood or overflowing of a river due to heavy rains or melted snow.
Frolic
A celebration, party or a wild time. Also sometimes used to instead of “fight.”
Frump
To mock, to insult.
Fuddled
Tipsy, drunk.
Fudge
An expression of contempt, usually bestowed on absurd or talking idlers.
Fuffy
Light, puffy, soft.
Full as a Tick
Very drunk.
Full Chisel or Full Drive
At full speed, executed with everything you’ve got.
Full-Rigged
A saddle that is completely leather-covered.
Full Split
With the greatest violence and impetuosity
Funkify
To frighten, to alarm.
Fuss
Disturbance. “They had a little fuss at the saloon.”
Fussed Dark
Twilight
Gad
Spur.
Gadabout
One who walks about without business
Gaff
To spur a horse.
Gal-Boy
A romping girl or tomboy.
Gallnipper
A large mosquito.
Gallowses
Suspenders, braces.
Galvanized Yankees
Former Confederate soldiers who served in the U.S. Army in the West following the Civil War.
Game Leg
A lame leg.
Gammon
Humbug, deceit, lies.
Gat
A gate or passage.
Gay Cat
One who cases banks and towns for future jobs
Gee Up
A term used by teamsters to their horses and oxen, when they wish them to go faster. “To Gee” means to agree.
General Treat
A general treat is a treat of a glass of liquor bought by one person in a tavern to the whole company present. Buying a round of drinks.
Gerrymandering
To arrange the political divisions, so that in an election, one party may obtain an advantage over its opponent, even though the latter may possess a majority of the votes in the State.
Get a Wiggle On
Hurry.
Get Gaited
Get going in a hurry. Gait refers to the rate a horse moves, which is far faster, so “get going.”
Get it in the Neck
Get cheated, misled, bamboozled.
Get my/your back up
To get angry. “Don’t get your back up, he was only joking.”
Get Shed of
Get rid of.
Get the Mitten
To be rejected by a lover. “Looks like Blossom gave poor Buck the mitten.”
Get The Wrong Pig By The Tail
To make a mistake in selecting a person for any purpose. “I got the wrong pig by the tail in debating with that particular man.”
G’hal
A rowdy girl, reveler or ruffian girl.
Gig
Spur a horse.
Ginnin’ About
Moving around fast.
Girls of the Line
Prostitutes.
Gitty-up
Go, Move. A term used to get the horse to start moving.
Give Him Jessy
To give a flogging.
Give the Mitten
When a lady turns down a man’s proposal or discards him.
Glut
A wooden wedge.
The Go
The mode, the fashion. “This is all the go.”’
Go It Strong
To perform an act with vigor or without scruple.
Goat Meat
Venison killed out of season.
Go Boil Your Shirt
Take a hike, get lost, bug off.
Go Heeled
To carry a six-shooter, also “packing iron.”
Goings On
Behavior, actions, conduct.
Gone Coon
A goner, past recover, a lost man. Also called a gone sucker and a Gone Goose.
Gone Goslin
Done for, doomed.
Gone Up the Flume
Yield, lost, dead.
Goney
A stupid fellow.
Gospel Mill
A church.
Gospel Sharp
A preacher.
Gotham
New York City.
Go the Big Figure or Whole Figure
To go to the fullest extent in the attainment of any object, do things on a large scale.
Got the Bulge
Have the advantage. “We’ll get the bulge on him, and take his gun away.”
Go the Whole Hog
Out and out in favor of anything. A softened form of the phrase is to go the entire animal.
Go Through The Mill
A metaphor alluding to grain which has been through the mill.
Goyathlay
Means “one who yawns.”
Grab a Root
Eat a meal, especially a potato.
Grab the Apple
Taking hold of the saddle horn to avoid falling off. Also called “grab the nubbin.” In either case, this was not something a self-respecting cowboywanted to be caught doing.
Grail
Small particles of any kind.
Granger
A derogatory term for a farmer.
Grassed
To be thrown from a horse.
Grass Widow
A divorcee.
Greatle
A great while.
Greased Lightning
Anything very fast.
Greasy Belly
The camp cook.
Greenhorn
An easterner innocent of cowboy ways. Also referred to as greeners, green peas, and tenderfoots.
Greens
Leaves and green vegetables used for food.
Grist
A quantity or bunch. “There’s been a mighty grist of rain lately.”
Gritty
Courageous, spirited.
Grocery
A bar or saloon.
Grog
To seamen, gin and water, or any spirit and water.
Groggery
A bar or saloon.
Growlers
Buckets, cans, or pitchers carried by apprentices or children to the saloon to be filled with beer and returned to the workplace during the day. They were called “growlers” because of the grating noise when slid across the bar. Fetching the beer from the saloon in a growler was called rushing the growler, working the growler, or chasing the can.
Grub Pile
Referring to a meal or to the chuckwagon.
Grub Slinger
The cook; also referred to as grub spoiler or grubworm.
Grubstake
To provide the materials a prospector needs, including food and money, in return for a percentage of any claim that the prospector might find.
Grum
Surly; gloomy; glum.
Grunter
A hog.
G.T.T.
Gone To Texas. A common expression in use following the Civil War. People would find the letters G.T.T. carved into their doors, left by a kin. Many outlaws went to Texas.
Gull
A cheat, fraud or trick. Also, refers to a stupid animal or person, one easily cheated.
Gully Washer
A hard rain.
Gummy!
An exclamation.
Gump
A foolish person, a dolt.
Guttersnipe
A homeless child who roamed and slept in the streets.
Gut Hooks
Spurs, also called gut lancers.
Gut Line
Rawhide rope.
Gut Warmer
Whiskey.
Hack
A hackney coach.
Haint
Have not.
Hair Case
Hat.
Hair in the Butter
A delicate situation.
Hair Pants
Chaps made from a hair-covered hide.
Half Seas Over
A sailor’s expression for intoxicated, drunk.
Halloo or Hallow
Shout, hoot, to cry out loudly.
Hammer And Tongs
In a noisy, furious manner. “They went at it hammer and tongs.”
Hand And Glove
Intimate, familiar, closely united as a hand and its glove.
Hand Runnin’
Consecutively.
Hanger-On
A dependant, one who eats and drinks without payment.
Hang Fire
Delay.
Hang Up One’s Fiddle
To give up. The opposite would be to “hang on to one’s fiddle.”
Hanker or Hankering
To have an incessant wish, strong desire, longing.
Happifying
Making happy.
Hard Case
Worthless, bad, unpleasant, - often referring to a person.
Hardfisted
Covetous, close-handed, miserly.
Hard Money
A common term for silver and gold, rather than paper money.
Hard Pushed or Hard Run
Hard pressed, to be in a difficulty, short of cash.
Hard Row To Hoe
A metaphor derived from hoeing corn, meaning a difficult matter or job to accomplish.
Harum-Scarum
A negative term applied to flighty persons or persons always in a hurry.
Hash
To settle one’s business.
Have a Mind To
To have a notion, to be willing.
Hay Baler
A horse, also called hay burner.
Hay Seed
Derogatory term for a farmer, also called hay shaker.
Haze
To haze round, is to go rioting about.
Head-Cheese
The ears and feet of swine cut up fine, boiled, and pressed into the form of a cheese.
Heap
A lot, many, a great deal. “He went through a heap of trouble to get her that piano.” Also refers to a crowd, a throng, a rabble.
Hearn
Heard.
Hear Tell
To hear a report of, to hear of.
Hearty As A Buck
Very well, healthy, hearty. A hunter’s phrase.
Heave In Sight
To come in sight, to appear. A nautical phrase that originated with approaching vessels that appeared to raise or heave itself above the horizon.
Heeled
To be armed with a gun. “He wanted to fight me, but I told him I was not heeled.”
Heft
Weight, ponderousness.
Hellabaloo
Riotous noise, confusion.
Hell-fired
Very, great, immensely; used for emphasis. He is just too hell-fired lazy to get any work done around here. Also “all-fired” and “jo-fired.”
Hell Rousers
Spurs.
Helter-Skelter
In a hurry, without order, tumultuously.
Hemp
Cowboy talk for rope; in verb form to hang someone. Hemp fever was a morbidly jocular term for a hanging. Hemp party (also string party) meant the same. A hemp committee was a group of vigilantes or a lynch mob (depending on your point of view) and a hemp necktie was the rope they did the deed with. Coined because cowboys used ropes made of Manila hem.
Hen Skins
A cowboy’s bedroll
Here’s how!
A toast, such as Here’s to your health.
Hern
Hers.
Hide
To beat, spank. “When I was a boy, I got plenty of hidings.
Hifer
Loiter.
Higgle
To chaffer, bargain, haggle.
Higgledy-Piggledy
In confusion.
High Binder
A dangerous and vicious man or horse.
High-Falutin
Highbrow, fancy, self-important, pompous. The origin is the Dutch word verlooten, meaning stilted.
High-Grader
In the mining camps of the Old West, a high-grader was a man who stole any big nuggets which he saw in the sluice boxes.
High Tail
To leave or ride off quickly.
Hill of Beans
Slang for something of trifling value, as in “it ain’t worth a hill of beans.”
Hindsite First
Backwards.
