Green’s Dictionary of Slang

deserter n.

[the deserter’s red military coat]

(UK Und.) a sausage.

[UK]Swell’s Night Guide 71: While they took their tightener, – viz., a bag of brown lap, a brace of pickled deserters, a dab of smeerums, a nob o’pannum, a wedge of beeswax, and a go of blue.