pongelo, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

pongelo n.

also pong, ponge, pongello, pongellorum, pongelow

[ety. unknown; given origins of the word in the Indian Army there may be a link to the Tamil festival of Pongol, the festival of the new rice, and which if so may pun on boiled adj. (1), since pongal means ‘boiled’, albeit of rice]

1. beer, esp. pale ale or half-and-half.

1859		Matsell Vocabulum 69: pongelo Drink; liquor.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict. 204: PONGE, or pongelow, beer, half-and-half; the term is also used as a verb, [...] ‘let’s pongelow, shall we!’.
1870		London & Provincial Entr’acte 15 Oct. 3/1: Of cash [they] were rather low, [...] they could drink a Pot of ‘Pongelo’ / [...] / For ‘Pongelo’ was nothing more, than common half and half.
1874		Leeds Times 28 Mar. 6/5: Blow them as ’ud rob a poor bloke of his ponghelo.
1880		Illus. Police News 23 Oct. 3/3: Here he quaffs his ‘pongelo,’ which is his name for half-and-half.
1883		press cutting in J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era (1909) 231: A penny’s worth of spotted leopard is not a bad way of filling up the space of the internals, though spotted leopard may make you have to squander some rhino in pongelow.
1891		Sporting Times 21 Feb. 5/4: Pongelo was the only booze, and lucky was the literateur who could afford to stand even that luxury.
1898		Hartlepool Mail 26 Feb. 6/4: Pongelow, malt liquor.
1900		Regiment 27 Jan. 288/1: Many of the terms used [in the British Army] are derived from India [...] Beer is variously known as ‘soup,’ ‘medicine,’ ‘pongelo,’ &c .
a.1904		Cliffe & Moore [perf. Marie Lloyd] The Coster’s Wedding 🎵 While the ‘pongelow’ was flowin’, none of us to bed was goin’.
1907		Sun. Times (Perth) 14 Apr. 1/1: The solicitor in the know prefers pekoe to pongelo.
c.1911		H. Champion ‘Haning ’Em Out to Dry’ [monologue] There were a thousand tongues all in a row / Waiting to sample the ‘Pongelow’.
1914		E. Pugh Cockney At Home 53: Gimme a casual pal, now and then [...] any money to buy the pongelo with.
1925		(con. WWI) Fraser & Gibbons Soldier and Sailor Words 227: Pongelow: Beer.
1933		‘William Juniper’ True Drunkard’s Delight 228: If you particularly call for beer you may take your choice of [...] ponge, pongello, pongelow, or pongellorum.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1890		Sporting Times 22 Mar. 2/2: One who would do well in the four-half or ‘London pongelo’ department.
1898		Binstead & Wells A Pink ’Un and a Pelican 185: Some well-known publican has given twenty thousand pounds for the local pongelo palace.