Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also belcher fogle, ...handkerchief, ...wipe) a costermonger’s handkerchief, blue with white or occas. yellow spots [fogle n.].

1805		Sporting Mag. XXVII. 126/1: Their opponents were decked in the yellow stripe [handkerchief], which has acquired the appellation of the Belcher.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum n.p.: Belcher. A red silk handkerchief, intermixed with yellow and a little black. The kiddey flashes his belcher; the young fellow wears a silk handkerchief round his neck.
1811		J. Poole Hamlet Travestie I i: My dear, take my belcher to tie round your head.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 87: None can be a gilliflower who does not wear a canary or belcher fogle round his twist.
1827		Egan Anecdotes of the Turf, the Chase etc. 178: A Belcher wipe drawn tight across her shoulders.
1830		W.T. Moncrieff Heart of London II i: stone: (Knocking off Belcher-handkerchief Fitzhazard has on his head by way of a morning cap) In Newgate five days and not learnt politeness yet – where’s your manners?
1844		Thackeray Barry Lyndon (1905) 218: Now every man has the same coachman-like look in his belcher and caped coat.
1846		D. Corcoran Pickings from N.O. Picayune 178: Bill Smith, a fellow who looked like a flash Bowery boy [...] sported a Belcher handkerchief.
1850		Dickens ‘The Ghost of Art’ in Household Words 20 July 387/1: I saw that the lower part of his face was tied up, in what is commonly called a Belcher handkerchief.
1857		J.E. Ritchie Night Side of London 158: With their close-fitting caps, Belcher handkerchiefs, and heavy animal faces, [they] are certainly not very pleasant-looking young men.
1867		R. Whiteing Mr Sprouts, His Opinions 5: I wore a high starched collar and a little tuppenny-’a’penny white rag twisted round my neck instead of the old belcher.
1874		Macmillan’s Mag. (London) XXIX 506: The spotted blue and white neckerchief still called a belcher bears the name of a famous prize-fighter.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 1: Belcher - Silk handkerchief of a close striped pattern.
1885		Entr’acte June in Ware (1909) 25/1: At one time ‘belchers’ were made of that pattern which is affected in that spotty coat which Mr. H.B. Conway sports in The Widow Hunt.
1891		F.W. Carew Autobiog. of a Gipsey 410: A belcher handkerchief, secured by a gaudy scarf-pin.
1902		A. Morrison Hole in the Wall (1947) 67: With bright handkerchiefs over their shoulder – belcher yellows and kingsmen and blue billies.
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 25/1: Belcher (Sporting, 19 cent.). A handkerchief pattern, round spots, light or dark upon a dark or light ground.
1927		(con. 1835–40) P. Herring Bold Bendigo 2: Put that down, you Jack-a-Dandy, an’ take the old clout of a belcher off your neck.

2. a blow, a punch.

1828

High Life in London 13 Jan. 5/4: ‘Knock him down’—‘that’s it go it, my boy tip him a Belcher.’—Confusion; uproar, glasses [...] smashed into ‘smithereens’.

3. a thick ring.

1861

(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 352/1: The best sort of rings for fawney dropping is the Belchers. They are a good thick looking ring, and have a crown and V.R. stamped upon them.