Victorian Slang: 90+ Words & Phrases From the 19th Century

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Forgotten gems from Victorian England worthy of bringing back

Co-authored by Jack Wallace and Glenn Carreau

Last Updated: April 26, 2025 Fact Checked

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General Slang

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Insults & Curses

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Words for People

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Sayings & Expressions

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Descriptive Words

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Food & Drink

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History of Victorian Slang

Are you looking to learn about Victorian slang or add a few unconventional new phrases to your vocabulary? We’ve got all the major scuttlebutt right here! Check out our extensive collection of Victorian slang words, phrases, insults, and expressions that’s truly “bang up to the elephant” below. Whether you're prepping for a period role or just fascinated by the evolution of language, you'll be tickety-boo in no time.

Section 1 of 7:

General Victorian Slang Words

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You might’ve heard terms like “balderdash,” “lollygag,” or “scuttlebutt” before, and it turns out they come from Victorian-era slang! Explore those words, their meanings, and more in this collection of general Victorian slang words:^{[1]
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- Academy headache - A headache acquired at an art gallery (or somewhere similar)
- Balderdash - Something preposterous or untrue
- Batty-fang - To thrash thoroughly (a London phrase, though possibly originating from “battre à fin” in French)
- Benjo - A noisy, riotous holiday
- Collie shangles - Arguments and quarrels
- Daddles - Hands (originating from boxing terms)
- Drumsticks - A person’s legs
- Evening wheezes - False or made-up news
- Fake a poke - Pickpocketing
- Kruger-spoof - Lying
- Lollygag - Wasting time or dawdling
- Major Macfluffer - A theater phrase for a lapse of memory
- Mouth-pie - Scolding, usually by a woman
- Nanty narking - A tavern term that means having almost too much fun; it may originate from the Welsh word “nant,” or stream, and the term “narking,” which means annoying
- Parish pick-axe - A large or pronounced nose
- Powdering hair - A tavern term for getting drunk
- Rain napper - An umbrella
- Sauce box - The mouth
- Scuttlebutt - Exchanging news and gossip; the term originates from sailors who’d “scuttle” (cut a hole) in a “butt,” or cask, of water and chat while doing so
- Tickety-boo - In good order or condition

Section 2 of 7:

Victorian Slang Insults & Curses

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Are you looking for some funny new words to insult your friends with playfully? Or maybe you want something new to say in place of modern-day curses. Either way, you’ll find them here; people in Victorian times used some colorful slang to swear and insult one another!^{[2]
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- Blazes - A curse meaning “hell” or referring to the Devil
- Bubble around - Any kind of verbal attack
- Damfino - A contraction of “damned if I know”
- Dratted - A Victorian swear used the way “damn” is today
- Foozler - Someone who messes things up or is clumsy
- Gorblimey - A contraction of “God blind me”
- Meater - A street term for someone cowardly
- Muffin-walloper - Someone sitting at home eating cakes instead of cooking^{[3]
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- Mutton shunter - A rude term for a police officer
- Skilamalink - Someone dishonest, underhanded, or resourceful
- Tarnation - A Victorian alternative to saying “damnation”

Section 3 of 7:

Victorian Slang Words for People

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Victorian slang features a number of different terms that describe specific kinds of people, from people with a penchant for gossip to people who just don’t have great singing skills! See if you recognize any of these terms:^{[4]
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- Basket of oranges - A pretty woman
- Beer bottle - A stout, red-faced man
- Chuckaboo - A close friend
- Church bell - A chatty woman (who talks so much her voice is reminiscent of church bells)
- Coffee-sisters - Gossipy people
- Dancing dogs - A satirical term for men dancing
- Dollymop - A woman dabbling in sex work
- Escop - A cockney term for a police officer
- Gal-sneaker - A man who tries to seduce every woman he meets
- Jammiest bits of jam - Perfect, gorgeous young ladies
- Mollisher - The female companion of a criminal or villain
- Revolveress - A woman with excellent shooting skills
- Whooperups - Noisy (and poor) singers
- Wooden spoon - Someone not very smart or self-aware

Section 4 of 7:

