dancers, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

dancers n.

[one dances down the stairs or on one’s feet]

1. (orig. UK Und.) a flight of stairs.

1665		implied in track (up) the dancers
1674		Head Canting Academy (2nd edn).
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew.
1718		C. Hitchin Regulator 19: The Dancers, alias the Stairs.
1725		New Canting Dict.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1830		Egan Finish to the Adventures of Tom and Jerry (1889) 245: I thinks as how I hears a bit of a scrummage below the dancers.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 15/2: At that instant I saw one of you ‘namasing’ down the ‘dancers’.
1879		‘Autobiog. of a Thief’ in Macmillan’s Mag. (London) XL 502: I claimed two wedge spoons, and was just going up the dancers.
1904		Indianapolis Jrnl (IN) 28 Feb. 3/3: Steps are ‘dancers’.
1887		J.W. Horsley Jottings from Jail 5: We went down the dancers.
1912		E. Pugh City Of The World 276: Their fathers was in it, and their grand-dads [...] that as like as not pratted up the dancers of a gallows to be introduced to Death by Mr. Ketch.
1930		(con. 1910–20s) D. Mackenzie Hell’s Kitchen 118: Dancers ... stairs.
1935		Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks n.p.: Dancers: stairs.
1936		J. Curtis Gilt Kid 24: We don’t want to leave it too late because of getting up and down them dancers.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 65: dancers The thirteen stairs of the gallows.
1959		W. Hall Long and the Short and the Tall Act II: She whips him up the dancers once and that’s the end of it.

2. the feet.

1928		Framlingam Wkly News 8 Dec. 3/7: Thieves’ Dialect [...] His feet are his ‘dancers’.
1977		implied in have it on one’s dancers

In phrases

do the dancers (v.)

(UK und.) to steal from the upper floor(s) of a public house when it is open.

1935

Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks n.p.: Doing the dancers: Stealing from unstairs [sic] in Licensed houses when open.

have it on one’s dancers (v.)

to run off, to escape.

1977

D. Powis Signs of Crime 180: Dancers, had it on his He ran away.

track (up) the dancers (v.) (also lope..., pike..., prat) [SE track, to make one’s way]

to rush quickly up the stairs; also with down.

1665		Head Eng. Rogue I 52: Track up the Dancers, Go up the Stayres.
1676		A Newgate ex-prisoner A Warning for House-Keepers 4: They truck up the dancers, which is run up stairs.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Track up the Dancers, c. whip up the Stairs.
1707		J. Shirley Triumph of Wit 194: Track the Dancers and pike with the Peepers [Go up Stairs and tip off with the Looking-glass].
1718		C. Hitchin Regulator 20: To lope up the Dancers, alias to go up Stairs.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698] [Ibid.] he loap’d up the dancers, he whipt up the stairs.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. 1725].
1753		J. Poulter Discoveries (1774) 42: Pike up the Prancers, and glee in the Lumber; go up Stairs, and look in the Room.
1754		Scoundrel’s Dict. 20: To go up Stairs – Track up the Dancers.
1768		(con. 1710–25) Tyburn Chronicle II in Groom (1999) xxviii: To Lope the Dancers To go up Stairs.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		hEgan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1828		Lytton Pelham III 297: Toddle, my bob cull. We must track up the dancers and tout the sinner.
1830		Lytton Paul Clifford I 4: Vell, I’ll track up the dancers!
1846		Lytton Lucretia II 34: ‘Bob, track the dancers. Up like a lark – and down like a dump!’ Bob grinned [...] and scampered up the stairs.
1858		Lytton What Will he do with it? III (1860) 308: Come, my Hebe, track the dancers, that is, go up the stairs .
1859		Matsell Vocabulum 52: lope Run; be off. ‘The cove loped down the dancers, and got off with the wedge-feeders.’ the thief leaped down the stairs, and got away with the silver spoons.
1928		Framlingham Wkly News 8 Dec. 3/7: Thieves’ Dialect [...] To ‘prat up the dancers’ is to run or walk upstairs.