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Buck-rider (A)

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A dummy fare who enables a cabman to pass police-constables who prevent empty cabs loitering at places where cabs will be likely to be required, as at theatres, music-halls, and large hotels. A cabman who wants to get at such a place under hope of picking up a fare gives a “buck” a shilling to get into his cab that he may seem to have a fare, and so pass the police.

“Constables are stationed at certain points to spot the professional ‘buck-riders.ʹ”—Nineteenth Century (March, 1893, p. 576).

 

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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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Bubble (A)
Bubble and Squeak
Bucca
Buccaneer
Bucentaur
Bucephalos [bull-headed]
Buchanites
Buck
Buck-basket
Buck-bean
Buck-rider (A)
Buck-tooth
Buckwheat
Buckhorse
Buckingham
Bucklaw
Buckle
Buckler
Bucklersbury (London)
Buckmaster’s Light Infantry
Buckra