Hisn
His or his own.
Hitch
A difficulty, an impediment.
To Hitch
To agree, to get along amicably.
Hitched
Got married.
Hitch in the Giddy-up
Not feeling well, as in: “I’ve had a hitch in my giddy-up the last couple days.”
Hither And Yon
Here and there.
Hit pay dirt
Mining term. To find something of value.
Hits the Flat
Go out on the prairie.
Hobble your lip
Shut up.
Hog at the Trough
Superior, outstanding, a leader
Ho
A word used by teamsters to stop their teams.
Hobble
A scrape, a state of perplexity
Ho Down
A party or celebration
Hog-Killin Time
This a “what I mean” very good time!
Hog-Wallow
On some of the Western prairies, the ground has every appearance of having been rooted or torn up by hogs, when it is very rough, hence the name
Hog Ranch
A brothel and saloon that was often located near a military fort.
Hoity-Toity
An exclamation denoting surprise or disapprobation, with some degree of contempt.
Hold a Candle to
Measure up, compare to.
Hold Your Horses
Stay calm. “Hold your horses, we’re on our way.”
Hold Up
In referring to weather, it means to clear up, stop raining, etc.
Hollow
All hollow. Completely, wholly. “He beat him all hollow.
Holt
Hold. “Death has got holt of him.”
Honey-Fogle
To swindle, cheat, lay plans to deceive.
Hook
To steal.
By Hook Or By Crook
One way or other, by any expedient. “It can’t be done by hook or crook.”
Hooks
Spurs.
Hookshop
A brothel.
Honey-fuggled
To cheat, to pull the wool over one’s eyes.
Hoosegow
Jail, from the Spanish juzgado, meaning courthouse.
Hooter
A bit or a tiny amount.
Hop
A dance.
Hopped for Mama
A horse bucking.
Horn
A glass of liquor, ale or beer.
Hornswoggle
To cheat or trick, to pull the wool over one’s eyes.
Horse Thief Special
A raisn and boiled rice dish.
Horse Feathers
Ridiculous.
Horse Wrangler
Horse herder.
Hoss
A horse.
Hot as a Whorehouse on Nickel Night
Damned hot.
Hot Rock
Biscuit.
Hot Roll
Bedroll.
Huckleberry
As in “I’m your huckleberry” means “I’m just the man you’re looking for” or “I’m just the man for the job.”
Huckleberry Above a Persimmon
A cut above.
Hum
Home.
Humbug
A deception, hoax, imposter.
Hounds
Rowdies of the gold-rush days of San Francisco.
Hull
Saddle.
Hurricane Deck
The saddle of a bucking horse.
Husking Bee
A social event in which the community came together to husk corn and to drink. Also called a “husking frolic.”
I Dad!
An exclamation used in the Western States.
Illy
Ill, sick.
In For It
Engaged in a thing from which there is no retreating.
In Liquor
Intoxicated, drunk.
Iron
Short for branding iron or six-gun.
Iron Horse
A Railroad train.
Is that a bluff, or do you mean it for real play?
Are you serious?
Jackeroo
A cowboy, also called buckaroo.
Jack of Diamonds
Rye whiskey.
Jag
A small load.
Jasper
Slang of this word starting in 1896 meant a guy, or a rustic, simpleton, or naive hick (later changed to “bubba”).
To Jaw
To scold, to clamor, to abuse grossly.
Jawing
Talking. “We sat around the campfire just jawing.”
Jerked Meat
Beef and other kinds of fresh meat dried in the open air without salt.
Jig is Up
Scheme/game is over, exposed.
Jingled
Drunk
Jingler
A person who talks in rhyme or in a catchy repetitious manner, or someone who drinks alot.
Jiminy
By Jiminy! An exclamation.
Jimmying a bull
Shooting a law officer.
Jo-fired
Very, great, immensely; used for emphasis. He is just too jo-fired lazy to get any work done around here. Also “all-fired” and “hell-fired.”
John B.
A cowboy hat, after hat maker John B. Stetson.
John Barleycorn
Beer
Johnny
A Chinaman, also sometime just “John.”
Jollification
A scene of festivity or merriment. Used only in familiar language.
Jonathan
The American people. Also known as Brother Jonathan or Uncle Sam. Sometimes used to refer to a Yankee.
Joy Juice
Whiskey.
Judus Steer
Part of the cowboy’s job during the drive was to identify the Judas steer. Once at the end of the trail, the Judas could simply lead the other cattle to slaughter with no hassle. If a particularly good Judas was found, he was spared the meat hook and used again.
Jump the Broom
Get married.
Juniper
Derogatory term for an easterner or novice cowhand.
Justins
Cowboy boots.
Kansas Sheep Dip
Whiskey
Kedge
Brisk, in good health and spirits. “I am feeling pretty kedge today.”
Keep
Storage for food, subsistence, keeping. “The milk is in the keep.”
Keep Company
To court.
Keeping-Room
A common sitting-room or parlor.
Keep That Dry
Keep it secret.
Keep The Pot A Boiling
Keep it going.
Kettled
A horse bucking.
Kick
To protest or to object to something; to complain.
Kick Up a Row
Create a disturbance.
Kidney Pad
Eastern Saddle.
Kitchen Safe
Cupboard
Knee-high to a…
Humorous description of short stature or youth. “He ain’t knee-high to a lamb.”
Knob
Round hills or knolls.
Knobs
Spurs
Knock Galley West
Beat senseless.
Knocked Into A Cocked Hat
Knocked out of shape, spoiled, ruined, fouled up.
Knock Round
To go about.
Lacing
A beating. He took a lacing at the hands of the bully.
Ladies of the Line
Prostitutes.
Lag
Prisoner, convict.
Lagger
Sailor
To Lam
To beat soundly.
Lambasting
A beating, a thrashing.
Lammy
A blanket.
Landed
When a person has amassed a fortune large enough to keep him for the rest of his life.
Land-Loper or Land-Lubber
A vagrant, one who strolls about the country
Lands Sakes!
A more socially acceptable alternative for “Lord’s sake.”
Lapper
A hard drinker.
Lasso
A long rope or cord, with a noose, for the purpose of catching wild horses or buffaloes on the Western prairies.
Latchpan
Lower lip
To Lather
To beat.
Lathy
Thin, slender like a lath.
Latish
Rather late.
Latty or Letty
A bed.
Laudanum
Not exactly slang, but what is it? Often utilized by the “painted ladies” in the west, laudanum was opium mixed with liquor.
Lay
Price, terms, salary. “He bought a large herd of cattle at a good lay. Also used to describe a cowboy’s bed.
Lead Plumb
A bullet.
Lead Poisoning
Shot. “He died of lead poisoning.”
Lead Plumb
A bullet.
Lead Pusher
A gun.
Leafless Tree
Gallows.
Leap the Book
An illegal or false marriage.
Leather-necks
Soldiers
Leg Bail
To give leg bail, is to run away.
Left-handed Wife
Mistress.
Leggins
South Texas term for chaps.
Let Drive
To let fly, to let slip. To discharge, let loose a blow with the fist, a stone, a bullet from a gun, etc.
Let Her Rip
Let it go.
Let On
To mention, disclose, betray a knowledge.
Let Out
To begin a story or narrative.
Let Up
To let up is to release, a relief. “Thank Goodness, the rain finally let up.”
Lick
Molasses.
Lick
A blow.
Lick or Salt Lick
A place where wild animals lick for salt — usually a salt spring.
Lickety Split
Headlong, at full speed.
To Lick
To beat.
Lickfinger
To kiss ass. Also called “lick-spittle.”
Licking
A flogging, a beating.
Lickspittle
A mean parasite, one who will stoop to any dirty work
Lief or Lieve
Willingly, gladly.
Like Bricks
Quickly, with energy.
Life Preserver
A gun.
Light (or lighting) a shuck
To get the hell out of here in a hurry. “I’m lightin’ a shuck for California.”
Light On
To fall on, to come to by chance, to happen to find.
Lights or Top Lights
Eyes.
Like a Thoroughbred
Like a gentleman.
Like lickin’ butter off a knife
Something that is easy; not hard.
Lincoln Skins
Greenbacks.
Line Camp
Crude shacks or camps on the outermost boundaries of a ranch.
Line Rider
Cowboys the guarded the ranch boundaries. Also called outriders.
Lining the Flue
Eating.
Lily Liver
Someone who is a coward.
Limsy
Weak, flexible.
Lincoln Skins
Greenbacks.
Linsey Woolsey
A corruption of linen and wool. Material made of linen and wool mixed, light or coarse stuff. “He gave them coats of linsey woolsey, which were good and warm for winter, and good and light for summer.
Little End of the Horn
To come away from a situation at a disadvantage. The same as “short end of the stick.
Lizzy
Saddle horn.
Llano Estacado
The dry, treeless plains of Texas and New Mexico, also called the “Staked Plains.”
Loaded for Bears
Lightly intoxicated.
Loaded to the Gunwhales
Full out drunk.
Loblolly
Mud hole.
Lock, Stock, And Barrel
The whole thing, the whole “kit and caboodle.”
Loco
Crazy.
Logy
Slow-moving, dull, awkward.
Loller
Live, sportive damsel.
