To exact a fine called “footing” from a newcomer, who is called the “colt.” Colt is a common synonym for a greenhorn, or a youth not broken in. Thus Shakespeare says—“Ay, that’s a colt indeed, for he doth nothing but talk of his horse.” (Merchant of Venice, i. 2.)
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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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