Old Bailey practice. Thus, “Gone into the rope-walk” means, he has taken up practice in the Old Bailey. (See Ropes.)
The ways of London low life are called “ropes,” and to know the ropes means to be au fait with the minutiæ of all sorts of dodges. (See Ropes.)
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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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