1939 V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 252: The latter was a ‘bit of a lad’ and we became friendly in no time.at bit of a lad (n.) under bit of (a), n.
1939 V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 72: Most of us thought that Browne was merely releasing ‘hot air’.at hot air, n.
1939 V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 95: Someone’s having a laugh and joke (slang for smoke).at laugh and joke, n.
1939 V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 178: ‘Ye gods!’ ejaculated my comrade.at ye gods (and little fishes)!, excl.
1939 V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 10: A gutter-bred street ‘arab’ born into a criminal environment.at arab, n.
1939 V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 147: There goes Fred Karno’s army / What . . . use are they, etc.at Fred Karno’s army, n.
1939 V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 85: Platinum, or my uncle’s a bloater.at my prick’s a bloater under bloater, n.
1939 V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 87: I shall find out if the bookie paid him.at bookie, n.
1939 V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 129: ‘Bouncing’ means delivering a blow on an enemy’s neck with a piece of lead concealed in a sock.at bounce, v.1
1939 V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 37: I reckon two hundred of the boys are game to take a chance.at boys, the, n.
1939 V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 23: Three and five and a brief [...] meaning he had a sentence of three years’ penal servitude, five years’ preventive detention [...] and a revoked ticket o’ leave of his previous prison.at brief, n.1
1939 V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 87: ‘What about the thirty-three pounds, Paddy?’ inquired ‘Brummy Sam’.at Brummy, adj.
1939 V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 50: He had obtained the news by the mysterious ‘bush wireless’ route. [Ibid.] 94: There is no solution to the greatest mystery of penal life — ‘jail wireless’.at bush radio (n.) under bush, n.1
1939 V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 97: The whole party stopped working to have a butcher’s look at her.at butcher’s hook, n.
1939 V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 105: The [...] ‘can-openers’ (safe breakers) not only rank as the elite in this particular branch of criminality with the underworld, but are accorded a front-rank place in jail esteem.at can opener, n.
1939 V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 206: I shouldn’t have knocked the wicket down if I hadn’t been hit on the canister.at canister, n.1
1939 V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 222: He’s been on the carpet for being too kind-hearted to the lags.at on the carpet under carpet, n.1
1939 V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 46: It may have been his soft blue eyes that induced the authorities to segregate [him] from the Moor ‘hard cases’.at hard case, n.
1939 V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 97: The screw’s eyes popped out like chapel hat-pegs.at chapel hat-pegs (n.) under chapel, n.
1939 V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 9: Do yez tink dey will turn da key on yez, Chief?at chief, n.
1939 V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 97: He fancied himself as a bit of a lady-killer, and I guessed he was trying to ‘click’.at click, v.3
1939 V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 163: You’ll get a change of air, 716 [...] down in the cockpit (punishment cells).at cockpit, n.2
1939 V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 168: Kick in dose letters and de coin, mister.at coin, n.