Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(N.Z.) a cough or dry retch, a glass of water and a cigarette.

c.1962

J.K. Baxter Man on Horse (1985) 101: After a barber’s breakfast — the dry retches, bottle of beer and a cigarette — Horse went to a phone box and dialled Zoe’s number.

(Aus. Und.) to work as a pickpocket.

1855

Bell’s Life in Sydney 12 May 3/3: He proffered to give me ‘regulars,’ or ‘a score of pounds,’ if I’d let him perform certain peculiar operations on the pockets of the mob; he asked me to let him ‘work the pig’ and ‘come the barber,’ meaning to pick pockets.

1. the head.

1823

W. Scott Pirate (1863) 31: Were I not to take better care of the wood than you, brother, there would soon be no more wood about the town than the barber’s block that’s on your own shoulders.

2. an overdressed man.

1876

E. Lynn Linton Hallberger’s Illus. Mag. 72: No, not to men worthy of the name of men – men, not barber’s blocks [F&H].

1. a sickly, malnourished person [the lack of edible scraps at a barber’s shop. ‘An expression too coarse to print’ (Hotten, 1867) but note Maryborough Chron. (Qld) 21/11/1874: ‘the proverbial barber’s cat that lived on hair and soap suds’].

1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1871		Sthn Argus (Port Elliot, SA) 5 May 2/5: ‘I was once so big’ (extending his arms around the space in front of him where his stomach ought to have been, to the respectable size of the middle of an hogshead). ‘Now, alas! I am gone to skin and grief, like the barber's cat’.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
[1896		Wagga Wagga Exp. (NSW) 30 Apr. 3/1: Plenty of wind and froth, but not even a barber’s cat can thrive on that].
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.

2. a gossip, a chatterer; one who prefers talk to action [phr. like the barber’s cat – all wind and piss].

1842		Sussex Advertiser 20 Dec. 4/6: ‘I said he was all wind and water, like barber's cat.’ (Loud laughter.) ‘Are you quite sure the expression was ‘water’?
1866		Sporting Times 22 Sept. 1/1: He got into disgrace with a Harlequin, and had to knock under; but that was ‘after dinner,’ and when was, like the barber’s cat, ‘full of wind and water’ .
1874		Diss Exp. 13 Feb. 5/2: Harvey said, ‘Come, here, you b— old Ashington.’ My father said, ‘Who care [sic] for you, you old Barber’s Cat’.
1908		Preston Herald 28 Nov. 9/4: The complainant then used an ‘old Lancashire expression,’ — Y‘ou are like barber’s cat, all wind.’ Mr. Gregson immediately [...] seized him by the throat.
1914		Gt Southern Herald (Katannning, WA) 29 Apr. 2/6: I suggest the adult portion of the members take a bit more interest in the Institute and not be blowing like a barber’s cat.
1925		(con. WWI) Fraser & Gibbons Soldier and Sailor Words 17: Barber’s Cat, A: A gossip; tale bearer; chatterbox.
1929		Cheltenham Chron. 30 Nov. 5/7: An old country-man, when describing the attributes of a political agitator, said: ‘Him’s all wind and water, like a barber’s cat’.
1934		Aus. Worker (Perth) 3 Jan. 17/3: He’s as full of wind as a barber’s cat, / But he hasn’t quite so much sense.
1939		Dly Mirror 18 Aug. 12/2: ‘The Yanks are all spit and wind, like the barber’s cat’.
c.1943		S .J. Baker Aus. Vulgarisms [t/s] 9: full of piss (shit) and wind like a barber’s cat: Said of a person who talks a lot to little point, or who brags of his own dismal merits.
1948		Goulburn Eve. Post (NSW) 13 Apr. 2/7: This gigolo out there--he is mioe promise than Performance, like a barbers cat.
1955		D. Niland Shiralee 66: They were barber’s cats, all wind and water.
1987		(con. 1920s) L. Redmond Emerald Square 260: I thought Lanagan was all piss and wind, like the Barber’s cat, and I was in no way afraid of him.

3. (drugs) an emaciated opium addict.

1935

A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks 5/1: Barber’s cat, an emaciated hophead.

a prostitute.

1654		New Brawle 9: A worshipfull occupation indeed, to keep a Bawdy-House, and be as common as a Barber’s Chaire.
1683		London Jilt pt 1 A3: A Whore is [...] like a Barber’s Chair, no sooner one’s out, but t’other’s in.
c.1786		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: Common as a Barber’s Chair which is sat in by all the Parish. Said of a Prostitute . As common as the gate of an Inn, the same.

a shop-boy who attempts to pass himself off as a gentleman; an ignoramus [negative stereotyping].

