cellar n.
1. (also cellarage, cellar-door) the vagina.
‘The Fair Maid of Islington’ in Bagford Ballads (1878) I 412: Although I hired a Cellar of her, / And the Possession was mine. / I ne’er put any thing into it, / But one poor Pipe of Wine. | ||
Belle’s Stratagem 39: Some sable sweep’s wife, whose sutty lord gave you a plumper, [...] as you passed her aromatic cellar. | ||
Sl. and Its Analogues IV 337/1: The female pudendum [...] cellar (R. Brome); cellarage; cellar-door. |
2. a shoe, a boot; usu. in pl.
Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era. |
In phrases
1. drunk.
Pennsylvania Gazette 6 Jan. in AS XII:2 90: They come to be well understood to signify plainly that A MAN IS DRUNK. [...] He’s been in the Cellar. | ‘Drinkers Dictionary’ in
2. (also cellar) in sports, at the bottom of a league or similar points table.
TAD Lex. (1993) 25: Said the man in the cellar as he looked up and saw a form approaching. | in Zwilling||
Ten-Thousand-Dollar Arm 130: They might finish [...] with six teams in front of them and the cellar champions clamoring behind. | ‘Loosening Up of Hogan’ in||
TAD Lex. (1993) 25: The Phillies lost again. Is that what the cheering was??? Yep they’re still in the cellar. But I don’t get that. They didn’t lose last place. | in Zwilling||
Long Season 191: These two wins kept Philadelphia from climbing over us into seventh [...] our momentary escape from the cellar was greeted like a reprieve. | ||
Notes of a Dirty Old Man (1973) 14: We were in the cellar, 25 games out of first place. | ||
(con. 1970) 13th Valley (1983) 80: Yer fuckin nuts, Duke. Boston’s in the cellar. | ||
(con. 1959) Big Blowdown (1999) 310: ‘They [i.e. a baseball team] gonna do anything this year?’ ‘They’ll end up in the cellar, like last year.’. | ||
Sl. and Sociability 21: But not all groups that contribute to the slang or colloquial vocabulary of English are associated with the underworld. For example, in the cellar ‘in last place’ comes from sports fans. | ||
On the Bro’d 157: [of fantasy baseball] What was lame was that I was still in the fucking cellar. | ||
Broken 165: [T]he Padres are firmly in last place with little chance of escaping ‘the cellar’. | ‘The San Diego Zoo’ in
3. in trouble.
John Henry 15: Right there was where I fell in the cellar. |
4. miserable, feeling low, ‘down in the dumps’.
Long Wait (1954) 52: The babes Servo makes usually wind up in the cellar. |
SE in slang uses
In compounds
(Aus.) alcohol.
Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Oct. 14/3: After that ’e wired a few blokes t’ join ’im in shiftin’ some cellar cordial, ’n’ they wandered off with ’im t’ th’ Fathom uv Froth shicker saloon. |
1. (also cellar sniffer) a Prohibition agent or Temperance campaigner.
TAD Lex. (1993) 25: I know him — He’s a celler smeller for the Anti-Saloon-League. | in Zwilling||
Edwardsville Intelligencer (IL) 14 Sept. 4/4: The Flappers’ Dictionary [...] Cellar-smeller: Prohibition enforcement officer. | ||
TAD Lex. (1993) 25: I wonder what’s up with that dumb bell. I think that he’s a celler sniffer lookin’ for a still. | in Zwilling||
Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). |
2. a young man who is always on hand for free liquor.
Appleton Post-Crescent (WI) 29 Apr. 7/2: Flapper Dictionary cellar smeller – A young man who always happens to be around when liquor is to be had without cost. |