There’s no question that the settlers had to deal with long stretches time when they were secluded from other people. The long journey out West, the setting up of a homestead, and long winters hemmed in by snow and ice would have been common in the 1800s. But, make no mistake that they still had a robust knowledge of slang words, some of them custom built for the rough conditions they found themselves in. Here are 38 slang termsthat the pioneers would have used on the regular.
Acknowledge the corn: to confess to a crime, wrong doing, or other secret
Bee: a gathering of friends for a common purpose, i.e. a sewing bee, quilting bee, or cornhusking bee
Biddy:an old hen, later used as a derogatory term for an old woman
Cavort:to prance, dance, or make mayhem
Conniption fit:a bout of hysteria or an overreaction to something
Dashing:to look elegant or attractive
Dander:strong emotion of passion or anger, i.e. to get one’s dander up
Ever-lasting knock:the moment of death
Eyes peeled: to keep on the lookout
Fanned with a slipper: spanked
Fixins: all the extras, trimmings, or bells and whistles
Give us a rest:a way to implore someone to stop talking
Gone to Chicago: vanished or gone AWOL
Hankering: craving or desire
High-faluting: stuck up or acting above one’s station
Incident:an unwanted or illegitimate child
Irons:pistols
Jenny Lind: a style of furniture named after the opera singer who was partial to it
Jumping the broom:to get married
Lead poisoning: to be shot
Linsey-woolsey: rustic fabric with a linen warp and wool weft, sometimes woven in patterns of red, white, and/or blue
Mad as hops: excitable, deranged
Mosey:to shuffle or walk slowly
Nickel-plate:silver plated, sometimes used to mean a fraud or fraudulent product
No-see-ums: biting midges common to the Midwest and Prairie
One-eyed city: a slow or sleepy place
Out of the woods:out of difficulty or at least through the worst of a situation
Pony up: pay up
Pumpkin-faced:a look of no expression
Red shirts:miners
Rusted in:settled down, as in rusted into place
Spell:an undefined period of time, i.e. sit for a spell or having a dry spell
Seven by Nine: something of inferior quality, refers to a small window pane of 7×9 inches
Take it lying down: to be cowardly or to give up easily
Tickled to death: very pleased or delighted
Underpinnings:one’s legs
Vintage: the year of one’s birth
Walk Turkey:to promenade in an exaggerated manner
Whitewash:to ignore one’s feelings or to cover up a complicated situation
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