1821–5		‘Bill Truck’ Man o’ War’s Man (1843) 39: The hatchway’s so completely chock-a-block with [...] barber’s-clerks.
1835		Dickens ‘Making a Night of It’ in Slater Dickens’ Journalism I (1994) 268: ‘Tailor!’ screamed a third. ‘Barber’s clerk!’ shouted a fourth.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open 97: Barber’s clerks, conceited ignorant shop-boys.
1862		Luton Times 22 Feb. 2/4: A young man from the country [...] asks what part of the Strand the girl called ‘Nancy’ resides; [...] which would puzzle a barber’s clerk to answer.
1873		Sl. Dict. 78: Barber’s Clerk an overdressed shop-boy who apes the manners of, and tries to pass himself off as, a gentleman; a term of reproach applied not to an artisan but to one of those who, being below, assume airs of superiority over, handicraftsmen.
1889–90		Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 6: Barber's Clerk, an overdressed shopman trying to do the gentleman.

a double-knock, the first hard, the second far softer.

1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 6: [...] ‘a barber’s knock’ (at a door) double: ? the first hard, the second soft, as if done by accident. Both, however, are becoming as obsolete as the barbers themselves.
1829		Windsor & Eton Exp. 15 Aug. 3/3: Formerly the barber’s knock was as well known and as punctual as the postman’s.

1. (Aus. und.) a fraudulent ‘gambling’ game based on betting on the appearance of a given colour on a multi-coloured roller, the fixed operation of which is controlled by the showman.

1924		Ballarat Star (Vic.) 16 Jan. 10/4: Evidence was given by a plain clothes constable, who stated that Nixon was the centre of a crowd of people in Flinders Lane, near Elizabeth street, on Monday morning. People were placing money on the colors upon the calico, and Nixon would roll the roller and the color corresponding to that showing on the roller would collect the odds marked thereon. He stated that he was of the opinion that the game was a game of chance.
1928		Age (Melbourne) 11 Dec. 11/7: They had what was known as a ‘barber’s pole’ in their possession. He had them under observation. They were known cheats.
1938		Argus (Melbourne) 28 Jan. 19/1: A game called ‘barber’s pole’ was described and demonstrated at the Mordialloc Court yesterday by Plain-clothes Constable Caffein, who was giving evidence in a case in which two young men were charged with having cheated.
1948		Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 23 June 3/1: Judge Read and the Crown Prosecutor (Mr. L. Little), in General Sessions to-day, rolled a ‘barber s pole’ about the floor to prove it had cheated racegoers at Hanging Rock on January 1.
1955		‘Thirty-five Argot n.p.: barber’s pole. A ‘gambling’ device used by smarties to defraud mugs; the device has pretty colours and can be braked to stop on a chosen colour (so’s it won’t tell a lie!). The device often bears pictures of racehorses, greyhounds, etc. so that the mug will feel at home .

2. a penis streaked with blood after intercourse with a menstruating woman [the red-and-white striped pole that signified a barber’s shop + pole n.].

1999		Roger’s Profanisaurus 3 in Viz 98 Oct. 4: barber’s polen. Result of parting the whiskers (qv) while the painters are in.
2001		P. Meditzy ‘A Day In The Life Of...’ 29 Apr. 🌐 Because she was ‘up on blocks’ (a leak from under the beetle bonnet) and my cock already looked like a ‘barber’s pole’, I realised it was going to get messy.

the penis and testicles.

c.1786		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: Barbers Sign. A standing pole & two wash Balls.
1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (3rd edn) n.p.: Barber’s Sign. A standing pole and two wash balls.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

see under dolled up adj.

to wear one’s hair long and uncut; thus who robbed the barber?, a teasing phr. aimed at someone whose hair is seen as too long.

1909

J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.

a general term of approbation.

1785, 1788, 1796		(ref. to c.1760) Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: The Barber, or that’s the barber, a ridiculous and unmeaning phrase, in the mouths of the common people about the year 1760, signifying their approbation of any action, measure, or thing.
1791		‘Brother Rook’ Willy Wood & Greedy Grizzle 14: ‘If you will my rage forgive, / I’ll try to love you while I live.’ / [...] / ‘Well said,’ cry’d Willy — ‘that’s the barber!’.
1801		G. Hangar Life, Adventures and Opinions II 81: [To] denote a good education, and shew that you have kept good company, be mindfull of the following, which you will apply as the conversation will admit you [...] ‘That’s the barber,’ ‘Go it,’ ‘The tippy and the twaddle,’ ‘What a swell’.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc.
1839		Hereford Times 15 June 4/3: That’s the barber; a ridiculous and unmeaning phrase; in the mouths of the common people [...] signifying their approbation.

1. to work as a sneak-thief.

1853

Bell’s Life in Sydney 13 Aug. 3/3: Davis, who had evidently been ‘walking the Barber‘ in Mr R. Starke’s bed-room. He had taken a sovereign and some silver.

2. to seduce a woman.

1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 114: walk-the-barber to lead a girl astray.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 258/2: The eldest – about fourteen – was vowing vengeance upon ‘Taylor Tom’ for attempting to ‘walk the barber’ (seduce his ‘gal’).
1873		Sl. Dict.