Green’s Dictionary of Slang

see sheet n.

(US campus) a slide-rule.

1932		J.L. Kuethe ‘Johns Hopkins Jargon’ in AS VII:5 330: cheating stick — a slide rule.
1944		Slanguage Dict. Mod. Amer. Sl. 10: cheating stick, a slide rule.
1958		McCulloch Woods Words.

(UK Und.) a false shirt-front.

1845, 1855

B.M. Carew Life and Adventures.

see beat the starter under beat v.

to recover from a serious illness.

1845		Living Age 1 July 209/1: ‘I have every faith in you.’ ‘Sir, the confidence is flattering; and I think between us, we may cheat the worms’.
1866		J. Greenwood Little Ragamuffin 166: ‘You never mean to tell me that you’ve weathered it through!’ ‘Yes, sir, [...] he’s cheated the worms, as the saying is.’.
1902		H. Baumann Londinismen (2nd edn).