Lone Star
An independent cowboy.
Long And Short
The end, the result, the upshot. “That’s the long and short of the subject.”
Longrider
An outlaw, someone who usually had to stay in the saddle for an extended period of time while on the run from a crime.
Loo’d, looed
Beaten or defeated.
Lookin’ at a Mule’s Tail
Plowing.
Lookin’ to Die
Seriously ill.
Look-See
To investigate. “I think I’ll go have a look-see across that hill.”
Looseness
Freedom. “He spoke with a perfect looseness.”
Lope
A leap, a long step.
Lotion
A drink.
Louse Cage
Bunkhouse.
Love Apples
Canned tomatoes.
Love Lick
Rough caress.
Lucky
Escape, run away. “We might have got into trouble if we hadn’t made our lucky.”
Lunger
Slang for someone with tuberculosis.
Lunkhead
A horse of inferior breed or appearance.
Lunk-headed
Idiotic, senseless.
Lynching Bee
A hanging
Lubber
A sturdy man, idle, fat, bulky fellow
Luddy Mussy!
Lord have mercy! An exclamation of surprise.
Lush-crib
A saloon or tavern.
Lushington
A drunk.
Lynching Bee
A hanging.
Mab
A harlot.
Mad as a March Hare
Very angry.
Mad as a Hornet
Very mad.
Madder than an Old Wet Hen
Very angry. “Mama woke up madder than an old wet hen.”
Made His Jack
Got what he aimed at.
Maggot
Derogatory term for sheep.
Mail-Order Cowboy
This was a derogatory term used to chide tenderfoot, urban “cowboys” who arrived from the East all decked out in fancy but hardly practical Western garb.
May Hay
To put in disorder, to make confusing.
Make Hay While the Sun Shines
To make the most of the day, or an opportunity.
Make a Mash
Make a hit, impress someone. (Usually a female.) “Buck’s tryin’ to make a mash on that new girl.”
Make A Raise
To raise, procure, obtain.
Making Meat
On the Western prairies, cutting into thin slices the boneless parts of the buffalo, or other meat, and drying them in the wind or sun. Meat thus prepared may be preserved for years without salt.
Make Tracks
To leave, to walk away. A figurative expression of Western origin.
Makins
Tobacco and papers used to roll cigarettes.
Man-a-hanging
A man having difficulties.
Man At The Pot
According to camp etiquette, when a cowboy gets up to refill his cup from the coffee pot hanging over the campfire, if someone shouts, “Man at the pot!” the man at the coffee pot is required to fill everyone’s cup.
Manner Born, To the
A natural. “He’s a horseman to the manner born.”
Man for Breakfast
A murdered body in the streets at dawn. Commonplace in the early days of Los Angeles and Denver. Also used to describe certain saloonswhen men were killed the night before. “Lambert’s only had two men for breakfast.”
Man-trap
Cow dung in the fields, or, a widow.
To Marble
To move off, be off, go, as, “If you do that again, you must marble.”
Marinos
Spurs.
Marm
A corruption of the word madam or ma’am.
Marooning
To go marooning. To have a party or picnic.
Mary
An effeminate homosexual.
Mashed
In love.
Mauks
Derogatory term for women of the lower class or prostitutes.
Mauled
Very drunk.
Maverick
An unbranded calf.
May Can
May be able to.
Marble Orchard
Graveyard
Mealer
A partial abstainer who drinks liquor only during meals.
Mean
Bad quality.
Mexican Strawberries
Dried beans.
Milestonemonger
Some who likes to roam, a tramp.
Milling
Fighting.
Millrace
A channeled stream of water that runs through a mill to push the mill wheel.
Mind, Have a
To have a notion, to be willing.
To Mind
To recollect, remember or to take care of..
Missionate
To act as a missionary.
Mitten
When a gentleman is jilted by a lady, or is discarded by one to whom he has been paying his addresses he is said to have got the mitten.
Miss one’s figure
to miss a change, to make a mistake.
Mitten, Get or Give
Turned down by a lady after proposing.
Miss Nancy
A name given to an effeminate man.
Mizzle
To run away, to abscond.
Mochilla
A rectangular leather saddlebag popularized by the Pony Express.
Mockered
Dirtied, defiled.
Molled
In the company of a woman.
Molly
An effeminate young man.
Molocher
A cheap hat.
Monkey Shines
Eccentricities, strange actions.
To Monkey
To play tricks, fool or tamper with, mischievious.
Monkey Ward Cowboy
A tenderfoot.
Monte
A gambling game played with dice or cards.
Moonshine
A trifle, nothing.
Moonshiny
Deceptive.
Mop
A habitual drunk.
Moppy
Drunk or tipsy.
Mormon Tea
Liquor.
Mosey
To saunter or shuffle along, to be off, to leave, to sneak away.
Moss-backs
Old fogies, men behind the times, slow to learn.
Moss Head
A very old steer.
Mought
For might.
Mouldy Grubs
Traveling showmen.
Mountain Oysters
Fried or roasted calves’ testicles. Also called Prairie Oysters.
To Mouse
To go mousing about is to go poking about into holes and corners.
Mouth-bet
A gambling man who only gives verbal promises to pay.
Mouthpiece
A lawyer.
Muck Forks
A low term for hands or fingers. “Keep your muck forks off me!”
Muck-out
To a gambler, to “clean-out” an opponent.
Mucks, Mux
To make a muddle or failure of anything. “He made a regular mux of the whole business.”
Muck-snipe
To gamblers, the one who has been “cleaned out.”
Mud Pipes
Any kind of boots or shoes, but mostly applied to riding-boots.
Muddy end of the Stick
Short end of the stick.
Mud Fence, Ugly as a
Used to describe someone who was very ugly.
Mudpipes
Boots or shoes.
Mudsill
Uneducated, working class. Low-life, thoroughly disreputable person.
Mugwump
An Indian word meaning captain, leader or notable person.
Mule-ears
Boots.
Mule’s Breakfast
A straw bed.
Muleskinner
A person who drives and usually rides in a wagon pulled by mules.
Muley
A one-horned or hornless cow.
Mumper
A begger.
Music Root
Sweet potato.
Mush-Head
A stupid, witness fellow.
Mustard
To unsettle or disturb cattle.
Mutton-Puncher
Derogatory name used by cowboys to describe a sheepherder.
Muzzle
Loiter.
Mysteries
Sausages, called that because many didn’t know what they were made of.
Nailed to the Counter
Proven a lie.
Nairn
None
Namby-pamby
Sickly, sentimental, saccharin.
Nancy or Nancy-boy
An effeminate man.
Nanny
A prostitute.
Nanny Shop
Brothel
Nary
None, not, zero
Nary-One
Neither.
Navy Model
Colt firearms.
Necessary
Outhouse, water closet; bathroom.
Neck Oil
Whiskey.
Necktie Social or Necktie Party
A hanging or lynching, most often referred to in vigilante hangings.
Nester
A squatter who settled on government land, usually to farm.
Nibbler
A petty thief.
Nibble
To take or steal.
Nigh Unto
Nearly, almost.
Night Hawk
While the rest of the cowboys slept under the stars on a cattle drive, one unlucky soul who drew the short straw, the “night hawk”, had to stay up all night standing guard.
Nippent
Impudent, impertinent.
Nipper
A baby or small child.
Nobby, Nobbish
Fine, stylish.
No Count or No Account
Of no account, worthless. “That no count boy does nothing but get into trouble.”
Nohow
Not at all, no way.
No Odds
No difference, no consequence, no matter.
Nose Paint
Whiskey.
Nosey Parker
Someone who is nosey.
Not By a Jugful
No consideration, on no account, not at all.
Notch
An opening or narrow passage through a mountain or hill.
Nothing To Nobody
Nobody’s business.
Notions
A wide range of miscellaneous articles for sale.
Nubbin
Saddle horn.
Nurly
A corrupt pronunciation of gnarly, i. e. gnarled.
Nymphs du Prairie
Prostitutes.
Oats
To feel one’s oats, is to feel one’s importance.
Odd Fish or Odd Stick
A person who is eccentric or odd in his manners. “Ol’ Farmer Jones sure is an odd stick.”
Off his nut, off his rocker, off his chump
Weak in the head, crazy, illogical; someone who behaves strangely.
Offish
Distant, reserved, aloof.
Off one’s feed
Unable to eat, having no appetite.
Of the First Water
First class. “He’s a gentleman of the first water.”
Oh-be-joyful
Liquor, beer, intoxicating spirits. “Give me another snort of that oh-be-joyful.”
Old
Crafty, cunning. If someone tries to take advantage of someone else, who is too cunning to be deceived, he might say “I’m a little too old for you.”
Old Betsy or Old Blue
A gun.
Old Country
A term applied to Great Britain, originally by natives from that country, who had immigrated to the United States.
Old Countryman
A native of England, Scotland, Ireland, or Wales. The term was never applied to persons from the Continent of Europe.
Old Dan
Often used to refer to a trustworthy mule.
Old Epharim
A term that mountain men called both male or female grizzly bears.
Old Man
The ridge found between two sleepers in a feather bed.
Old Orchard
Whiskey.
Old Pie
An expression of admiration or approval.
