Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(orig. UK Und.) money; also attrib. see cite 1781.

1688		T. Shadwell Squire of Alsatia I i: Coal is, in the language of the witty, money; the ready, the rhino. Thou shalt be rhinocerical, my lad, thou shalt.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Rhino c. ready Money.
1695		N. Ward Auction n.p.: For the Blockhead his Master to pick their Pockets of their Rino by the falsity of his [...] infallible Powders.
1714		A. Smith Lives of Most Noted Highway-men, etc. I 12: Come, come, down with your Rino this Moment.
1719		in D’Urfey Pills to Purge Melancholy I 195: Blowzabella I’d have you know [...] I’ve more Rhino than always I show.
1824		History of Gaming Houses & Gamesters 20: [O]ur deluded plucked pigeon [...] lost all the ready rhino he could muster.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1732		Progress of a Rake 38: And when he’s got the ready Rhino, / He hopes they’ll see their lov’d Divino.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1772		Bridges Burlesque Homer (3rd edn) 139: For getting rhino here’s the spot.
c.1780		‘Sally Mac Gee’ in A. Carpenter Verse in Eng. in 18C Ireland (1998) 513: [as a single coin] With fifty bright shiners in good ready rhinos.
1781		Belle’s Stratagem 12: Push about the jorum, and be jolly — but none of your rhino riggs.
1781		Hicky’s Bengal Gaz. 6-12 May n.p.: So the rupees he gains / He never complains, / So find of the Rhino is Sweet Barney O.
1789		G. Parker Life’s Painter 132: Some mask for mere pleasure, but many we know, / To lick in the rhino, false faces will show.
1789		Both Sides of the Gutter part II 10: Huzza for Jack Prancer and de ready-rhino!
1797		‘T.B. Junr.’ Pettyfogger Dramatized I iii: Damn the blackguard! Now I must tip him the rino.
1798		‘Little Peru’ in Hilaria 51: What’s honour and glory to flush ready rhino / Without which no captain can keep up the ball.
1800		‘Song’ Jovial Songster 11: Why the rhyno we work hard for you know.
c.1800		‘Landlady Casey’ in Holloway & Black I (1975) 153: Your rhino rattle / Come men and cattle.
1812		Satirist (N.Y.) 8 Feb. 1/3: A pirate, in the shape of the prisoner, boarded the wreck, and plundered him of his rhino.
1819		‘One of the Fancy’ Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress 8: Every lover of life, that had rhino to spare, / From sly little Moses to B-r-g, was there.
1821		Egan Life in London (1869) 55: I’ve rhino plenty, bless my eyes!
1832		Albany Microscope (NY) 1 Dec. n.p.: Second clerk [...] was suspected of handling his master’s rhino.
1838		‘The Industrious Wife’ Sparkling Songster 17: She toils just like a slave, / The rhino to bring in, sir.
1840		‘Billy Barlow’ in Coll. Amer. Songs & Ballads n.p.: The tailors in Boston are all running after me, / They want the cut of my coat, that is very plain to see; / But before they can get it, do ye all know, / They’ll have to tip the rhino to Billy Barlow.
1842		Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 14 May n.p.: If Joe paid the forfeit [...] who suffered for the ‘rhino’.
1845		Bell’s Life in Sydney 6 Sept. 4/2: Sambo being short of rhino, and having no ostensible backers to bear him to ‘the battle field,’ or provide him with ‘fogles,’ consented to accept £5 from Mr. Humphreys.
1847		‘Epistle from Joe Muggins’s Dog’ in Era (London) 14 Nov. 3/4: Captain Sparks [...] is spending his winning [...] insted of [...] paying hoff ‘the little haccounts’ which have been so long houtstanding; but he arnt a good sort, and never liked parting with ther rhino.
1856		Melbourne Punch 20 Nov. 4/1: ‘Proposals for a New Slang Dictionary’ [...] PEWTER.—Noun. Brads, rhino, blunt, dibbs, mopusses, browns, tin, brass, stumpy, &c. Hard pewter means ready rhino. [...] To plank the pewter means to post the pony, to down with the dust, to drop the browns.
c.1858		J.H. Green Reformed Gambler 166: ‘Talk enough,’ said the sucker. ‘There is the ‘rhino’,’ at the same time throwing upon the table a thousand dollar note.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 63/2: Had she been the ‘moll’ of some unlucky devil who, for want of the ‘rhino,’ couldn’t let his ‘moll’ turn out in such a rig, ’Ria would sooner see her eye hanging out on her cheek-bone than admit her.
1877		‘Naval Toasts’ Sea Songs of Old England 5: Health, rhino, and a snug berth to every British tar.
1882		‘Blooming Aesthetic’ in Rag 30 Sept. n.p.: A save-all-his-rhino, / A cut-a-big-shine, oh, / Will soon-have-a-pub young man.
1892		‘Rhino!’ in ‘F. Anstey’ Mr Punch’s Model Music Hall 55: The only real religion now is – Rhino!
1895		E.W. Rogers [perf. Marie Lloyd] Not for Bill 🎵 First in the gee-gee romped, he shouted and he stomped / Then off to get his rhino did a run.
1897		Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld) 6 Feb. 30/4: They were all jiggers, but this old chap had too much toe for them and waltzed in, and I scooped the rhino.
1899		‘Pot’ & ‘Swears’ Scarlet City 65: Throwing a sovereign on the table [said], ‘let your slaveys and bottle-washers split up that bit of rhino’.
1900–10		Stephens & O’Brien Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 151: SUGAR: slang for money. syns. – rhyno, brass, spons, spondulix, brass, dibs, beans. gilt, glitter, oot, oof, ooftish, pieces.
1900		G.R. Sims In London’s Heart 132: I think there’s a little bit of rhino for me.
1903		Bluefield Daily Tel. (WV) 8 Jan. 2/1: Money has more synonyms than any word in the English language [..] There is in use coin, plunk [...] bones, balsam, chicken feet [sic], rhino, brass, gold and on and on.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 31 Jan. 1/1: After five out of six favorites had fluttered home a book turned punter and raked in the rest of the rhino.
1904		E. Townsend ‘Chimmie Fadden’ 12 Nov. [synd. col.] IN some dude close [...] we looked like ready rhino.
1909		J.W. Carr in ‘Word-List From Northwest Arkansas’ in DN III:v 402: rhine, n. Money.
1919		Sun. Times (Perth) 14 Sept. 4s/7: I think of my rhino retreating / From my pants behind the door.
1920		Ade Hand-made Fables 178: [He] had learnt that when one needs immediate Rhino, all one has to do is open the Tin Box and sell Something.
1935		J. Conroy World to Win 118: Some of the fat rich dames and pansies that have plenty of rhino and are generous with it.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 815: rhino – Money; cash.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.