Cad

A low, vulgar fellow; an omnibus conductor. Either from cadet, or a contraction of cadger (a packman). The etymology of cad, a cadendo, is only a pun. N.B.—The Scotch cadie or cawdie (a little servant, or errand-boy, or carrier of a sedan-chair), without the diminutive, offers a plausible suggestion.

“All Edinburgh men and boys know that when sedan-chairs were discontinued, the old cadies sank into ruinous poverty, and became synonymous with roughs. The word was brought to London by James Hannay, who frequently used it.”—M. Pringle.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

Cad

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