Old Pod
Old man.
Old Rackatee
A gun.
Old Rats
Equivalent to “one of the boys,” a hearty old fellow.
Old Scratch
The devil.
Old Stager
One well initiated in anything.
Old States
Back East.
Old Tom
Gin.
Old Towse
Whiskey
Oldermost
Oldest. “He’s the oldermost fellow at the reunion.”
On One’s Own Hook
On one’s own account, for himself. “He is doing business on his own hook.
Onplush
Nonplus.
Old Woman
The cowboy’s cook. Though the cook was often the most popular man on the cattle drive, cooking was still considered to be “women work.”
Oil
Nitroglycerine. Was often used to open bank vault. Also called “soup.”
One-horse
Small, limited, inferior. “Well, if that ain’t a one-horse town.”
On or In A Pinch
On an emergency.
On the Dead
Gratis, free.
On the Dodge
Hiding out somewhere; laying low for a while.
On the half-shell
Applied to anything prepared and ready for use.
On the Prod
Full of piss and vinegar, looking for trouble, spoiling for a fight. Said of both people and critters.
On the Shoot
Looking for trouble. “Looks like he’s on the shoot, tonight.”
On the Win
Winning or making money.
Oof
Money
Opine
To be of the opinion.
Ourn
Ours.
Outlaw
A horse that cannot be tamed to ride.
Over Head And Ears
Completely overwhelmed. “He was over head and ears in debt.”
Out And Out
Wholly, completely, without reservation.
Out-and-outer
First-class.
On The Fence
Neutral or undecided.
Out Of Fix or Out of Sorts
Disarranged, in a state of disorder.
Over-Careful
Very careful.
Overland Trout
Bacon.
Owdacious
Audacious.
Owl Hoot
An outlaw
Owl Hoot Trail
The outlaw way of life.
Oxbows
Large, old-time wooden stirrups. Also known as oxyokes.
Pack Iron
To carry a revolver or “shooting iron.”
Paddle
To go or run away.
Paint
A horse with irregular patches of white. Also refers to drinking, alluding to the red nose caused by over-indulgence.
Painted Cat
A prostitute.
Painted Lady
A prostitute.
Painter
In the country a popular name for cougar or panther.
Paintin’ His Nose
Getting drunk.
Painting One’s Tonsils
Drinking alcohol, also referred to as ‘Painting one’s nose.”
Pair Of Stairs
A flight of stairs.
Painting the Town Red
Going out on the town for a fun, sometimes wild, time.
Pair of Overalls
Two drinks of whiskey.
Pal on
to associate.
Pancake
A derogatory term for a small English saddle.
Pan Out
To pay well, prove profitable.
Parade Chaps
A pair of chaps strictly for show. Might be worn for the grand entry parade at a rodeo.
Pass in one’s chips
To die.
Pay Dirt
When prospectors find valuable minerals they had hit “pay dirt.”
Peacemaker
A Colt revolver.
Peaked
Thin or sickly in appearance.
Pecker Pole
What a logger called a small tree or sapling.
Peck Of Trouble
Great trouble.
Pecker
Appetite.
Peckish
Hungry.
Peck
Eat voraciously
Pedlar’s Pony
A walking stick.
Pecos
To kill by drowning. (Literally, to throw into the Pecos River.)
Pecos Strawberries
Beans.
Pemican
Easily carried food substance on the frontier. Formed by pounding the choice parts of the meat very small, dried over a slow fire or in the frost, and put into bags made of the skin of the slain animal, into which a portion of melted fat is then poured.
Penny Dreadful
A slang term for cheap, lurid fictional magazines that incorporated the same kind of literature as the dime novels. Later generations would call them pulp fiction.
Pennyweighter
In the mining camps of the Old West, a pennyweighter was a person who stole very small quantities of gold from the mining operation for whom he worked.
Perk
Lively, brisk, holding up the head
Persnickity
Peculiar, picky.
Persuader
A gun.
Pertend Up
Better, more cheerful.
Peskily
Very, extremely, confoundedly. “I’m peskily sorry to hear of your loss.”
Petticoat Pensioner
A man who lives on a prostitute’s earnings. Also called Sunday-man.
Picayune
Used to signify something small or frivolous.
Pick-Back
On the back. Often used when carrying children on the back - piggyback.
Picture
One’s face or one’s person.
Piddle
Waste time.
Piebald
A Paint horse.
Piece of Calico
A girl or a woman.
Piece of Pudding
A piece of luck, a welcome change.
Piece of Thick
Pressed cake tobacco.
Pied
A paint horse.
Pie Eater
Country boy, a rustic.
Pig Sticker
Knife or bayonet.
Pig Trail
Small side road.
Pike
A name applied in California to migratory poor.
Pilgrim
Cowboy term for an easterner or novice cowhand.
Pill
A doctor.
Pilled
Black-balled.
Pimping
Little, petty.
Pimple
The cowboy’s name for the very small saddles used by Easterners.
Pining Away For
Longing for.
Pink
Denotes the finest part, the essence. She is the pink of perfection.
Pinto
A paint horse.
Pirooting
Having sexual intercourse.
Pistareen
One-fifth of a dollar, a silver coin, formerly in the United States, of the value of twenty cents.
Pitch a Fit
To throw a temper tantrum, get upset.
Placer
Comes from the Spanish word for gravel beds. Prospectors would scoop some dirt and water into a pan, swish it to wash the gravel away, and look for good in the bottom.
Plain-headed
A term that expresses that a lady is not good looking.
Plaguily
Vexatiously, horribly. “I am puzzled most plaguily to get words to tell you what I think.”
Plank, Plank Down, Plank Up
To pay in cash.
Plaster
Flatter
Play a Lone Hand
To do something alone.
Play Second Fiddle
To “play second fiddle” is to take an inferior part in any project or undertaking.
Play to the Gallery
To show off. “That’s just how he is, always has to play to the gallery.”
Played out
Exhausted.
Plow Chaser
A derogatory term for farmer.
Plow Handle
A single action pistol was sometime referred to as a plow handle. These were also referred to as “thumbusters,” “cutters,” “smoke poles,” and “hawg legs.”
To Plum
To deceive.
Plumb, Plum
Entirely, completely. “He’s plumb crazy.”
Plummy
Satisfactory or profitable.
Plunder
Personal belongings or baggage. “Pack your plunder, Joe, we’re headin’ for San Francisco.”
Poke
A small sack, usually made of leather or rawhide. Also refers to a lazy person, a dawdler. “What a slow poke you are.”
Poke-Bonnet
A long, straight bonnet, much worn by Quakers and Methodists.
Poker
Any frightful object, especially in the dark.
Pokerish
Frightful, causing fear, especially to children.
Pokey
Jail
Pony Up
Pay over money. “Pony up that account.” Also, post the pony, i.e. lay down the money.
Poppet
Term of endearment. “Come along, poppet.”
Poppy-Cock
Bosh, nonsense, idle talk.
Pop Skull
Whiskey.
Pop Your Corn
Say what you have to say, speak out.
Porch Percher
A town loafer.
Portage
To carry boats or supplies overland between rivers or lakes.
Portmantle
A valise.
Post the Pony
Pay up.
Pot Rustler
Cook.
Pot Shot
An Easy shot.
Power
A large quantity, a great number.
Pow-Wow
Native American feasts, dances and public doings.
Prairie Coal
Cowchips.
Prairie Dew
Whiskey.
Prairie Oysters
Fried or roasted calves’ testicles. Also called Mountain Oysters.
Prairie Pancakes
Cowchips.
Prairie Tenor
Coyote.
Prairillon
A small prairie.
Prat
Buttock, behind.
Prayer Book
A packet of papers used to roll cigarettes. Also called a “dream book” or a “bible.”
Pray Tell
Tell me.
Predicate
A proposition or argument.
Prehaps
Perhaps.
Priminary
Predicament, difficulty.
Prod, On the
Spoiling for a fight, also referred to as “proddy.”
Prog
Food, provisions of any kind.
Pshal, P’shaw
An exclamation for nonsense.
Pucker
In a state of irritation or anger.
Puddin’ Foot
An awkward horse.
Pull in your Horns
Back off, quit looking for trouble.
Pull Foot
To leave in a hurry, walk fast, run.
Pull the Leg
To impose upon.
Pull the Long Bow
To tell falsehoods, lie.
Pullin my donkey’s tail
A much older way of saying “are you pullin my leg”
Pulling a Kite
Making a face.
Pulling in the Pieces
To make money.
Punching Dogies
Cowpunching, driving the cattle to market.
Pung
A rude sort of sleigh, or oblong box made of boards and placed on runners, used for drawing loads on snow by horses.
Purge
Beer.
Push Your Barrow
Go away.
Put a Spoke in the Wheel
To foul up or sabotage something.
Put on the Nose Bag
To eat.
Put the Licks In
Run very fast.
Queer Fish
An odd or eccentric person. Also called odd stick and odd fish.
Quincy
An indoor toilet.
Quirley
Roll-your-own cigarette.
Quirt
Whip
Quid
A corruption of cud, as, in vulgar language, a quid of tobacco.
Raft
A large quantity.
Rag Proper
Dress well.
Rail It
To travel by rail-road.
