A term of ridicule applied to convicts, who sham illness, to avoid being sent to Botany Bay.
Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose.
Bawdy-house Bottle * Bayard of Ten ToesNathan Bailey's 1736 Dictionary of canting and thieving slang
John S. Farmer's collection of canting songs and slang rhymes