Green’s Dictionary of Slang

autem n.

also anthem, autem ken, autum, autumn
[poss. f. SE anthem, or poss. f. Yid. a’tume, a gentile church, although the Yid. may be a later coinage. Bee suggests Lat. auditio; Partridge opts for altham n. and a further theory suggests Fr. autel, an altar (note Fr. Und. entonne, church) and the SE altar may indeed be the actual root]

1. (UK Und.) a church.

[UK]Harman Caveat for Common Cursetours in Viles & Furnivall (1907) 83: autem, a church.
[UK]Groundworke of Conny-catching Ch. 18: These Autem Morts be married women, for Autem in their Language is a Church.
[UK]Rowlands Martin Mark-all 37: Autem the Church.
[Ire]Head Eng. Rogue I 47: Autem, A Church.
[Ire]Head Canting Academy (2nd edn).
[UK]R. Holme Academy of Armory Ch. iii item 68c: Canting Terms used by Beggars, Vagabonds, Cheaters, Cripples and Bedlams. [...] Autem, a Church.
[UK]B.E. Dict. Canting Crew.
[UK]cited in Partridge DU (1961).
[UK]A. Smith Lives of Most Noted Highway-men, etc. I 209: He taught his Pupil a deal of canting Words, telling him Autem was Arabick for a Church.
[UK]Defoe Street Robberies Considered 30: Autem, a Church.
[UK]Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict.
[UK]Scoundrel’s Dict. 16: A Church – Autem.
[UK](con. 1710–25) Tyburn Chronicle II in Groom (1999) xxvi: Autum A Church.
[UK]B.M. Carew Life and Adventures.
[UK]Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
[UK]Lex. Balatronicum.
[UK]‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 90: Come, I say who’s a going-out? Autem is over.
[UK](con. 1737–9) W.H. Ainsworth Rookwood (1857) 206: ‘See ’em fairly spliced first,’ replied the Magus, [...] ‘A few minutes will settle that. Come, pals, to the autem ken.’.
[UK]G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
[UK]Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
[UK]Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict.
[US]Matsell Vocabulum 9: autum, A church.
[US]Trumble Sl. Dict. (1890).
[Aus]C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict 5: Autum, a church.
[US](con. 1950-1960) R.A. Freeman Dict. Inmate Sl. (Walla Walla, WA) 4: Autumn – a church.

2. see autem mort under autem adj.

In compounds

autem-bawler (n.) [SE bawler, shouter]

a parson.

[UK]New Canting Dict. n.p.: autem bawler A Preacher, or Parson, of any Sect. [Ibid.] The Autem-Bawler, will soon quit the Hums, for he chops up the Whiners; i.e. The Parson will soon have dispatch’d the Congregation, for he huddles over the Prayers; used by such as wait till Divine Service is over, to pick Pockets, &c.
[UK]Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict.
[UK]B.M. Carew Life and Adventures.
[UK]Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
[[Ire]J. O’Keeffe London Hermit (1794) 51: You are the canting bawler that broke down one of my statues].
[UK]G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
[UK]Lex. Balatronicum.
[UK]‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc.
[UK]Lytton Pelham III 297: Dressing up one of the pals, whom the sinner could not recognize, as an ‘autem bawler,’ and so obtaining him the benefit of the clergy without endangering the gang by his confession.
[UK](con. 1737–9) W.H. Ainsworth Rookwood (1857) 206: There’s that infernal autem-bawler.
[UK]Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
[UK]Kendal Mercury 17 Apr. 6/1: The coves next jigger (door) are hangers on (dependents) of the Autembawlers (ministers) and turn up their snuff-traps whenever there’s a shindy.
[US]Trumble Sl. Dict. (1890) Autom [sic] Bawler, a preacher.
[UK]Star (Guernsey) 26 Dec. 2/7: A preacher — an ‘autem-bawler’.
[Aus]C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict 5: Autum bawler.
[US](con. 1950-1960) R.A. Freeman Dict. Inmate Sl. (Walla Walla, WA) 4: Autumn bawler – a parson; sky-pilot.
autem-cackler (n.) (also anthem cackler, cackler) [SE cackle, to talk]

1. a dissenter, spec. a Puritan.

[UK]‘Whipping-Tom’ Democritus III 6: Entring [...] Oliver’s Tabernacle, situated not a Mile from the Gate-house, I hear’d a fanatical Cackler.
[UK]New Canting Dict.
[UK]Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict.
[UK]B.M. Carew Life and Adventures.
[UK]Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
[UK]G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
[UK]Lex. Balatronicum.
[UK]‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc.
[UK]G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
[UK]Swell’s Night Guide 110/1: Autem cacklers, dissenters of all sects.
[UK]Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict.
[US] ‘Hundred Stretches Hence’ Matsell Vocabulum 124: The autum-cacklers, autum-coves, / The jolly blade who wildly roves.
[UK]C. Hindley Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack 260: A Jew was selling cocoa-nut, when the ‘autem-cackler,’ i.e., dissenting minister, came and wanted to impart to the Israelite the sin he committed in carrying on his vocation on such a day [Sunday].
[UK]F.W. Carew Autobiog. of a Gipsey 412: The old ’un was an autem-cackler – what they calls a Baptist.

