Thievesʹ Latin

Slang; dog, or dog’s Latin; gibberish.

“What did actually reach his ears was disguised so completely by the use of cant words and the thievesʹ Latin, called slang, that he … could make no sense of the conversation.”—Sir W. Scott: Redgauntlet, chap. xiii.

“He can vent Greek and Hebrew as fast as I can thievesʹ Latin.”—Sir W. Scott: Kenilworth, chap. xxix.

· ·

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.