Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a swordsman, a fellow soldier; note cit. 1734, spoken by a thief, fits both defs.

1632		R. Brome Covent-Garden Weeded I i: I have a great mind to be one of the Philoblathici, a Brother of the Blade and Battoon.
1641		[title] The Brothers of the Blade.
1675		Woman Turn’d Bully IV ii: Methinks, before ye lookt like a Brother of the Blade, or a kinde of little Huff.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew.
1725		New Canting Dict.
1734		C. Johnson Hist. of Highwaymen &c. 142: We have divers Tradesmens Sons, who not willing to contain themselves, within the narrow bounds of their Father’s scanty Allowance, have made Brothers of the Blade, thinking the Reputation and Garb of the Swordsman, would give them the Air of Gentility.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict.
1764		Derby Mercury 29 June 2/1: Curse [...] My Choice [...] to turn a rambling Brother of the Blade, / Of all Professions, sure the worst is war.
1786		J. O’Keeffe Patrick in Prussia 3: So cheerful and happy we boys of the blade.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 12: brother-blade, of the same occupation or calling, — originally a fellow soldier.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict. [as cit. 1859].
1868		J.D. McCabe Secrets of the Great City 359: The Detectives’ Manual gives a glossary of this language, from which we take the following specimens [...] Brother of the blade. – A soldier.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 12: Brother of the Blade, a soldier.

2. a fellow member of the same profession or occupation.

1734		see sense 1.
1834		(con. 1737–9) W.H. Ainsworth Rookwood (1857) 256: The fellow [...] little thought I was a brother blade.
1859, 1860		see sense 1.
1864, 1867, 1870		see sense 1.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

a physician.

1846		Bury & Norwich Post 15 Apr. 1/6: I am the sort of chap (said Brother Bolus) To cure complaints and give the heart a solace.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum.
1868		J.D. McCabe Secrets of the Great City 359: The Detectives’ Manual gives a glossary of this language, from which we take the following specimens [...] Brother of the bolus. – A doctor.
1881		Trumble Sl. Dict. (1890).

1. an artist.

1687		Bishop Cartwright in Hist. Magdalen College 143: Pray make use of my brother of the brush [F&H].
1702		Dictionnaire royal francois-anglois (et anglois-francois) n.p.: A Brother of the Brush, (a Painter ) Un Peintre.
1751		Smollett Peregrine Pickle (1964) 335: He ran to his brother brush, and swore he was worthy of being a fellow-citizen of the immortal Rubens.
1759–67		Sterne Tristram Shandy (1949) 104: The various ways of doing it, which they have borrowed from the honourable devices which the Pentagraphic bretheren of the brush have shewn in taking copies.
1783		‘Peter Pindar’ ‘Lyric Odes’ Works (1794) I 55: Sons of the Brush, I’m here again!
1796		Sporting Mag. Oct. IX 56/1: So I pray, Brother Brush, when in earnest or jest, / Take a hint from your poor brother Scrub.
1816		Lancaster Gaz. 13 Apr. 4/1: Frank Hayman, once a brother of the brush, Had talent much distinguished.
1820		W. Combe Doctor Syntax, Consolation (1868) 144/1: He saw half-screen’d beside a bush, / What seem’d a brother of the brush.
1831		Satirist (London) 12 June 76/1: He used to paint a bit, and so the artists called him brother brush.
1841		note in Complete Works of Lord Byron (1846) : The ‘West’ that follows is [...] a young American brother of the brush, who visited Lord Byron in Italy, anno Domini 1822 .
1845		Gloucester Citizen 11 Jan. 7/2: The tale-pitcher was primed with a plausible story for each artist, posing as a brother-brush.
1855		Newry Examiner 20 Jan. 4/1: We must object to that upon poor Hayden, as harsh and unkind, especially from a brother of the brush.
1864		Watford Chron. 24 June 4/5: The proud peer [...] ordered his steward to dismiss the presumptuous painter, and employ a humbler brother of the brush.
1876		Berwickshire News 27 June 3/4: The letter was signed by a jocular brother of the brush.
1886		Sporting Times 20 Feb. 1/4: ‘A brother brush, gents, a brother brush. What’ll ye drink?’.
1889		J.K. Jerome Three Men in a Boat 298: Iffley Lock and Mill [...] is a favourite subject with the river-loving brethren of the brush.
1896		Edinburgh Eve. News 16 May 2/5: The ‘Tailor and Cutter’ is of the opinion that he can teach his ‘brother of the brush’ and devotes his editorial to the necessity of artists studying tailors.
1903		A. Binstead Pitcher in Paradise 43: He ran into four good fellows, brothers of the brush from the other side of the Atlantic.

