cinder n.1
any form of spirit (brandy, whisky etc), taken in tea, soda water or other drink; thus put a cinder in, to add liquor to an otherwise non-alcoholic drink.
| , , | ![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Sl. Dict. |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Mercury (Hobart) 23 Apr. 2/5: [from the Stranraer Free Press] [...] a bucket, a tastin’, a toothfu’, a cinder. | |
| Sportsman (London) 31 Mar. 2/1: Water, water, is not to be found everywhere London; and [...] is found to much improved by the addition of a decent ‘cinder’. | |
| Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 2: Cinder - Any liquor used in connection with sodawater, as ‘to take a soda with a Cinder in it’ The Cinder may be brandy, sherry, or other liquor. | |
| Aus. Sl. Dict. 17: Cinder, soda and liquor. | |
| True Drunkard’s Delight. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Und. Speaks 22/1: Cinder in the soda water, a soda water bottle (pop) containing hard liquor smuggled to jail inmates. |
SE in slang uses
In compounds
(US tramp) a railroad detective.
 | in ‘Eng. of Courtroom’ AS I:5 265/2: The cinder bull double-crossed me. | |
| Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 51: Cinder Bull. – A railroad policeman or detective. A ‘bull’ who works on the cinders or right of way. | |
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). | |
| World’s Toughest Prison 794: cinder bull – A railroad policeman or detective. |
(US tramp) a railroad detective.
| Salt Lake Telegram (UT) 26 Nov. 11/1: Joe Bass, meek and lowly Cinder Dick. | |
| New York Day by Day 9 Sept. [synd. col.] A dictionary of crook terms compiled by Howard McLellan contains these: Stolen bonds – hot paper; jail – in stir; railroad detective – cinder dick. | |
| Railroad Avenue 282: Presently a flashlight approached and the voice of a cinder dick called out, ‘Hey, you damn hobo’. | |
| ‘Washington Daybook’ in News (Frederick, MD) 5 Jan. 4/3: Charles D. Waggner [is] trying to collect the lingo of the railroad [...] A sample of this pure American slang is – ash cats, crummie, cut off, dinkey, decorate, drag, hoggers, car knockers, whistle pigs, bakeheads, clinker boys, tallow pots, dead headers, glimmer, hump, kick, no-bill, rawhiding, gon, she, slop freight, train line, washout, reefer, dice train, drone cage, hoptoad, cinder dick, cage, fly light, and on the ground. | |
| Rap Sheet 71: When we get into Omaha, there’ll be cinder dicks all over this train like flies. | |
| , | | DAS. |
| High Iron 🌐 Ch. i: The cinder dick almost caught him but he managed to outrun the 180-pound railroad cop and sneak between the loose boards of the wooden fence. | |
| (ref. to c.1920) at www.horologist.com 🌐 My grandfather [...] was what you would call a ‘Cinder Dick’ short for Rail Road Detective. He was assigned to police the Oregon Short Line Railroad. |
a servant girl.
| , , | | Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue. |
| Lex. Balatronicum. | |
| Hermit in America on Visit to Phila. 2nd series 26: Had an assig. with a Quicunque Vult—a snug little cinder-gabbler [sic]. | |
| Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue. |
(US) a tramp, a hobo.
| ‘The Great Amer. Bum’ in Hobo’s Hornbook 71: Come all you cinder grifters / And listen while I hum. | |
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). |
(Aus.) a dirt-track motorcycle racer.
| Argus (Melbourne) 18 Apr. 3s/6: If you hear someone speak of a ‘cinder shifter’ he will mean a speedway rider. | |
| Aus. Lang. |
1. a hat with an open-work brim, which supposedly resembles the household tool.
| Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era. |
2. (US tramp) a tramp, esp. one who uses the railroads.
| ‘Jargon of the Und.’ in DN V 442: Cinder sifter, A tramp. | |
| Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 51: Cinder Sifter. – A tramp, especially one travelling along the railroads. | |
| ‘“Aus.” Rhyming Argot’ in AS XIX:3 192/1: Cinder Shifter. [sic] A drifter. | |
| Dict. of Rhy. Sl. |
(US tramp) the railroad; the life of tramping, esp. when travelling on railroads.
| Eau Claire Leader 5 Jan. 8/6: Five Hoboes Rest. A bunch of five members of the cinder trail stopped off in Eau Claire. | |
| Star Trib. (MN) 3 June 9/3: De Witt Clinton Fretz [...] self-styled ‘king of tramps’ [...] expects to shatter all previous records in the history of the ancient and honorable fraternity of the Knights of the Cinder Trail. | |
| S.F. Chron. 24 June 2/3: Half a score hit the cinder trail again, but it was the same disheartening story. ‘Illinois’ [a train] was on its way. | |
| ‘Jargon of the Und.’ in DN V 442: Cinder trail, (1) The railroad. (2) Tramp life in general. |