darkmans, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

darkmans n.

[SE dark + -mans sfx]

1. (UK Und., also darkman, darkum) the night.

c.1535		R. Copland Hye way to the Spyttel House Eiii: I now, ynow; with bousy coune maund nace / Toure the patryng coue in the darkman cace.
c.1566		Harman Caveat for Common Cursetours in Viles & Furnivall (1907) 84: the darkemans, the nyght.
1592		Groundworke of Conny-catching A2: I couched in a hogshead in a Skipper this darkmans.
1608		Dekker Lanthorne and Candle-Light Ch. 1: Enough – with bowsy Coue maund Nace, / Tour the Patring Coue in the Darkeman Case.
1611		Middleton & Dekker Roaring Girle V i : My dainty wilde del, with all whom I’le tumble this next darkmans in the strommel.
1639		J. Taylor Crabtree Lectures 191: Mort. Ile tell thee queere Cove, thou must [...] lib in the Strummel, al the darkmans, and budge a beake in the light mans.
1641		R. Brome Jovial Crew II i: Make a retreat into the Skipper; / And couch a Hogs-head, till the dark man’s past.
1651		T. Randolph Hey for Honesty III i: Darkmans for pannum Should the grand Ruffian come to mill me, I Would scorn to shuffle from my poverty.
1665		Head Eng. Rogue I 46: Bien Darkmans then, Bouse, Mort, and Ken, / The bien Coves bings awast.
a.1674		‘A Wenches complaint for . . . her lusty Rogue’ Head Canting Academy (1674) 17: When the Darkmans have been wet / Thou the Crackmans down did beat / For Glymmar whilst a quacking cheat / Or Tib o’th Buttery was our meat.
1688		R. Holme Academy of Armory Ch. iii item 68c: Canting Terms used by Beggars, Vagabonds, Cheaters, Cripples and Bedlams. [...] Darkmans, the Night.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew.
1707		‘Maunder’s Praise of His Strowling Mort’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 33: Couch a hogshead with me then, / And in the darkmans clip and kiss.
1707		J. Shirley Triumph of Wit 194: Five Rum-padders are rubbed in the Darkman out of the Whit [Five Highway-men got away in the night out of Newgate].
1719		A. Smith Lives of Most Notorious Highway-men, etc. (1926) 204: Darkmans, the night.
1725		‘Retoure My Dear Dell’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 44: Each darkmans I pass in an old shady grove.
1734		C. Johnson Hist. of Highwaymen &c. 105: They betook to a barn not far off, where they couched a Hogshead in the Darkman’s, and went to Sleep.
1741		Canting Academy, or the Pedlar’s-French Dict. 112: Its Six Pence a Night, Its Sice a Darkum.
1754		Scoundrel’s Dict. 18: Night or Evening – Darkman.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1815		(con. 18C) Sir W. Scott Guy Mannering (1999) 148: Men were men then, and fought other in the open field, and there was nae milling in the darkmans.
1828		Lytton Pelham III 291: Ah, Bess, my covess, strike me blind if my sees don’t tout your bingo muns in spite of the darkmans.
1833		‘The Beak and Trap to Roost are Gone’ Swell!!! or, Slap-Up Chaunter 49: Noon lays us in a planket crib / And darkmans is our day.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
1857		Punch ‘Dear Bill, This Stone-Jug’ 31 Jan. n.p.: In the dayrooms the cuffins we queers at our ease, / And at Darkmans we run the rig just as we please.
1857		Bell’s Life in Victoria (Melbourne) 21 Feb. 2/1: ‘Blindman’s Holiday’ means night [...] —‘Darkman’s’ is the same.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1881		Trumble ‘On the Trail’ Sl. Dict. (1890) 42: No, Jim, I only piked into Grassville with a dimber-damber, who couldn’t pad the hoof for a single darkman’s without his bloss to keep him from getting poggy.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 23: Darkman, the night.
1904		Sun (NY) 10 July 29/4: Here is a genuine letter written in thieves’ slang, recently found by the English police [...] Meet me at net to darkmans in blloming slum near the old padding ken to get off the swag.
1906		A. McCormick Tinkler-Gypsies of Galloway 104: The following words appear to be still in use in one form or another amongst Galwegian tinkler-gypsies – Millin’ in the darkmans – Murder by night.

2. (UK Und.) a covered ‘dark’ lantern.

1823

‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, The Ring, The Chase, etc.

In compounds

darkmans budge (n.) [budge n.¹ (1)]

(UK Und.) a thief’s accomplice, who climbs into a house through a window and opens a door to admit the rest of the gang.

1674		Head Canting Academy (2nd edn) n.p.: You Darkman-budge, will you fence your hog with me, at the next Boozing Ken: That is, d’ye hear you House-creeper, will you spend your shilling with me, at the next Alehous.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Darkmans-budge, c. a House-creeper, one that slides into a House in the dusk, to let in more Rogues to rob.
1707		J. Shirley Triumph of Wit 194: You Darkman-budge, will you fence your Hog at the next Boozen-ken [Night-budge will you spend your Shilling at the next Ale-house].
1719		A. Smith Lives of Most Notorious Highway-men, etc. (1926) 207: [as cit. 1707].
1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: darkmans-Budge a House-creeper, one that slides into a House in the Dusk, to let in more Rogues to rob. The Sixty-first Order of Rogues.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. n.p.: darkmans-Budge one that slides into a House in the Dark, to let in more Rogues to rob.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Darkman’s budge, one that slides into a house in the dark of the evening, and hides himself, in order to let some of the gang in at night to rob it.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1839		(con. 1715) W.H. Ainsworth Jack Sheppard (1917) 86: A couple of flash songs [...] entitled ‘The Thief Catcher’s Prophecy’ and ‘Life and Death of the Darkman’s Budge’.