2. a house painter.

1812		Spirit of Irish Wit 104: A brother of the Brush, called Black Dick from his bushy beard.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

a prize-fighter, a professional boxer.

1832

Egan Bk of Sports 27: The pet of the fancy – the admiration and delight of his brethren of the Bunch of Fives — the champion of the light weights — the Hero of the Prize Ring.

a publican, an inn-keeper.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1827		Exter & Plymouth Gaz. 8 Mar. 5/2: Peg patronises Brother Bung, / He likes a social glass.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum.
1859		London Eve. Standard 7 Apr. 4/6: The capital invested by a publican is [...] lost in consequence of a lcience having been granted to a brother bung upon the ground [...] that freedom in the trade should be open to all.
1867		Morn. Advertiser 27 Nov. 7/3: The Chair will be taken by Mr Henry Raphael, faced by a well-known brother bung.
1881		Trumble Sl. Dict. (1890).
1889		Sevenoaks Chron. in Fifty Years Ago (1934) 10/4: Down With It, said Mr Boosey [...] declaring that all the misery in the world is caused by drink. A Brother Bung would be inclined to form this as rather a boosey statement.
1890		Sunderland Dly Echo 15 Sept. 2/6: I suggest to Brother Bung an increase of attention to his own business.
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 50/1: Brother Bung (London Tavern). A fellow-publican.
1923		Motherwell Times 9 Mar. 5/6: One fact [...] that Brother Bung can never explain away is that in July, 1922 New York state had 104 empty jails out of a total of 350. [...] In Glasgow in 1921 the arrests for drunkeness numbered 10,465.

an actor ; thus sock and buskin, generic for the theatrical profession.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
[1794		Sporting Mag. Jan. III 209/1: This barbarous hero of the sock and buskin [...] took the following ludicrous method].
1795		Sporting Mag. Nov. VII 82/1: ‘Brother Buskin,’ says the man, ‘moderate your rage.’.
1801		Morn. Post (London) 7 Sept. n.p.: His respectable brother of the sock and buskin, Holland of Drury-lane, kindly lends his assistance at the Brighton theatre tomorrow.
1802		Lancaster Gaz. 23 Jan. 3/4: His words came forth like drops from an alembic, he might be deemed a kind of theatrical distiller. ‘If so,’ added a brother of the buskin, ’it is to be hoped that he will rectify his acting’.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1824		Dublin Eve. News 20 Sept. 3/2: M’Cready is making a successful and profitable tour in the North, while his brother of the buskin is playing to empty benches in the South.
1832		Pilot (Dublin) 12 Dec. 3/1: His facetious brother of the buskin [...] had the misfortune, it being foggy, to fall into a drain.
1833		Spirit of the Times (NY) 12 Jan. 2/3: [A]n untrammeled, unresponsible ‘knight of the Sock’.
1834		Bell’s Life in London 16 Mar. n.p.: As an humble brother of the ‘Sock and Buskin,’ I offer you my sincere thanks.
1847		Morn. Post (London) 28 Aug. 6/1: An actor had sent a challenge to a brother knight of the buskin.
1849		Morn. Advertiser (London) 27 Dec. 3/3: Mr Farren [...] has not been less active than his brother managers of the ‘sock and buskin’ in observing the good old rule.
1850		Era (London) 8 Dec. 9/4: Before the brother buskin could rely [etc].
1859		Matsell Vocabulum.
1860		Stamford Mercury 13 Jan. 4/2: It would [...] be unreasonable to expect superior acting from young men [...] but there should be at least some pretentions on the part of those who assume the sock and buskin.
1863		Oxford Times 27 June 4/2: Mr Fech’er, of the Lyceum Theatre, has been [...] blamed for an attempt to gag a promising brother of the buskin.
1869		Staffs. Sentinel 13 Mar. 6/2: Nicholson has retired to rest. His brother of the sock and buskin enters the room.
1881		Trumble Sl. Dict. (1890).
1889		Hants. Teleg. 5 Jan. 11/6: The Sock and Buskin. What we know about those who build, play in and write for theatre.
1891		Leeds Times 28 Mar. n.p.: The great tragedian, Mr Sock-Buskin, had returned from a successful starring tour.
1904		Framlingham Wkly News 31 Dec. 2/7: There was the sympathy [...] showered upon him by his brothers and sisters of the sock and buskin.
1924		Wells Jrnl 25 Jan. 2/5: The local knights of the sock and buskin had formed themselves into the Village Dramatic Society.
1931		Edinburgh Eve. News 10 Oct. 5/5: Mr Seymour Hicks adds a volume on ‘Acting’ for ‘you my unpaid brother of the buskin’.