Railheads
Towns with facilities for loading cattle onto trains.
Railroad Bible
A deck of cards. This stemmed from the large number of card sharks working aboard the railroads.
Raise
To make a raise. Meaning to make a haul, to raise the wind.
Raise One’s Bristles
To excite one’s anger.
Raise Sand
Start trouble.
Raisin’ Cain
Loud, noisy boisterous.
Rake And Scrape
To collect.
Randy
Wanton or lecherous.
Ranny
A top cowhand, skilled cowboy.
Rantankerous
Contentious, a variation of cantankerous.
Rappee
An inferior quality of snuff.
Rattler
Freight train
Rattled
To become nervous, worried, uneasy.
Rattling
Jolly, excellent, smart
Rattle Your Hocks
Hurry up, get a move on.
Rat Trap
A woman’s bustle.
Raving Distracted
Stark mad.
Rebel Soldier
Rye whiskey.
Reckon
To guess or think. “I reckon that’ll do right fine.”
Reckoning up
Talking about something or someone in a slanderous manner. “I overheard them reckoning up the mayor.”
Red Eye
Whiskey, also called “red disturbance” and “red ink.”
Red Lane
A vulgar name for the throat, chiefly used by those drinking alcohol.
Reloading Outfit
Cowboy term for eating utensils, cups, and a plate.
Rench
A vulgar pronunciation of the word rinse.
Retch
Past tense of reach.
Retiracy
Sufficiency, competency.
Reverent
Strong, as, reverent whisky, not diluted.
Rib
Wife.
Rib Wrenches
Spurs.
Ride a Shank’s Mare
To walk or be set afoot.
Ride For the Brand
To be loyal to the ranch and rancher that pays a cowboy.
Ride Out on a Rail
To be forced to leave town.
Rig
Saddle.
Right as a Trivet
Right as rain, sound as a nut, stable.
Right as Rain
Fine. “After a good night’s rest, he’ll be right as rain.”
Right Smart
Many, much, good. “He got a right smart bit of work done.”
Ring
A group of businessmen or politicians form to advance their own interests, usually in such a way that places the public at risk. “The notorious Santa Fe Ring was an unscrupulous group of politicians in the 1800s.”
Ring in
To force or insinuate oneself into company where one is not wanted or does not belong.
Ringster
A member of ring, or group whose objective is to profit at the public’s expense.
Ringy
Ornery or angry man or animal.
Rip
Reprobate. “He’s a mean ol’ rip.”
Rip Out
Impatiently give vent to one’s feeling or opinions. “When he came upon the town bully, he ripped out what he thought of him.”
Rip-roaring, Rip-staver, Rip-snortin’
An impressive person or thing.
Road Agent
A robber, bandit, desperado.
Road Ranch
A supply center or store, often located on the major trails headed westward, that supplied the wagon trains with provisions.
Rode Hard and Put Up Wet
Ugly, rough or hard looking. “She looks like she’s been rode hard and put up wet!”
Roastineer
Corn roasted over an open fire while still in the husks.
Rock
A piece of money.
Rocky Mountain Canary
A burro used by the miners in the Rocky Mountains. Colorado burros were often called Rocky Mountain Canaries.
Rod
A revolver.
Rode Fence
Patrolled the range checking see if any areas of fencing needed repairs.
Roily Or Rily
Turbid, excited to resentment, vexed.
Rook
To cheat, to dupe, such as a cardsharper or conman might do in a poker game.
Rookus Juice
Liquor.
Roostered
Drunk. “Looks like those cowboys are in there gettin’ all roostered up.”
Roost over one
To get the better of.
Roping In
Cheating.
Rot-gut
Bad liquor.
Rouncher, roncher
Used to describe something extreme, powerful, large, fine, remarkable.
Round Browns
Cow chips.
Round Up
A gathering of sheep, cattle or pigs.
Rousing
Very great, commonly applied to a fire.
Round-Rimmers
Hats with a round rim, hence, those who wear them.
Row
A fight
To Row Up
To punish with words, to rebuke.
Row Up Salt River
Used generally to signify political defeat.
Rowdy-dow
Low, vulgar.
Ruckus
Loud noise, voices, a racket. “What’s all the ruckus about?”
Ruinatious
Ruinous.
Rumbumptious, rumbustious
Haughty, pompous, boisterous, making a great fuss about.
Rum-hole, Rum-mill
A small drinking establishment, saloon.
Run
A small stream or rivulet.
To Run
To press with jokes, sarcasm, or ridicule. ‘To get the run upon one,’ is to make a butt of him.
Run against a pill
To be shot, to take a bullet.
To Run One’s Face
To make use of one’s credit.
Russer, Rusher
A dashing, sensation-causing man, a heavy player - often applied to politicians and clergymen.
Saddle Bum
A drifter.
Saddle Stiff
A cowboy, also referred to as “saddle warmer” and “saddle slicker.”
Saddle Tramp
A cowboy who spends most of his time in the chuck line.
Sadying
A simple and unaffected mode of dancing.
Sagamore
The title of a chief or ruler among some of the American tribes of Indians.
Sagebrush Men
Cowboy who worked in the arid portions of Montana, Colorado and Wyoming.
Sage Hen
A woman.
Sakes Alive
The equivalent of “Good heavens!”
Salt Horse
Corned beef.
Salting
Planting rich ore samples in an unprofitable mine to attract unwary buyers.
Salt-Lick
A saline spring, where animals resort for drink.
Salt-Water Vegetables
A term for oysters and clams.
Sam Hill
A euphemism for the devil. “What in the Sam Hill are you doing?”
Sand
Guts; courage; toughness. “You got sand, that’s fer shore.”
Santiago
Coronado’s favorite charge was “Santiago”, Spanish for St.James, Spain’s soldier saint.
Saphead
Blockhead, a stupid fellow.
Sappy
Young, not firm, weak.
Satinet
A twilled cloth made of cotton and wool.
Savage as a Meat Axe
Extremely savage.
Savagerous
Furious.
Savanna
An open plain, or meadow without wood.
Savey or Sabby
Corrupted from the Spanish saber, to know.To know, to comprehend.
To Saw
To hoax, to play a joke upon one.
Sawbones
Surgeon.
Sawdust
Counterfeit gold-dust or money.
Sawdusty
Cajoling, flattering.
Scab Herder
Derogatory term for sheep herder.
Scad
Large quantities, plenty, an abundance.
Scace
Scarce.
Scalawag or Scallywag
A mean, rotten or worthless person.
Scaly
Mean, stingy.
Scalawag
A mean, graceless fellow.
Scamp
A worthless fellow.
Scamper Juice
Whiskey.
Scape
One who has escaped, though deserving of the gallows.
Scape-Grace
A term of reproach, a graceless fellow.
Scare Up
To obtain, get. “Can you scare up five dollars?”
Scoff away, scuff away
To blow away, drive away, impel.
School Ma’am or Marm
A school-mistress, teacher.
Sconce
The head, pate.
Scoop in
Trick, entice, inveigle. “He got scooped into a poker game and lost his shirt.”
Scoot
Move fast, run, get going.
Score Off
To get the best of one, especially in a verbal debate.
Scow
A large flat-bottomed boat, generally used as a ferry boat, or as a lighter for loading and unloading vessels when they cannot approach the wharf.
Scranch
To crunch, crack, or break any hard thing between the teeth.
Scrap
To fight or box.
Scrape
A shave.
Scraper
A razor.
Scraps
The dry, husky, and skinny residuum of melted fat.
Scratch
Not worth much. “No great scratch.”
Scratch
To come to the encounter, begin a fight, i.e. To come to the scratch. Also means to spur a horse.
Scratching Rake
A comb.
Screamer
An extraordinary person.
Screaming
First-rate, splendid.
Screw
One who squeezes all he can out of those with whom he has any dealings, an extortioner, miser. Also means salary, wages. Also means a jailer, turnkey, or prison warden.
Screw Loose
Something wrong. “He’s got a screw loose.”
Scrouge
To crowd, to squeeze.
Scrouger
A bouncing fellow or girl.
Scrub
A horse of little value.
Schruncher
One who eats greedily.
Scuds
Money.
Scuss
Scarce.
See About
To attend to, to consider.
See How The Cat Jumps
A metaphorical expression meaning, to discover the secrets or designs of others.
See the Elephant
Originally meant to see combat for the first time, later came to mean going to town, where all the action was or to go somewhere to experience a “worldly event.” Many times denotes disappointment of high-raised expectations.
Sell Out
Leave quick.
Serve Up
To expose to ridicule, to expose.
Set About
To chastise, beat, thrash. “When I got home he set about me with a strap.”
Set By or Set Much By
To regard, to esteem. “He behaved himself more wisely than all, so that his name was much set by.”
Set Her Cap For Him
To direct her attentions to him, to endeavor to win his affections.
Set Store By
To set value upon, to appreciate.
Settled
Sentenced to prison.
Set-To
Argument, debate, contest in words.
Setting-Pole
A pole pointed with iron, used for propelling vessels or boats up rivers.
Settle One’s Hash
To properly punish one.
Seven by Nine
Something or someone of inferior or common quality. Originated from common window panes of that size.
