Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also night tackle, tackling) the male genitals.

1533		J. Heywood A Merry Play in Farmer Dramatic Writings (1905) 84: But for your labour, I would that your tackle / Were in a scalding water well sod.
1654		Mercurius Fumigosus 21 18–25 Oct. 183: A delightfull Mask or Dance is presented between Fatt Fish-wives, and leane Fisher-men, with all their Rodds, Tacklings and Baytes, Madam F--k-at-a-venter being chief Lady of that nights Revells.
1683		Fifteen Real Comforts of Matrimony 45: There are some, that when their other Tackle fails them, love to fornicate with their eyes.
1702		J. Floyer Essay to Prove Cold Bathing 280: I bid him [...] At night wrap up his Whore-Tackle in a Linnen-Cloath, wet in strong Vinegar and Claret-Wine. [Ibid.] 309: The fault was in the vile and wicked whore-masterly Husband, broke and bankrupt in his Bed-Tackle.
1732-1820		Order of the Beggar's Benison and Merryland (1892) 68: In February your tackle try, / But cautiously.
1765		H. Howard Choice Spirits Museum 34: Ah, no! quoth the Blade, see my Tackle’s past using, / But tomorrow I’ll come.
c.1780		Correct List of the Sporting Ladies [broadsheet] Mother Ash---h [...] has a noble stud of young cattle [who] give great satisfaction to all who ride well, particularly if tackle be stour, and sit well.
1798		‘Botany Bay’ in Hilaria 18: Tho’ shook by the stroke, Adam’s mast stood upright / His ballast was steady, his tackling quite tight.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1870		Cythera’s Hymnal [as 1732].
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1989		S. Armitage ‘Eighties, Nineties’ in Zoom 22: If you have to pull me out of the rubble / with my tackle hanging out and half the world there watching / I’ll drag you through the court.
1997		Fraser & Meadows TwentyFourSeven [film script] (1998) 83: Wake him up so we can get a shot of his tackle.
2000		Guardian 8 Jan. 21: Clearly his wife’s underwear was too tight and he was merely adjusting his tackle.
2004		Guardian Rev. 6 Aug. 13: He calls his penis ‘tackle’, ‘fishing line.’.
2009		P. Temple Truth 56: The brothers have been worked over like I haven’t seen since Rai Sarris. Noses, tackle cut off, hair burnt.
2012		T. Robinson ‘Biggest Dick in Brooklyn’ in Dirty Words [ebook] He was standing with his tackle in the wind.
2012		(con. 1943) G.S. Manson Irish Fandango [ebook] He tried [...] to keep the swelling night tackle under control.
2016		Times (London) 2 Aug. 🌐 It’s probably worth Jilly Cooper writing a bonkbuster about football simply so that she can call it Tackle!
2016		D. Whish-Wilson Old Scores [ebook] Swann pointed the gun at his tackle.

2. (also tackling) one’s best clothes.

1616		Jonson Devil is an Ass II i: Why is all this rigging and fine tackle, mistress, If your neat handsome vessels, of good sail, Put not forth [...] Abroad into the world?
1659		Mercurius Democritus 10-26 Aug. 98: [He] seiz’d on her, pull’d offf her tackling, and left here bare both above and below deck.
1690		‘Voyage to Maryland’ Mundus Muliebris 2: He that will needs to Marry-Land Adventure, first must understand For’s Bark, what Tackle to prepare [...] Two Night-Rails, and a Scarf beset With a great Lace, a Colleret.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: The Cull has [...] Tipt his Bloss Rum-tackle, c. the keeping Coxcomb has given his Mistress very fine Cloths.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
a.1790		H.T. Potter New Dict. Cant (1795).
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 83: Tackling, one’s clothes.

3. a prostitute, a mistress.

1688		T. Shadwell Squire of Alsatia IV i: Oh, my pure blowen! my convenient! my tackle!
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Tackle c. a Mistress The Cull has tipt his Tackle Rum-rigging, c. [...] the keeping Coxcomb has given his Mistress very fine Cloths.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Tackle, A mistress; also good clothes. The cull has tipt his tackle rum rigging; the fellow has given his mistress good clothes.
a.1790		H.T. Potter New Dict. Cant (1795).
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum.

4. any clothes.

1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 16 May 12/2: At Reefton, N.Z., ‘a man backed himself to drink a gallon of beer at a single draught. The beer was measured out into a basin, and the man, having loosened all his tackle, turned the beer on.’.

5. food or drink.

1857		T. Hughes Tom Brown’s School-Days (1896) 67: Rare tackle that, sir, of a cold morning.
1901		Boy’s Own Paper 30 Mar. 402: Whether eaten like this or fresh, a bear’s tongue is not half bad tackle.

6. (UK Und.) burglary tools.

1889		Clarkson & Richardson Police! 315: The spy does not forget to take particulars of the interior of the house, and he is able to report to his pals what will be required in the shape of ‘tackling,’ whether long or short. [...] ‘Short tackle’ means two sets of drawer ‘screws,’ ‘jemmies,’ ‘picklocks, skeleton keys, wedges, gimlets, dark lantern, cork slippers, and nux vomica.
1897		Truth (London) 10 June 35/1: ‘Gosh! wot tackle that was!’.

7. a watch chain.

1887		‘Dagonet’ ‘A Plank Bed Ballad’ in Referee 12 Feb. n.p.: One day I’d a spree with two finns in my brigh, / And a toy and a tackle – both red ’uns.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 14 Jan. 6/6: He takes him down with the confidence for another score and then bones (i.e. steals) his clock and tackle (i.e. watch and chain).
1931		‘English Und. Sl.’ in Variety 8 Apr. n.p.: Tackle — Chain.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1981		(con. 1900–30) A. Harding in Samuel East End Und. 284: Tackle – Watch-chain.

8. (Ulster) a showily or bizarrely dressed woman.

1983

P. Devlin All of us There 113: Any other young woman wearing a hat, or any other garment not considered suitable, is [...] called a ‘blade’ or ‘tackle.’.

9. drugs.

1994		P. Baker Blood Posse 67: Rastamen were peddling grass, Yankees pushing tackle.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 12: I supply them, pager and tackle, and point them in the right direction of where to unload it.
2007		N. ‘Razor’ Smith Raiders 134: Serious skagheads [...] looking to buy a bit of tackle.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 52: Ted needs to shift tackle.