Brilliant constellations shone down on the discworld. One by one the traders shuttered their shops. One by one the gonophs, thieves, finewirers, whores, illusionists, backslioders and second-storey men awoke and breakfasted.
From Lexi.us
1. Musa Pedestris: Three Centuries of Canting Songs and Slang Rhymes (1536-1896) by John Stephen Farmer (1896)
"i Understand, if you please, I'ma travelling thief, The gonophs all call me the gypsy; By the rattler I ride when I've taken my brief, And I sling on my ..."
2. Tales of Mean Streets by Arthur Morrison (1921)
"And apart from that, why did other gonophs get lucky touches for half a century of quids at a time, while he! ..."
3. The Dublin University Magazine: A Literary and Political Journal (1860)
"... in contrasts with the young "gonophs," or thieving boys of Lou- don. Let the ordinary " gamin" be measured against the blue-coated British butcher boy, ..."
4. Revelations of Prison Life: With an Enquiry Into Prison Discipline and by George Laval Chesterton (1856)
"Thieves, gonophs, or crossmen, in London, are divided into several mobs or gangs, named from the district which they inhabit, distinct from each other ..."
Finewirers? Unable to find out what the heck that means! Will keep looking.
From the word reference community "fine wirer n. [mid > late 19thC] the most skilful grade of pickpocket, especially one who steals from women"
ReplyDeleteFrom the word reference community "fine wirer n. [mid > late 19thC] the most skilful grade of pickpocket, especially one who steals from women"
ReplyDeleteThank you, Granville!
ReplyDelete