Sewn Up
Exhausted, finished, done. Also means intoxicated.
Shack
Bunkhouse.
Shack
A vagabond, a low fellow. “He’s a poor shack of a fellow.”
Shackly
Loose, rickety.
Shake
A prostitute.
Shakes
Not much, not so good. “His horse riding abilities are no great shakes.” Also means a moment, an instant. “Hold on, I’ll get to it a couple of shakes.” Also means a good opportunity, offer, bargain, or chance. “He gave me a good shake on that land.”
Shake A Stick At
When a man is puzzled to give one an idea of a very great number, he calls it ‘more than you can shake a stick at.’
Shake Down
A cowboy’s bedroll.
Shakester, Shickster
A female.
Shake Up
To obtain, get, procure. “Can you help me shake up a fiddle player for the barn dance?
Shank of the Evening
Latter part of the afternoon.
Shakes
The fever and ague.
Shakes
No great shakes. Of no great value, little worth.
Shaky
A term applied by lumbermen, dealers in timber, and carpenters, to boards which are inclined to split from defects in the log from which they have been sawed.
Shaney, Shanny
A fool.
Shank’s Mare, Shank’s Pony
On foot.
Shank
The balance, what remains. “Why don’t you come by and spend the shank of the evening with me?
Shanty
A hut, or mean dwelling.
Sharps
Any firearm manufactured Christian Sharps for his Sharps Rifle Company. This term also applied to professional gamblers who cheated at the Poker tables.
Sharp Set
Hungry.
Sharp Stick
‘He’s after him with a sharp stick,’ i. e. he’s determined to have satisfaction, or revenge.
Shave
A narrow escape, a false alarm, a hoax.
Shaver
A child or young person of either sex; “What a cute little shaver.”
Shaver
One that is close in bargains, or a sharp dealer
Shave Tail
A green, inexperienced person.
Shebang
A shanty or small house of boards.
Shecoonery
A whimsical corruption of the word chicanery. “This town’s got a monstrous bad name for meanery and shecoonery of all sorts
Sheepherder’s Delight
Cheap whiskey.
Shet
Shut.
Shin
Borrow money.
Shindig
A dance, party, celebration.
Shindy
Uproar, confusion, a row, a spree.
Shine
To take the shine off, is to surpass in beauty or excellence. To take a shine to a person, is to take a fancy to him or her. To cut or make a shine, is to make a great display.
Shin Out
Run away.
Shirk
To procure by mean tricks, to steal.
Shivaree
A boisterous party for newlyweds.
Shoal
To lounge about lazily.
Shootin’ Iron
Six-gun or a rifle.
Shoot, Luke, or Give up the Gun
Do it or quit talking about it.
Shoot the Cat
Vomit.
Shoot the Crow
Obtain a drink in a saloon and leave without paying.
Shop-mades
Boots.
Shote
A young hog, a pig partially grown.
Shote
An idle, worthless man.
Shot in the Neck
Drunk.
Shot its Back
A horse bucking.
Shove the queer
To pass counterfeit money.
Shuck Off
Take clothes off.
Shucks
Worthless people or things.
Shunt
To move, turn aside.
Shut
Quit, rid. “I want to be shut of you!”
Shut Pan
Shut up, shut your mouth.
Shut yer cock holster
Shut yer mouth.
To Shy
To throw a light substance, as a flat stone, or a shell, with a careless jerk. Also means to turn aside, or start, as a horse, to sheer. And means, to hang about.
Sick As A Horse
‘I’m as sick as a horse,’ exceedingly sick.
Sidle
Move unobtrusively or sideways; “The young man began to sidle near the pretty girl sitting on the log”
Signalize
To communicate information by means of signals or telegraph.
Silk
Barbed wire.
Simon Pure
The real thing, a genuine fact. “This is the Simon pure.”
Sin-Buster
A preacher.
Singin’ to ‘Em
Standing night guard.
Sinker
Biscuit.
Sipper
Gravy
Sittin’ Her
Courting a girl.
Sixes And Sevens
To be in a state of disorder and confusion.
Six-shooter Coffee
Strong coffee.
Six-shooter Horse
A fast horse.
Skedaddle
Scurry away or run like hell, get, leave, go. “I best skedaddle.”
Skeersome
Frightful.
Skeezick, skeesick
A mean contemptible fellow.
Sketchily
In a “sketchy” manner - lacking substance, superficial, incomplete.
Skid
A piece of light timber from ten to twenty feet in length, upon which heavier timber or other supplies are rolled or slid from place to place.
Skilly
Water-gruel in workhouses or prisons.
Skilts
Brown trowsers formerly worn in New England, that reach just below the knees.
Skin a Razor
To drive a hard bargain.
Skin-Flint
A tight or close-fisted person with their money.
Skin Game
A swindle.
Skinned
To keep an eye on, lookout.
Skink
To serve a drink.
Skip a Cog
To make a mistake or error.
Skittles!
Nonesense!
Skulduggery
Rascality, treachery.
Skull
The head man anywhere, such as a miner owner or the president.
Skungle
To disappear, make gone.
Skunk Cabbage
A strong-scented, repulsive plant.
Sky A Copper
Toss up a penny.
Skunk Eggs
Onions.
Slab-sided
Straight, stiff. Usually applied to people who were prim, formal, or stuffy.
Slangander
To slander, gossip, backbiting.
Slang-Whanger
A writer or noisy talker.
Slantindicular
Slanting, oblique.
Slap
Paint, rouge, cosmetics. Sometimes also used to indicate cheap wall paint.
Slap-bang
a Low eating house.
Slap-Jacks
Pancakes.
Slat
Throw down with violence. “That cowboy slatted his brains out then threw him in the horse tank.”
Slate
Abuse, quarrel.
Slathers
Abundance, no end of.
Slatted its Sails
A horse bucking.
Slazy
A corruption of the word sleazy.
Slew or Slue
In seaman’s language, to turn something around.
Slewed
Moderately drunk.
Slewer
A vulgar word for servant girl.
Slick or Slike
A pronunciation of sleek. “Her face was smooth and slike.”
Slick
To swallow.
Slick as a Whistle or Slick as Grease
To do something very smoothly.
Slicker
A group of vigilantes who operated in Missouri in the first half of the 19th Century. To “enforce” their “rules,” they were known to whip offenders with hickory switches, which was known in the Ozarks at the time, as “slicking.” Also refers to a cowboy coat.
Slicking
Whipping with hickory switches.
Slick Up
To dress up or make make fine.
Slimsey
Flimsey, frail.
Sling
A drink composed of equal parts of rum and sweetened water.
Slink
A sneaking fellow.
Slinky
Thin, lank.
Slipe
A distance. “I’ve got a long slipe to go.”
To Let Sliver
To let slip, let fly.
Sling Your Bunk
Go away.
Slog
A blow, a fight with the fists.
Slogging
A beating, a thrashing, a fight.
Slommack
Prostitute, floozie, slut, or dirty untidy woman..
Slope
To run away, decamp, slip away.
Slops
Large and loose trousers.
Slower than molasses in January
Really slow.
Slug
An ingot of gold or silver, a twenty-dollar piece.
Slumguzzling
Deceiving, humbugging.
Slummy
A servant girl.
Slump
To recite badly, fail, bungle, awkward.
Slumpy
Marshy; easily broken through..
Slush
Grease or fat from salt meat
Slue
Many, large number
Small Fry
Young children or persons of little importance.
Small Potatoes
Mean, contemptible, worthless. “He is small potatoes.”
Smart Sprinkle
A good deal; a good many. Used in the interior of the Western States.
Smock-face
A white face, a face without any hair.
Smoke Pole
Six-gun, also referred to as a “smoke wagon.”
Smooth
A meadow, or grass field.
Smoutch
To gouge, to take unfair advantage.
To Smutch
To blacken with smoke, soot, or coal. “I have smutched my fingers.”
Snake Out
Drag or haul out, as a snake from its hole.
Snake Pizen
Whiskey.
Snapped
Drunk.
Snatch
A hasty meal, a snack.
Snapper
An impudent tattler, impertinent talk, constant chatter.
Snapperhead
An impertinent fellow, one who snaps or answers to quickly or impudently.
Snippeny, snippy, sniptious, snippish
Vain, conceited.
Snipper-Snapper
An effeminate young man; a trifler.
Snipsnap
Tart dialogue, quick replies.
Snotted
Being reprimanded, hauled over the coals.
Snoozer
A thief who robs hotel guests.
Snorter
Impolite reference to a dashing or riotous fellow. A vulgar Western term.
Snuffy
A wild or spirited horse.
Soak
To bake thoroughly.
Soaked
Drunk.
Soap-Lock
A lock of hair made to lie smooth by soaping it.
Sockdologer
A powerful punch or blow.
Sodbuster
Farmer.
Soft down on
In love with.
Soft-horn
A Tenderfoot, someone new to the West.
Soft Horse
A horse with little stamina.
Soft Soap or Soft Sawder
Flattery; blarney.
Soft Tack
Bread.
Softy
Silly person, half-witted.
Sog
Dullness, lethargy.
Soiled Dove
Prostitute.
Sold His Saddle
Disgraced.
Sold Up
Poor or distressed.
