Green’s Dictionary of Slang

Duke of York n.

[rhy. sl.]

1. a walk.

[UK]Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
[UK]D.W. Barrett Life and Work among Navvies 41: When a man gets tired of walking a long distance to his work [...] if he wishes to express himself in the approved slang phraseology, he will do it thus: – ‘I can’t stand this Duke of York to my Russian-Turk’.

2. talk.

[UK]Sl. Dict.
[US]Wentworth & Flexner DAS.
[UK]B. Kirkpatrick Wicked Cockney Rhy. Sl.

3. a fork.

[UK]Sl. Dict. 153: ‘Duke of Yorks,’ forks = fingers.
[UK](con. WWI) Fraser & Gibbons Soldier and Sailor Words 84: Duke Of York; Fork.
[UK]J. Franklyn Cockney 291: ‘Duke of Yorks’ rhyming on ‘forks’.
[UK]S.T. Kendall Up the Frog.
[UK]J. Jones Rhy. Cockney Sl.
[UK]P. Wright Cockney Dialect and Sl. 103: Dook of York ‘fork’.
[UK]B. Kirkpatrick Wicked Cockney Rhy. Sl.

4. in pl., fingers [= fork n.1 (3)].

[UK]Sl. Dict. 153: ‘Duke of Yorks,’ forks = fingers.
[UK]G. Kersh Fowlers End (2001) 99: She can make that pianner talk, once she gets ’er Duke-o’-Yorks on it.
[UK]J. Franklyn Dict. of Rhy. Sl.
[US]J. Ciardi Good Words 317: Duke of Yorks, fingers (used as forks).

5. chalk.

[UK]L. Ortzen Down Donkey Row 11: Duke of York – Chalk.
[UK]J. Franklyn Dict. of Rhy. Sl.
[UK]J. Jones Rhy. Cockney Sl.
[UK]B. Kirkpatrick Wicked Cockney Rhy. Sl.

6. a cork.

[UK]J. Franklyn Dict. of Rhy. Sl.
[UK]J. Jones Rhy. Cockney Sl.

7. pork.

[UK]S.T. Kendall Up the Frog.
[UK]B. Kirkpatrick Wicked Cockney Rhy. Sl.