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Road 96: But as the prison days went by [...] I ‘learned a few’.at know a thing or two, v.
Road 96: But as the prison days went by [...] I ‘learned a few’. Road 32: I might as well quit the game and get a job on an alfalfa farm somewhere.at alfalfa, n.
Road 119: The hall-men drove him mad with their stringing. His fictitious wrongs preyed upon his mind, and at last he became a dangerous and homicidal lunatic.at string (along), v.
Road 119: I couldn’t keep the hall-men away from him, and they continued to string him worse than ever.at string (along), v.
Road 149: I have made some tough camps in my time, ‘carried the banner’ in infernal metropolises, bedded in pools of water, slept in the snow under two blankets [...].at carry the banner (v.) under banner, n.
Road 74: I was lost. I could not tear myself away long enough to ‘batter’ the ‘privates’ (domiciles) for my supper.at batter, v.
Road 41: It is five to one, including the engineer and fireman, and the majesty of the law and the might of a great corporation are behind them, and I am beating them out.at beat (someone) out of (v.) under beat, v.
Road 159: She gives you a slice of sow-belly an’ a chunk of dry ‘punk’.at sow-belly, n.
Road 172: A bindle-stiff is a working tramp. He takes his name from the roll of blankets he carries, which is known as a ‘bindle’.at bindle, n.
Road 172: ‘Bindle-stiffs’ are favorite prey of the road-kids. A bindle-stiff is a working tramp. He takes his name from the roll of blankets he carries, which is known as a ‘bindle.’ Because he does work, a bindle-stiff is expected usually to have some small change about him, and it is after that small change that the road-kids go.at bindle stiff (n.) under bindle, n.
Road 29: I may as well explain here what a blind baggage is. Some mail-cars are built without doors in the ends; hence, such a car is ‘blind.’ [...] Suppose, after the train has started, that a tramp gets on to the platform of one of these blind cars. There is no door, or the door is locked. No conductor or brakeman can get to him to collect fare or throw him off. It is clear that the tramp is safe until the next time the train stops.at blind, n.2
Road 114: He was a true ‘profesh,’ a ‘blowed-in-the-glass’ stiff, and as such received all kinds of latitude from the hall-men in authority.at blowed-in-the-glass (stiff), n.
Road 125: Truly, Skysail Jack, you were a tramp-royal [...] I take off my hat to you. You were ‘blowed-in-the-glass’ all right.at blown-in-the-glass, adj.
Road 120: From some bo on the drag I managed to learn what time a certain freight pulled out. I calculated my time accordingly.at bo, n.1
Road 135: At the same time, glaring at us malevolently, he said: — ‘You’ve got scabs on your nose. You’ve got scabs on your nose. You’ve got scabs on your nose. See!’.at breed a scab (on one’s nose) (v.) under breed, v.
Road 165: It was up to me to deliver the goods. So I accepted Bob’s advice, and he came along with me to see that I did it up brown.at do up brown (v.) under brown, adj.2
‘Road-Kids and Gay-Cats’ Road 159: Salinas is on the ‘hog,’ the ‘bulls’ is ‘horstile.’.at bull, n.5
Road 34: The overland has stopped twice for me — for me, a poor hobo on the bum.at on a/the bum under bum, n.3
Road 183: We went down the river ‘on our own,’ hustling our ‘chewin’s,’ [...] and, alas that I must say it, sometimes taking possession of the stores the farmer-folk had collected for the Army.at chewing, n.
Road 126: ‘Chi’ (pronounced shy), by the way is the argot for ‘Chicago’.at Chi, n.
Road 24: The tramp, snugly ensconced inside the truck, with the four wheels and all the framework around him, has the ‘cinch’ on the crew — or so he thinks.at have the cinch on (v.) under cinch, n.1
Road 144: His advice was good, and I followed it, prepared, however, if it was a ‘con game’ the shack had given me, to take the blind as the overland pulled out.at con game (n.) under con, n.1
Road 104: He was a huge, illiterate brute, an ex-Chesapeake-Bay-oyster-pirate, an ‘ex-con’ who had done five years in Sing Sing.at ex-con, n.
Road 50: I was awakened by the sliding open of the door. [...] A ‘con’ (conductor) was poking his head inside the door.at con, n.1
Road 176: Our intention was to take the first train out, but the railroad officials ‘coppered’ our play — and won.at copper, v.2
(con. 1896) in Road (1970) ix: Two friends persuaded him to enter a ‘cramming joint’ known as the University Academy.at cramming, n.
Road 26: It was the fall of the year, and [...] I could expect ‘crimpy’ weather, and every moment of delay increased the frigid hardships of the journey.at crimpy, adj.
Road 38: Only a young and vigorous tramp is able to deck a passenger train.at deck, v.1
Road 37: I am on top of the train — on the ‘decks,’ as the tramps call it, and this process I have described is by them called ‘decking her.’.at deck, n.1
Road 38: I know those shacks will fusillade me with rocks. A healthy shack can ‘dewdrop’ a pretty heavy chunk of stone on top of a car.at dewdrop, v.
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