Sole-slogger
A shoe-maker.
Someone to Ride the River With
A person to be counted on; reliable; got it where it counts.
Sonk, Sonkey
A stupid fellow.
Sonofabitch Stew
A cowboy concoction that contained cow heart, testicles, tongue, liver, and marrow gut. Probably first served on a trail drive using the ingredients at hand.
Sossle Or Sozzle
A lazy or sluttish woman.
Sound on the Goose
True, staunch, reliable.
Soup
Nitroglycerine. Was often used to open bank vault. Also called “oil.”
Sourdough
In cowboy lingo — a cook or a bachelor. In mining and Old West slang, a sourdough was an experienced prospector, or a veteran in his field..
Sour On
To get sick of someone or something, to give up something out of disgust.
Sowbelly
Bacon
Span
A span of horses consists of a pair that are very much alike and harnessed side by side.
Spark
A lover, a beau.
Sparking
Courting.
Spell
Time; for a while.
Spider
A cast iron frying-pan with three legs.
Spike Team
A wagon drawn by three horses, or by two oxen and a horse.
Spill
A strip of paper rolled up to light a lamp or or a cigar.
Splendiferous
Splendid, fine.
Spooney
A stupid or silly fellow, also a disgusting drunk.
Sportsman
A term often applied to a gambler.
Sposh
A mixture of mud and water.
Squally
A sailor’s word for windy, gusty.
Squatter
One who settles on land without legal title, a widespread practice in the West.
Squeeze the Biscuit
Grabbing the saddle horn, not something a cowboy wants to get caught doing.
Squirtish
Dandified.
Sparkle Up
To hasten, be quick.
Sparrow Catching
Looking for a girl to go out with.
Speeler
A gambler.
Spindigo
Said of one who has come out badly, such as failing an examination or losing on the Stock Exchange.
Splashing
Talking without making sense or talking too much.
Split Fair
Tell the truth, divulge, inform.
Spoon
To court, make love, woo.
Spoons
Equivalent of money, means or fortune.
Spoops, Spoosy
A soft-brained fellow, or one whose manners are objectionable.
Spread oneself
To boast.
Spudgel
To move or run away quickly.
Squabash
To kill.
Squaddle
To depart rapidly, begone, cut and run, skedaddle.
Squibob
A term applied in contempt or indifference.
Squiffed, Squiffy
Slightly intoxicated.
Squinny
To cause a laugh, to laugh, wink, smile.
Staddle
A young tree; a tree left to grow when others are cut.
Stall Your Mug
Go away, make yourself scarce.
Stancheous
Strong; durable.
Stand In
To cost. “This horse stands me in two hundred dollars.”
Stand the gaff
Take punishment in good spirit. “He can really stand the gaff.”
Stars
A Southern pronunciation of the word stairs, like bar for bear.
To Stave
To break a hole in, to break, to burst, as, ‘to stave a cask.’ Also means to hurry or press forward.
Stave Off
To push away as with a staff, to delay, as, ‘to stave off the execution of the project
Steamer
Tobacco pipe.
Steel
Spurs.
Stemps
Legs.
Stem-winder
Applied to anything quite perfect, finished, with the latest improvements.
Stepping Ken
A dance house.
Stevedore
A man employed in loading and unloading vessels
Stew
To be in a stew, is to be in a heat, a confusion of mind.
Stew in one’s own juice
To suffer from one’s own action.
Stick
An inefficient person.
To Stick
To take in, to impose upon, to cheat in trade. “I’m stuck with a counterfeit note”
Sticker
A butcher or slaughterer.
Sticks
Furniture.
Stickling
Hesitating, delaying.
Stingo
Strong ale.
Stiver
To run, to move off.
Stob
Small stake.
Stogies
Cheap, secondhand boots.
Stomp
Dance.
Stove-pipe
A silk hat.
Strapper
A woman of a bulky form. A large, tall person.
Strapping
Huge, lusty, bouncing, as, ‘a strapping lass.
Streaked or Streaky
Frightened, annoyed, confused, alarmed.
Stretcher
A notorious lie.
Stretchin’ the Blanket
Telling a tall tale.
String
A line of horses.
String
A common name among teamsters for a whip.
String-Beans
French beans, so called from the string-like substance stripped from the side of the pod in preparing it for the table.
Stringing a Whizzer
Telling a tall tale.
Strong enough to float a colt
Very strong coffee.
Stoved up
Crippled, badly injured, or too old. Also, “stove in.”
Stuff
A weak, worthless person, one without energy.
Stuffy
Stout, mettlesome, resolute
Stumper
A puzzler.
Stump Orator
A man who preaches from the stump of a tree, or other elevation.
Stumpage
The sum paid to owners of land for the privilege of cutting the timber growing thereon.
Strumpet
A prostitute.
Suck Egg
A silly person.
Sucker
A hard drinker, a drunkard.
Sucking Hind Tit
Being last and getting the least.
Suitcase Rancher
An absentee rancher.
Sugar
Kiss or loving. “Honey, come over here and give your grandma some sugar.”
Sulky
A carriage for a single person, generally in the form of a chaise.
Sunday-face
The behind, buttocks.
Sure As A Gun
Absolutely certain.
Surface Coal
Cowchips.
Swack-up
A falsehood.
Swad
A crowd, numerous, a mass, bunch.
Swacking
Huge, robust.
Swad
A lump, mass, or hunch, also, a crowd.
Swag
A term used in speaking of booty lately obtained.
I Swamp It!
An interjection of the same meaning as I swan!
Swamp Seed
Rice.
Swan
So surprised, ready to faint or pass out. “Well, I swan.”
Sweep
The pole or piece of timber moved on a fulcrum or post, used to lower and raise a bucket in a well for drawing water.
Sweet On
In love with.
To Swinge
To whip, to bastinade, to punish.
Swate
A violent slap or blow in the face with the open hand.
Switch In
To bring in quickly, to incite promptness. “Now’s your time, boys; switch in and let them have it.”
I Swow!
An exclamation.
Sycher
A contemptible person.
Table Muscle
A pot belly.
Taffy
Flattery.
Tail-Race
The water course leading from a mill after it has passed the water-wheel.
‘Taint
A corrupt abbreviation for it is not.
Take French Leave
To desert, sneak off without permission.
Take the Rag Off
Surpass, beat all. “Well, if that don’t take the rag off the bush.” The cowboys who worked for the Aztec Land & Cattle Company, known as the Hashknife Outfit, in Arizona “took the rag off” many other “saddle stiffs.”
Take the Starch Out
Extinguish one’s conceit, widely applied to weakening, refuting or deterioration.
Talk a donkey’s hind leg off
To talk with no purpose.
Talking-Iron
A gun or rifle, called also a shooting-iron.
Tall Hog at the Trough
Superior, outstanding, exudes leadership.
Tallow
Fat, whether on humans or animals.
Tally
To live tally is to live as man and wife though not married.
Tan Your Hide
Spanking. “I started raisin’ Cain, an my mama said she was going to tan my hide!”
Tangle-footed, tangle- legged
Drunk from bad whiskey.
Taos Lightening
A name given to any potent liquor.
Taps
To be on one’s taps is to be on one’s feet, on the move, ready to move.
Taradiddles
Falsehoods, traveler’s yarns or tales.
Tare, Tear
A frolic, spree, riot, bender, rampage.
Tarantula Juice
Cheap whiskey.
Tarnal
Yankee swear word.
Tarnation
A mild oath or explanation.
Tatch, Thatch
Hat.
Teapot
A depot or railroad station.
Tearin’ up Jake
Making a lot of noise. “He must be tearin’ up Jake out there!”
Tear Squeezer
A sad story.
Techy or Techy as a Teased Snake
Grumpy, irritable.
Tee-Total
Entirely, total.
Tee-Totaller
A thorough temperance man, who avoids every kind of ardent spirits, wine, and beer.
Tejas
When the Spanish first arrived in America, the present state of Texas was called Tejas, a Spanish version of a Caddo Indian word meaning "allies".
Ten-cent Man
A small, narrow-minded, trifling man.
Ten Commandments
Fingers or nails.
Tenderfoot
A person new to the job, or a young person.
Tenderloin
The red-light commercial district of a town, featuring brothels.
Tendsome
Requiring much attendance, as, ‘a tendsome child.’
Ter
To
Texas Butter
Gravy made with flour, hot water, and fried steak grease.
Texas Cakewalk
A hanging.
That Dog Won’t Hunt
That idea or argument isn’t going to work. Or, the person saying it doesn’t believe what you’re saying. After I broke curfew for the second time and blamed it on my car catching fire, my daddy said to me, “Traci, that dog won’t hunt.”
There You Ain’t
Expresses a failure. The opposite of “There you are.”
Three Ways from Sunday
Moving quickly; high-tailing it out of there.
Three-by-nine smile
A laug or smile to the full extent on the jaws.
Three-legged Mare
Gallows.
Throw Off on
Make fun of.
Throw up the sponge
Quit, give up, surrender.
Thundering
Very, exceedingly.
Thumb Buster
Single action six-gun that required cocking.
Thumper
A gross falsehood.
Thumping
Very large.
Tied Up
Given over, finished.
