Abram-Man

or Abraham Cove. A Tom oʹ Bedlam; a naked vagabond; a begging impostor.

The Abraham Ward, in Bedlam, had for its inmates begging lunatics, who used to array themselves “with party-coloured ribbons, tape in their hats, a fox-tail hanging down, a long stick with streamers,” and beg alms; but “for all their seeming madness, they had wit enough to steal as they went along.”—Canting Academy.

See King Lear, ii. 3.

In Beaumont and Fletcher we have several synonyms:—

“And these, what name or title eʹer they bear,

Jackman or Patʹrico, Cranke or Clapper-dudgeon,

Fraier or Abram-man, I speak to all.”

Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1.

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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.

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