a barrister.

1771		Nunnery for Coquettes 108: In one of them, no less a man than a brother of the coif tells me, that he began his suit Vic simo nono Caroli secundi, before he had been a twelve-month at the Temple.
1787		Parlty Register 130: Lord Coke declared, when he was first made a brother of the coif, that a serjeant’s cap had spur typical corners to it.
1801		Sporting Mag. Dec. XIX 172/1: Serjeant. ‘I am the Author; I, brother of the coif.’.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1829		Morn. Post (London) 14 Jan. 2/3: The late Mr Sergeant Lens used to tell with great glee the following anecdote of his learned brother of the coif.
1836		Saunders News Letter 13 Oct. 3/1: The belief that the ermine would sit as graccefully upon his shoulders [...] as [it] would io those of his learned brother of the coif.
1836		Clonmel Herald (Ireland) 15 Oct. 3/4: His learned brother of the coif.
1846		Leeds Mercury 14 Feb. 8/5: Alderman Timothy O’Brien [...] like his brother of the coif, declined playing the fool.
1855		Hereford Times 9 June 3/2: The learned brother of the coif assented.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum.
1864		Tipperary Free Press 20 Dec. 2/5: For the defendant appeared the ‘little sergeant’ Sullivan, so named in contradistinction to his more burly brother of the coif, Armstrong.
1871		Dublin Eve. Mail 27 Nov. 2/6: We believe it was Mr Justice Williams who thus remonstrated with a cranky brother of the coif.
1881		Trumble Sl. Dict. (1890).
1907		Dundee Courier 24 Jan. 5/1: The distinguishing mark of Brother of the Coif was a little black patch on the wig.

a pimp, a procurer.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Brother of the gussit a Pimp, Procurer, also, a Whore-Master.
1725		New Canting Dict.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum.
1881		Trumble Sl. Dict. (1890).

a writer, an author; cite 1825 refers to a clerk.