Tiger Town
Refers to an alley, street or district that had many gambling halls where Faro was played. Also referred to as “Tiger Alley.”
Tight
Drunk
Tightener
A hearty meal.
Tile Loose, Tile Off
Slightly deranged. Also “slate loose.”
Tilt On
to come across, meet.
Timbers
Legs. Also “stems” or “pegs.”
Tin
Money.
Tin-horn Lot
A term used to express contempt towards a small-minded or mean fellow.
Tinker’s News
News that has already been heard or told before.
Tippery
Payment
Tie To
Rely on. “He’s a man you can tie to.”
Tight Scrouging
Hard squeezing. Said of anything difficult to accomplish.
Tipple
Drink liquor.
Tin
A slang word for money. ‘Kelter,’ ‘dimes,’ ‘dough,’ rocks,’ and many other words are used in the same manner. "We never put tin on a horse to win"
Tiswin
A kind of weak beer brewed from corn, popular among the Apache.
Titivate
To dress up.
Tit For Tat
I shall treat you as you treat me.
Titter
An eruption on the skin.
Toad Strangler
Heavy rain.
Toddle, Tortle, Turtle
To be off.
Toddy
A kind of punch made of rum, water, sugar, and nutmeg.
Toff
A dandy, a swell, one who dresses well. “Toffer” is the female version.
Toggery, Togs
Clothing.
To Rights
In the proper way.
Tote
A hard drinker.
To Toll
To entice, to lead on. Western.
Tombstones
Large teeth.
Tongs
A name for pantaloons and roundabouts formerly in use in New England.
Tongue Oil
Strong liquor.
Tonsil Paint
Liquor, also referred to as “tonsil varnish.”
Too Big For His Breeches
Said of a man who is above his business, arrogant, haughty.
Too Much Mustard
A braggart.
Topping
Elegant, swell, great.
Top-sawyer
Denoting excellence, superiority
Tornado Juice
Whiskey.
Tottie
A fast girl.
Tottle, Tottlish
To walk unsteadily.
Towelling
Thrashing, beating.
Trace
A trail or path.
Trailing
Moving cattle from one location to another.
Train Up
Hurry.
Trampous, Trampoose
To walk, to lounge or wander about, to tramp.
Tranklements, trollybobs, trollybags
Entrails, intestines.
Traps
Goods, household stuff, baggage.
Trat
A pretty girl.
To Tree
To take refuge in a tree, usually said of a wild animal. To tree oneself, is to conceal oneself behind a tree.
Trickly
Tricklish, practicing tricks.
Tricks
Ones personal belongings.
Trig A Wheel
To stop a wheel so as to prevent its going backwards or forwards
Trimmings
Bread and butter and other necessary eatables for the tea-table.
Trotter Boxes, Trotter Cases
Shoes or boots.
Trounce
To beat
Truckage
The charges for carrying on a truck, the cartage.
Truk, Trug
A prostitute of the lowest class. Usually dirty, slatternly.
Tub-thumping
Street preaching.
Tuckered Out
Tired out, fatigued.
‘Twa’n’t
It was not.
Twig
Observe, understand.
Twist
A good appetite. Also to outlaws, it means to hang.
Twistical
Tortuous, unfair, not quite moral.
Twisting the Tiger’s Tail
Playing Faro or poker. Also referred to as “bucking the tiger.”
Twofer
A loose woman.
Two Whoops and a Holler
Not far away.
Ugly as a Mud Fence
Used to describe someone who was very ugly.
Uncorkin’ a Bronc
Breaking a horse.
Unmentionables
Underwear.
Unsalted
Fresh, green, young, inexperienced.
Unshucked
Cowboy talk for naked. An unshucked gun is one that’s out of the holster.
Unwound
A horse bucking.
Up a Tree, Treed
In difficulty, cornered, unable to do anything.
Uppish
Proud, insolent.
Upper Story
The brain, the head. “He’s not right in his upper story.”
Up the Spout
Gone to waste or ruin.
Up Stakes
To depart in a hurry. Same as “cut stick.”
Up To The Hub
To the extreme point.
Up To Snuff
To be flash, to be shrewd.
Up the Spout
Imprisoned.
Up To Trap
Knowing, shrewd.
Valley Tan
A kind of liquor sold in Mormon Country.
Vamoose
To disappear or leave quickly.
Vaulting House
Brothel.
Velvet Couch
A cowboy’s bedroll.
Vamos
A Spanish word signifying let us go.
Varmint
A corrupt pronunciation of the word vermin.
Vum
A form of swearing. “I vum!” similary to “I vow!”
Wabble
Make free use of one’s tongue, to be a ready speaker.
Waddy
One of the words for cowboy, especially a cowboy who drifted from ranch to ranch and helped out in busy times.
Wag-tail
A prostitute.
Wait On
To court.
Wake Snakes
To raise a ruckus.
Wake up/Woke up the Wrong Passenger
To trouble or anger the wrong person.
Walk The Chalk
Walk straight.
Wall
Roll your eyes.
Wamble-Cropped
Sick at the stomach, and figuratively, wretched, humiliated.
Wap
To throw quickly, to flap
War Bag
Cowboys traveled light, and stored their meager worldly possessions in his “war bag”. Inside was generally everything he owned, typically an extra set of clothes, extra ammunition, spare parts for equipment, playing cards, bill of sale for his horse, and maybe a harmonica or a few precious letters. Also called a “war sack” and a “yannigan bag.”
War Bonnet
Hat.
Washy
Weak, not firm or hardy.
Wasp Nest
Light bread.
Wattles
Ears.
Wax
In a rage.
Way-Bill
A list of the passengers in a stage-coach, railroad car, steamboat, or other public conveyance.
Wearing the Bustle Wrong
Referring to a pregnant woman.
Weather-Breeder
A cloudless sky, after a succession of rainy weather, denotes rain, and is said to be a weather breeder.
Weed
A common term for tobacco.
Well To Live
To be in easy circumstances, to live comfortably.
Whack
To share.
Whacker
Anything very large, same as a “whopper.”
Whale Away
To preach, talk or lecture continuously or vehemently.
Whang
Sinews of the buffalo or another animal, or small strips of thin deer-skin, used by the dwellers and hunters of the prairies for sewing.
Whaling
A lashing, a beating.
Whaler
A big, strapping fellow.
Whap
A quick and smart stroke.
Whapper or Whopper
Anything uncommonly large, as, ‘That’s a whopper,’ meaning a monstrous lie.
Whapping
Very large.
What in the Tarnation
A polite way of saying “What the hell?”
To Wheal
To swell.
Wheel-Horse
An intimate friend, one’s right hand man.
Whelk
An old name for a pustule, a pimple. The word is not much used in America.
Whelky
Protuberant, rounded.
Whim-Wham
A toy, a freak, a strange fancy.
Whip-belly
Bad beer.
Whistle Berries
Beans.
White Eye
Maize whiskey.
White-Eyed
Exhausted.
White Liner
An alcoholic.
White Tape, White Wine
Gin
Whitewash
To gloss over or hide one’s faults or shortcomings.
Whittled
Drunk
Who-Hit-John
Liquor, beer, intoxicating spirits. “He had a little too much who-hit-John.”
Whole Hog
All the way, all of it. “Go the whole hog!”
Whole Kit and Caboodle
The entire thing.
Whomper-jawed
Uneven.
Whoremonger
A man who frequents prostitutes.
Whuppin‘
Spanking.
Wicket
A place of shelter, or camp made of the boughs of trees.
Widow
The gallows.
Widow Maker
A very bad or “outlaw” horse.
Wigging
A rebuke.
Wild Mare’s Milk
Whiskey.
Wild West Weekly
Pulp or “dime” novels.
Windies
Tall Tales.
Winsome
Lively, cheerful, gay.
Wipe Your Chin
Be quiet.
Wolfer
A man with a large appetite or a hard drinker.
Wolfish
Savage, savagely hungry.
Wood
Saddle.
Wooding-Place
A station on the banks of a river where the steamboats stop to take in supplies of wood.
Woolies
Sheep
Woolsey
A cheap hat, usually made of wool.
Worm-Fence
A rail fence laid up in a zig-zag manner.
Worse Than a Cat in a Roomful of Rockers
Someone who is really nervous.
Wrathy
Very angry.
Wrapper
A loose dress or gown.
Wrinkle
Whim, fancy, a cunning trick or artful dodge.
Wrinkled His Spine
A horse bucking.
Yack
A stupid person.
Yam
To eat.
Yammerin’
Talking. “Drink yer coffee an’ quit yer yammerin’.”
Yannigan Bag
A bag in which the cowboy carried personal items, also known as a “war bag.”
Yarn
A story.
Yeath
For earth.
Yegg (or John Yegg)
Bandit chief
Yellow Belly
A coward.
Yellow Hammer
Gold coin.
Yellows
Often pronounced yallers. A disease of horses and cattle, which is indicated by a yellow appearance of the eyes, inside of the lips, etc.
Yer
You
Yere
Here
Yourn
A form of ‘yours’, as in “This un’s mine, that un’s yourn.”
Zitted
Zipped, flew. “The bullets zitted about in every direction.”
Zooning
Humming, buzzing, barking.