This site is in danger of going away; please consider the Donate link above...
The scaffold used at Newgate for hanging of criminals; which dropping down, leaves them suspended. By this improvement, the use of that vulgar vehicle, a cart, is entirely left off.
Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose.
New College Students * New LightNathan Bailey's 1736 Dictionary of canting and thieving slang
John S. Farmer's collection of canting songs and slang rhymes
Buy a modern reprint of this book from Amazon CA; US;
Francis Grose was independently wealthy, having inherited money from his father, a jeweller. Finding himself overspending, he published a number of books; his Provincial Glossary seems to have been the starting-point for the Vulgar Tongue reproduced here.