Green’s Dictionary of Slang

good one, esp. when referring to the state of the day’s market.

1850		H. Mayhew in Advocate 18 Dec. 10/1: Business topics are discussed in a most peculiar style. One man takes the pipe from his mouth and says, ‘Bill made a doogheno hit this morning.’.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1867		Berks. Chron. 7 Dec. 7/1: The Language of Costers. We’ve a slang, sir, and it is only know to ourselves. It puzzles the Irish and bothers the Jews [...] A doogheno or dabheno for ‘it is a good or bad market’.
1890		Northampton Mercury 12 Apr. 12/4: ‘Neergs,’ greens [...] ‘selopas,’ apples, ‘edgenaro,’ oranges and ‘doogheno,’ good, will serve to show [...] the secret language of the London costermongers.
1891		Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 15 Oct. 6/4: They bought him [i.e. a horse] for £12 and sold him again. He won’t say what they made, but, with a wink, says ‘doogheno’ (a good business).
a.1909		press cutting in J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 115/1: If a chap happens to be a dab tros he gets on better than a doogheno who keeps himself quiet and never lets anybody Tommy Tripe know how clever he is.
2001		J. Burkardt ‘Back Sl.’ Wordplay 🌐 doog eno: good one.

of a passing woman, good legs.

2001

J. Burkardt ‘Back Sl.’ Wordplay 🌐 doog gels: good legs.

a good or profitable market.

1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 125: Doogheno Hit one good hit. A coster remarks to a ‘mate,’ ‘Jack made a doogheno hit this morning,’ implying that he did well at market, or sold out with good profit.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 11/2: Bill made a doogheno hit this morning.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1882		press cutting in J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era (1909) 115/1: It can’t be denied that Booth has made a doogheno hit, and you ought to nark his bucket.

no good.

1856		H. Mayhew Great World of London I 5: ’t’s on doog, Whelky, on doog (no good, no good).
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 23/2: On doog ... No good.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1953		J. Franklyn Cockney 298: A few stray words and expressions, such as top o reeb (pot of beer) and on doog (no good) survive with restricted usage in cockney colloquial slang.