2. (Aus.) a married woman, a wife.

[Aus]C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict 5: Autum Cackler, a married woman.
autem-cackle-tub (n.) (also anthem cackle-ken) [cackle tub under cackle v.]

a conventicle or dissenters’ meeting house.

[UK]New Canting Dict.
[UK]Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict.
[UK]Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
[UK]G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
[UK]Lex. Balatronicum.
[UK]G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
[UK]Swell’s Night Guide 108/2: Anthem cackle ken, a house hired by Methodist preachers or ranting Dissenters, also Gospel lumber, gaming crib.
[UK]Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
autem-diver (n.) (also anthem diver) [diver n. (3)]

1. a pickpocket specializing in robbing from church congregations.

[UK]New Canting Dict. n.p.: autem-divers Church-Pickpockets.
[UK]Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict.
[UK]B.M. Carew Life and Adventures.
[UK]Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
[UK]G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
[UK]Lex. Balatronicum.
[UK]‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc.
[UK]G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
[UK]Swell’s Night Guide 110/1: Autem divers, pickpockets who practise in churches, also church-wardens and overseers of the poor, who defraud, deceive, and impose upon the parish.
[US]‘Ned Buntline’ Mysteries and Miseries of N.Y. I 113: ‘Autem-divers.’ Pickpockets in a Church.
[US]Trumble Sl. Dict. (1890).
[Aus]C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict 5: Autum Diver, a church pickpocket.

2. a churchwarden or other petty official charged with responsibility for distributing alms to the poor; their charges regarded them as little more than licensed robbers.

[UK]New Canting Dict. n.p.: autem-divers [...] often used among the Canters, for Church-Wardens, Overseers of the Poor, Sides-men and others, who have the Management of the Poor’s Money.
[UK]Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict.
[UK]B.M. Carew Life and Adventures.
[UK]Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
[UK]G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
[UK]Lex. Balatronicum.
[UK]G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 4: Autem divers [...] churchwardens and overseers of the poor, who defraud, deceive, and impose on the parish.
[UK]Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
[UK]Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict.
autem-gogler (n.) (also autem-goggler) [SE goggle (at), to stare (at)]

(UK Und.) a fortune-teller, a conjuror.

[UK]New Canting Dict. n.p.: autem-gogglers A Crew of Religious Cants, pretending to be persecuted Camisars, or French Prophets, distorting their Faces with ridiculous Grimaces, &c. and laying Claim to Inspiration, in order to gather People about them, with intent to rob, plunder, or pick Pockets.
[UK]Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. n.p.: autem-gogglers, pretended French prophets.
[UK]Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Autem goglers, (cant) pretended French prophets.
[UK]G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
[UK]Lex. Balatronicum.
[UK]Bell’s Life in London 13 Oct. 5/3: If you’re up to the slums Autem Gogglers should know; What is my luck to be? — said the mummers, ‘so,so!’.
[UK]G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
[UK]Swell’s Night Guide 110/1: Autem gogglers, conjurors, fortune tellers.
[UK]Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict.
autem jet (n.) [SE jet, black, i.e. the black clerical gown]

a parson.

[UK]New Canting Dict.
[UK]B.M. Carew Life and Adventures.
[UK]Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
[UK]H.T. Potter New Dict. Cant (1795).
[UK]G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
[UK]Lex. Balatronicum.
[UK]Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
[UK]Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
[UK]Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict.
[US]Matsell Vocabulum.
[Scot]Dundee Eve. Post 26 Nov. 6: They all dodge the Jet Autem, and sneak down the slade, / To appear arm-in-arm at the Monkey’s Parade.
anthem mot (n.) (also anthem quester)

(UK Und.) a beggar who poses as pious to play on the sympathies of church-goers.

[UK]Swell’s Night Guide 108/2: Anthem mot, or anthem quester, a man or woman faking the pious dodge with the shallow kids, cadging browns on amen and bounce.
autem quaver (n.) [SE quaver, to shiver or tremble; Quakers ‘tremble’ at the word of the Lord]

a Quaker; thus autem quaver tub, autem quaver’s butt, a Quaker meeting house.

[UK]New Canting Dict. n.p.: autem-quavers the Sectaries call’d Quakers, who first began their Schism by quavering, shaking, and other ridiculous Gestures. [Ibid.] autem-quaver-tub a Meeting-House, particularly for Quakers.
[UK]Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict.
[UK]Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Autem quavers, quakers. [Ibid.] Autem quaver tub, (cant) a quakers meeting-house.
[UK]G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
[UK]Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
[UK]‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc.
[UK]G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 4: Autem quaver’s tub, a quaker’s meeting house.
[UK]Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
[UK]Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict. n.p.: Autumn quaver’s butt quaker’s meeting house.
[UK]B.M. Carew Life and Adventures.