carrion, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

carrion n.

also carren, carrion-hen

[SE carrion, used derog. to denote the body and thus a human being]

a prostitute; thus carrion-flogger, a pimp.

c.1602		Shakespeare Troilus and Cressida IV i: For every scruple Of her contaminated carrion weight A Trojan hath been slain.
1611		Davies of Hereford Scourge of Folly 102: I haue but yet begun To teach you how you shall such Carrion shunne.
c.1632		Ford Love’s Sacrifice III i: By this light, I have toiled more with this tough carrion hen than with ten quails scarce grown into their first feathers.
1639		R. Davenport A New Tricke to Cheat the Divell I ii: He hath ill tast, that loves to feede on carrion.
1660		‘A Dialogue betwixt Tom and Dick’ in Rump Poems and Songs (1662) ii 191: They took my Py-ball’d Mare; / And put the Carri’on Wench to th’ squeak: (Things go against the Hair).
1672		J. Howard All Mistaken I i: I’le pull off your head-clothes you Carren.
1725		N. Ward Amorous Bugbears 13: Our hasty Carrion-Flogger had no sooner hurri’d us from the Tavern-Door, to Cupid’s New Elysium.

In compounds

carrion-case (n.) [the shirt’s enclosing of the SE carrion, the body]

a shirt.

1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

carrion-crow man (n.) [SE carrion-crow, a species of crow that feeds on dead flesh]

(W.I., Guyn.) a man who canvasses business for an undertaker following a death.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

carrion-flogger (n.)

1. a coachman.

1700

N. Ward ‘A Step to Stir-Bitch-Fair’ in Writings (1704) 249: Our Brawny and Storm-Beaten Carrion-Flogger [...] drew up his Flounder-Mouth likes a Hens Fundament; and with a Cherrup or two, and an enlivening Slash, away scour’d the half Dozen of thin Gutted Tits.

2. see main sense above.

carrion hen (n.)

see main sense above.

carrion-hunter (n.)

an undertaker; note adj. use at cit. 1723.

1721		Defoe ‘On the Plague’ in Uncoll. Works (1869) II 427: The young Rogue finding there was a Penny to be got by giving an early Intelligence of People's Death, went and told the Carrion Hunter that a certain Captain in Henrietta Street was just that Moment dead.
1723		C. Walker Authentick Memoirs of Sally Salisbury 48: She flew at the poor Undertaker, hit him an unmerciful Box on the Ear, D--n you, said she, for a Whining Carrion-hunting Son of a Bitch!
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Carrion Hunter. An undertaker.
a.1790		H.T. Potter New Dict. Cant (1795).
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1821		Flash Dict.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1847		Morn. Post (London) 26 Aug. 2/4: The carrion hunter [...] thrusts himself into the parlour in order to treat there abut the funeral.
c.1850		Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict.
1976		(con. 1776) Times & Democrat (Orangeburg, SC) 4 July 85/3: Carrion Hunter — An undertaker.

SE in slang uses

In compounds

carrion-row (n.) [SE carrion + row, a street + pun on SE carrion-crow]

a place where one buys second-rate meat.

1728

Swift Answ. Memorial in Works (1755) V. ii. 173: I am assured, that the district in the several markets, called carrion-row, is as reafonable as the poor can desire .