Fulhams, or Fullams

Loaded dice; so called from the suburb where the Bishop of London resides, which, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, was the most notorious place for blacklegs in all England. Dice made with a cavity were called “gourds.” Those made to throw the high numbers (from five to twelve) were called “high fullams” or “gourds,” and those made to throw the low numbers (from ace to four) were termed “low fullams” or “gourds.”

“For gourd and fullam holds

And ‘highʹ and ‘lowʹ beguile the rich and poor.”

Shakespeare: Merry Wives of Windsor, i. 3.

Fulhams. Make-believes; so called from false or loaded dice. (See above.)

“Fulhams of poetic flction.”

Butler: Hudibras, pt. ii. 1.

“Have their fulhams at command,

Brought up to do their feats at hand.”

Butler: Upon Gaming.

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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.