ginger n.1
1. a showy, fast horse.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Eng. Spy I 86: But if you want to splash along / In glory with a ginger. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Clockmaker II 19: The poor skilliton of a beast was ginger to the back bone [...] all clear grit. | |
| Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn). | |
| , , | | Sl. Dict. |
2. (also ginge) a red-haired or sandy-haired person; also as adj.
| Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 87: Ginger — another name for red-haired persons. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Bell’s Life in Sydney 27 Sept. 3/1: At it they went, amidst the animated cries of ‘Go it, Ginger,’ ‘Well done, Taylor’. | |
| Bell’s Life in Sydney 3 July 3/3: The kids [...] used to call him ‘Ginger’ on account of the colour of his top-knot. | |
| In Strange Company 2: Encouraged by the cries of ‘Go it, Ginger!’ yelled by his admiring friends, the red-haired boy presently finished his antagonist. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 5 June 4/3: It is considered the height of snobbishness to express astonishment [...] at the disappearance of what polite people call an ‘auburn,’ and the vulgar and uneducated a ‘ginger’ pigtail. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 10 July 13/1: Captain Gingah [...] is the ‘adored one’ of the pretty waitresses in the upper portion of the Coffee Palace. So much for a red head and a military style. | |
 | Whif 1/1: Her fiery spouse, Ginger Jinks, had his own ideas of women’s rights. | |
| Signor Lippo 53: But you, like all ginger blokes, must be quarrelsome and bad-tempered. There’s something left out in the making of all you ginger uns. | |
| Aus. Sl. Dict. 32: Ginger, a red-haired person. | |
| De Omnibus 101: Theer were a boy as went by the nime o’ Ginger, in cornsequence of ’is ’air bein’ carrots. | |
| Sun. Times (Perth, WA) Supp. 19 Dec. 25/7: Hwe was blinking at the ceiling while ‘Ginger’ blew mouthfuls of water on to his broken nose. | |
| Over the Top ‘Tommy’s Dict. of the Trenches’ 293: ‘Ginger.’ Nickname of a red-headed soldier. | |
| Gunner Depew 53: The boys used to call him ‘Ginger’ Brown, both on account of his red hair and his slow movements. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Truth (Wellington) 14 July 5/3: Ginger took the earliest opportunity to stop the lad [...] ‘Gin’ then suggested a nice hot cup of tea. | |
| Gilt Kid 181: One of the kneeling men had red hair. [...] The Gilt Kid smiled at him. ‘Hallo, Ginger,’ he said. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Sun. Post (Lanarks.) 15 Aug. 3/3: Ginger! James (Ginger) Lamond, former well-known Stirling boxer. | |
| Cockney 136: Ginger, you’re barmy! | |
| Sir, You Bastard 17: If Ginger can do that to you, what’s a barrister going to do? | |
| Penguin Bk of Aus. Jokes 334: Ginger docked at Circular Quay. | |
| Stump 33: See that cunt, Ally? [...] Ginger fuckin bastard. | |
| (ed.) UNC-CH Campus Sl. 2011. | |
| Decent Ride 30: Loads ay dark-heided lassies, a few blondes, gingers n brunettes. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Glorious Heresies 40: The universe didn’t care whether he was a gangly ginger or a dusty-haired chunk. | |
| Shore Leave 117: ‘He was a ginger, was he not?’. | |
| Empty Wigs (t/s) 174: [T]he crafty ginger Mr Vendy Nangle who [...] took advantage of his employers’ slovenliness . | |
| Empty Wigs (t/s) 215: [G.B. Shaw] a stroppy ginge who cut a swathe through the theatre. |
3. high spirits, verve, vigour.
| Clockmaker I 124: He’s the chap that has both speed, wind, and bottom; he’s clear grit — ginger to the backbone, you may depend. | |
| Sam Slick in England I 261: Curb him, talk Yankee to him, and get his ginger up. | |
| Forty Years a Gambler 122: I let drive and knocked the ginger out of him. | |
| Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 22 Feb. 2/2: Cora Tinnie calls her pug dog ‘Ginger,’ and she has lots of it. | |
| Pink ’Un and Pelican 148: Nature has filled them [i.e. young men] with more ginger and ‘go’ than their pockets can stand the racket of. | |
| Sister Carrie 199: All you need is a little more ginger. | |
| Sun. Times (Perth) 13 Sept. 4/7: We’re showing a cow-boy battle, a locomotive smash — something with ginger in it. | |
| ‘Gifted’ Sporting Times 9 July 1/4: There was Bill, a dear old pal o’ mine, he could ‘Lord Mayor’ a bit, / And he could put a lot of ginger in it, too. | |
| Truth (Melbourne) 3 Jan. 2/5: Bronson’s blows were mostly badly timed, and many lacked ginger. | |
| ‘The Making of Mac’s’ in Man with Two Left Feet 135: I like one of those plays with some ginger in them which the papers generally cuss. | |
| Working Bullocks 184: It’s took all the ginger out of Billy. | |
| (con. 1920s) Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 251: Coach Hugo called it the old ginger. | |
| Battlers 180: When she swore, it was in a dispirited and hopeless fashion without any ginger in it. | |
![[Can]](/static/img/flags/can.png "Canada") | ‘My Hero’ in Lyrics of a Low Brow 91: Feeling full of ginger for / He’s happy Pop of cherubs twin. | |
| Call Me When the Cross Turns Over (1958) 171: Only bloke who can put some ginger into me is Resurrection Jim. | |
| Teachers (1962) 227: We could do with a bit more ginger. | |
| Show Business Nobody Knows 9: ‘Leslie Smothers,’ ‘Uggams Smothers,’ and the Smothers Sister—such tags didn’t help—didn’t have the zing and the ginger and the bite to follow the Smothers. |
In phrases
(Aus.) to irritate.
| Aus. Word Map 🌐 ginger. get on one‘s nerves; to irritate. |
1. to treat brusquely, to ‘make someone jump’.
| Ulysses 443: Make him smart, Hanna dear. Give him ginger. | |
| Biz (Fairfield, NSW) 17 Jan. 3/4: Our friend the tiddler-tickler seems to have put the ginger into all the fishing fraternity. |
2. (Aus.) to disappoint, to let down.
| (con. 1959) Up the Cross 36: ‘Does that mean you’re giving us the ginger?’ [...] ‘That is indeed the truth, I’m sorry to say’. |
to a great extent.
| ‘’Arry on the ’Oliday Season’ in Punch 16 Aug. 74/1: Rads may rail at ‘the clarses’ like ginger, but all on us likes to be ‘warm.’. |
In exclamations
excl. used when touching something hot.
| G.D. Chase ‘Cape Cod Dialect’ in DN II:v 297: ginger! interj. Exclamation upon touching something hot]. |
general catchphrase implying foolishness but lacking any underlying hostility, synon. ‘you must be crazy’.
| [song title] Ginger, you’re balmy! | |
| Sport (Adelaide) 17 May 11/2: They Say [...] That Ginger R looks quite manly with his moustache. Instead of growing a mo it would pay him better to get some hair restorer. Ginger, you're balmy! |
(US) excl. of approval, encouragement.
| Democrat & Sentinel (Ebensburg, PA) 25 Oct. 1/4: ‘That’s the ginger! go it squire!’. |