To smear over. To pay the bottom of a ship or boat; to smear it over with pitch: The devil to pay, and no pitch hot or ready. SEA TERM.—Also to beat: as, I will pay you as Paul paid the Ephesians, over the face and eyes, and all your d—d jaws. To pay away; to fight manfully, also to eat voraciously. To pay through the nose: to pay an extravagant price.
Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose.
Paw Paw Tricks * To PeachNathan Bailey's 1736 Dictionary of canting and thieving slang
John S. Farmer's collection of canting songs and slang rhymes