Gotham is a village in Nottinghamshire; its magistrates are said to have attempted to hedge in a cuckow; a bush, called the cuckow’s bush, is still shewn in support of the tradition. A thousand other ridiculous stories are told of the men of Gotham.
Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose.
Wise * WiseacreNathan Bailey's 1736 Dictionary of canting and thieving slang
John S. Farmer's collection of canting songs and slang rhymes