prad, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

prad n.

also praddle, pred

[Du. paard, a horse; ult. Lat. paraveredus, which gives the SE palfrey, a riding horse as opposed to a war-horse]

1. (20C use Aus./N.Z. only) a horse.

1703		Hell Upon Earth 6: Prad, a Horse.
1709		N. Ward Compleat and Humorous Account of Remarkable Clubs (1756) 294: Snaffle Biters [...] who make it their principal Business to steal Horses, talk what rare Prads and Gallopers they had met with in their Time.
1741		Canting Academy, or the Pedlar’s-French Dict. 112: Is there good Hay for the Horses, Is there rum Strummel for the Prads.
1753		J.Poulter Discoveries (1774) 20: Burk will show you where you may buss a Couple of Prads, and fence them at Abingdon Gaff; that is, Burk, will show you a Couple of Horses that you may steal, and sell them at Abingdon Fair.
c.1780		‘On Newgate Steps Jack Chance was Found’ 🎵 To pad the hoof he [scorned] to tramp, / So he hired a prad and he went on the scamp.
1791		‘Another Highway-man’s Song’ Confessions of Thomas Mount 20: I’ll sport as good a pred away / As any boy in town. [Ibid.] ‘Mount’s Flash Song upon himself’ 22: Of coves with praddles / Of kens with daddles.
1800		Sporting Mag. Apr. XVI 26/1: Met Bob Blunderbuss and Bob Bounce, going about on their prads.
1819		‘One of the Fancy’ Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress 8: And long before daylight gigs, rattlers, and prads, / Were in motion for Mousley, brimful of the Lads.
1829		‘The Stage-Coachman’s Lament’ in C. Hindley James Catnach (1878) 201: Farewell to my four iron greys, / And the rest of the prads that I drive!
1838		Dickens Oliver Twist (1966) 273: He’s in the gig, a-minding the prad.
1842		Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 19 Mar. n.p.: Miss Ellen’s prad bolted.
1845		J. Lindridge Sixteen-String Jack 125: Over the water we’ll flare; / Coaches and prads, lasses and lads.
1848		Bell’s Life in Sydney 16 Sept. 3/3: Having borrowed his prad, a spicy little animal of the cob kind, [...] returning it to its legitimate owner, minus the pig skin.
1858		A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 351: Lots of prads, Frenchy, if we want them.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 123/1: The ‘prad’ was secured, and his nose-bag put on, in which was a good feed of oats to keep him occupied.
1873		N.S. Dodge ‘Vagrants & Vagrancy’ in Appleton’s Journal (N.Y.) 6 Sept. 308: To a vagrant, a horse is a prad; to a man of fashion, a spanker. The former is cant, the latter slang.
1887		Bulletin (Sydney) 29 Oct. 8/4: Spud is possessed of more humorous eccentricities than any other prad his size and weight, and it pleases him more than he can tell to have people stand around and applaud while he shows off his accomplishments.
1893		K. Mackay Out Back 118: Captain Scarlet stole my boss’s best prad, and the sooner he’s lagged the better.
1896		Mirror of Life 30 May 15/2: Tom Gill’s ‘prad,’ which conveyed us to the station, is the animal which will take ‘Dido’ Plumb out to and home from the National.
1897		W.T. Goodge ‘Great Aus. Slanguage’ in Baker Aus. Lang. (1945) 117: And a bosom friend’s a cobber, / And a horse a prad or moke.
1908		G. Seagram Bushman All 19: It was you as took the flamin’ prads.
1918		C.J. Dennis ‘Got-A-Fag’ Backblock Ballads 30: Boss, I’ve got a nag – / Risin’ four – good prad he’s counted. Better shove me in the mounted.
1922		Smith’s Wkly (Sydney) 2 Dec. 18/3: A prad that to all intents and purposes had as much chance as a hailstone in hell.
1936		‘Banjo’ Paterson Shearer’s Colt 222: We have taken a house near Epsom with stables at the back, and we are going to get Bill the Gunner to train a few prads for us.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1827

Egan Anecdotes of the Turf, the Chase etc. 201: In the Prad department at Smithfield [...] you may pick and choose, please your eye and suit your pocket.

In compounds

prad borrower (n.)

(UK Und.) one who steals a horse, but (sometimes) returns him.

1781		G. Parker View of Society II 88: A Horse being put to grass, the Prad-Borrowers came in the night, and gelt the horse. In about a month [...] one of them returned and stole him.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum.
1862		E. de la Bédollière Londres et les Anglais 316/2: prad borrower, voleur de chevaux.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 61: Prad Borrowers, horse-stealers.

prad chewer (n.)

(UK und.) a horse thief.

1832		Public Ledger 12 Nov. 3/3: Horse and cattle stealers Prad-chewers.
1848		Era (London) 12 Nov. 8/3: [O]ur fighting contributor [...] has thus poetically classed them:- [...] grabbers (6), shop-bouncers (7), prad-chewers (8), bit-makers (9).

prad cove (n.) [cove n. (1)]

(UK Und.) a horse dealer.

1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1828		‘Jockey’s Sl. Vocab’ Farrier and Naturalist 91: Prad Cove. A horse dealer.

pradholder (n.)

a bridle.

1807

H. Tufts Autobiog. (1930) 292: Pradholder signifies a bridle.

prad lay (n.) [lay n.³ (1)]

the stealing of bags from horses.

1703		Hell Upon Earth 3: Some are very sharp at the Prad-Lay.
c.1786		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions .
1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (3rd edn).
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1848		Ladies’ Repository (N.Y.) Oct. VIII:37 316/2: Prad lay, see lay.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 61: Prad Lay, stealing horses [sic].

prad layer (n.)

one who steals baggage from horses, taking advantage of the darkness to cut the bindings.

1708

J. Hall Memoirs (1714) 5: Prad-Layers, Such as cut bags from behind Horses as People ride along in the Dark.

prad-napper (n.) (also pred-napper) [nap v.¹ (2)]

a horse-thief.

1791

‘Flash Lang.’ Confessions of Thomas Mount 10: A horse-stealer, a prednapper.

prad-napping (n.) (also pred-napping)

horse-stealing.

1807		H. Tufts Autobiog. (1930) 293: Prad napping signifies horse stealing.
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.

prad prigger (n.)

see prigger of prancers under prigger n.¹

prad’s backman (n.)

a horse-rider.

1835

Metropolitan Mag. XIV Sept. 333: We then cross the country into Surrey and were very soon prad’s backmen. My pal [...] bought himself an out-and-out filly.