1680		E. Hickeringill Reflections on Late Libel etc. 19: He need not of told every Body how much he was indebted and did borrow of a Brother of the Quill.
1692		C. Gildon Dialogue from Hell of Cuckoldom 21: Ha! Brothers of the Quill, what Fate for us remains?
1708		True Characters of A Deceitful Petty-Fogger et al. 4: This Mushroom Brother of the Quill shall be destitute of Employment.
1742		‘Hercules Vinegar’ The Cudgel or Crab-tree Lecture 18: ’Twas still ignoble to exert his Skill Against the weaker Brethren of the Quill. [Ibid.] 42: Then rouse, ye injur’d Brethren of the Quill, Why all so tame, so indolent and still?
1754		Newcastle Courant 16 Nov. 3/1: He declined some offers lately made by a Brother of the Quill.
1758		Manchester Mercury 7 Feb. 1/3: We have many in Town who [are] from a better Pen than that of this Brother of the quill.
1789		Bath Chron. 5 Nov. 4/1: I wish you could contrive to let your brothers of the quill know that a correspondent thinks it is a very absurd expression.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1820		Slops Shave at a Broken Hone 14: Tag-rag and bob-tail brothers of the quill.
1825		Bell’s Life in London 2 Jan. 5/3: It chanc’d most oddly that a brother quill (A brother clerk) [...] had just gained by luck [etc].
1831		Dublin Eve. Packet 10 Sept. 3/4: Our brother of the quill should recollect [that] we are entitled to the marked respect of his majesty’s ministers.
1841		Holly Springs Gaz. (Holly Springs, MS) 30 Dec. 2/1: Our brother of th quil proceeds to deduce his inferences from incontrovertible truths.
1846		Censor (London) 18 Jan. 3/1: How it happens that our brother of the quill should be blessed with such temperament we cannot say.
1857		Tralee Chron. 28 Apr. 3/3: We know what whether our old brother of the quill still adheres to the profession of Barrister-at-Law.
1869		Bolivar Bulletin (Bolivar, TN) 16 Jan. 2/2: We should say you did, or else be forced to put you down as a selfish brother of the quill.
1877		Rocky Mountain Husbandman (Diamond City, MT) 5/3: Our brother of the quill and scissors posted off and presented himself at the entrance.
1881		Columbian (Bloomsburg, PA) 16 Dec. 5/1: A contenmporar is grieved to learn that his brother of the quill has a wife with one eye.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1897		Indep. (Honolulu, HI) 10 Sept. 2/2: I have to differ with my brother of the quill [...] regarding ‘Native Rights’.
1900		Union Times (US) 15 June 4/4: We congratulate our brother of the quill. Newspaper men get there sometimes.

a musician.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Brother of the string a Fidler, or Musician.
1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: brother of the string a Fidler, Bag-piper, or Harper, or any itinerant Musician.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum.
1881		Trumble Sl. Dict. (1890).

(US Und.) a priest.

1859		Matsell Vocabulum.
1881		Trumble Sl. Dict. (1890).

a coachman; a cab-driver.

1750		Ordinary of Newgate Account 26 Mar. 28/2: He was known by the Name of Capt. Flash, upon Account of his being a brisk, gay, young Fellow, and making a better Appearance than his Brethren of the Whip, generally speaking, did.
1756		World 207: He ... had always greased my heels himself, and upon every one of my birthdays, had treated all his brother whips at his own expence [F&H].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ A Dict. of the Turf, The Ring, The Chase, etc. 193: ‘Brother whip,’ a stagecoach driver.
1830		Pilot (Dublin) 27 Aug. 2/4: The driver of the Penzance coach took his Lordship for a brother of the whip, and politely invoted him to partake of a pot of heavy wet.
1843		Freeman’s Jrnl 20 Jan. 1/6: A carman, named Partick Doyle, [...] charged a brother of the whip [...] with having assaulted him.
1849		T. Miller Gabarni in London 39: He is very kind to any poor brother of the whip whom he sees tugging up-hill in vain, with a weighty load and an ill-fed team [F&H].
1859		Isle of Wight Obs. 6 Aug. 3/2: Charles Cotton, a carman, was [...] charged with assault and threateing the life of john Haynes, a brother whip.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict. [as cit. 1859].
1870		Belfast Morn. News 21 Feb. 4/3: He conceived the idea that if a Society of Cabdrivers [...] could be organised [...] for the promotion of total abstinence [...] among their brethren of the ‘whip,’ very many would join in.
1881		Trumble Sl. Dict. (1890).
1896		N. Devon Jrnl 15 Oct. 8/2: The funeral procession was a large one, a number of cabmen testifying to their respect to their brother of the whip.

a huntsman.

1834

Bell’s New Wkly Messenger 7 Dec. 4/4: His brother of the whip and spur had studied in a peaceable school.