Victorian Slang Sayings & Expressions

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Unsurprisingly, Victorian slang has many whimsical sayings—some fairly straightforward and others a little more obscure. Luckily, we’ll explain all of them in our list of phrases and expressions below:^{[5]
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- Bang up to the elephant - Perfect, complete, or unapproachable
- Barking at a knot - Doing something pointless or wasting your time
- Butter upon bacon - Over-the-top extravagance
- Can’t you feel the shrimps? - Cockney for “smell the sea”
- Cheese and crust - Lower-class alternative to “Jesus Christ”
- Cop a mouse - Getting a black eye
- Cut a finger - To cause (or be the source of) a bad odor
- Do a stamp - Take a walk
- Do tell - A phrase meaning “you don’t say” or inviting someone to share their news
- Don’t sell me a dog - A slang phrase meaning “don’t lie to me”
- Foot and mouth disease - Swearing followed by kicking
- Grinning at the daisy roots - Indicates that someone has died and been buried
- Got the morbs - Feeling melancholy or miserable^{[6]
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- Keep that dry - A request to keep something secret
- Kill the canary - Finding an excuse to skip work (like pretending to be sick)
- Make a stuffed bird laugh - Doing something absolutely absurd
- Mind the grease - A phrase meaning “Let me pass, please” when walking around people
- Not up to dick - Not feeling well
- Nursing the hoe-handle - Being lazy
- Raked fore and aft - A mariner’s term for someone desperately in love
- Shake a flannin - A slang expression for going to fight
- Shoot into the brown - To fail at something (referring to missing the target while shooting a rifle)
- Shoot your cuff - Having the best possible personal appearance
- Sponge it out - Forget it
- Take the egg - To win at something

Section 5 of 7:

Descriptive Victorian Slang Words

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If you’re looking for an unusual term to describe something (or someone), there might just be a colorful piece of Victorian slang that’ll fit what you’re looking for. Check out this list of descriptive Victorian slang words, from “bricky” to “gigglemug.”^{[7]
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- Afternoonified - Anything posh (Referring to the “posh” practice of tea time in the afternoons)
- Arfarfan'arf - A figure of speech meaning drunk
- Bricky - Someone brave and fearless
- Champagne weather - Bad, rainy weather
- Cheek-ache - Blushing or turning red due to someone else’s rudeness
- Crushed - Being in love or besotted with someone (like having a crush in modern terms)
- Dizzy age - Elderly
- Doing the bear - A style of courting that involved hugging
- Door-knocker - A beard style with shaved cheeks and chin, leaving hair under the chin and on each side of the mouth connected by a mustache
- Eat vinegar with a fork - Someone extremely well-spoken who has a sharp way with words
- Enthuzimuzzy - A sarcastic word for “enthusiasm”
- Firkytoodling - Kissing and cuddling
- Fly rink - A polished, bald head
- Gas pipes - Very tight pants
- Gigglemug - A perpetually smiling face
- Half rats - Being partially intoxicated
- Mad as hops - Someone very excitable
- Mafficking - Getting rowdy out in the streets
- Orf chump - Having no appetite
- Poked up - Feeling embarrassed
- Some pumpkins - Something really awesome or impressive
- Up the pole - Being so drunk you have to hold onto a pole to stay upright
- Worry the dog - A bully, someone so off-putting they even upset the house dog

Section 6 of 7:

Victorian Slang Words for Food & Drink

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Victorian slang also features a few terms specifically referring to food and drink, particularly meat (like sausages) and tea, coffee, or alcoholic beverages. Here’s a short list of Victorian food and drink terms:^{[8]
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- Bags o’ mystery - Sausages
- Bow wow mutton - Extremely bad meat
- Cat lap - Tea and coffee (used scornfully by London beer and liquor drinkers)
- Smothering a parrot - Drinking a glass of absinthe neat
- Powdering hair - Getting drunk

Section 7 of 7:

History of Victorian Slang

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Victorian slang comes from the era of Queen Victoria's reign (1837–1901). That's why so many Victorian slang words are British, or even specifically originated in 19th-century London. It also comes from vastly different sources, from lower-class Londoner and cockney terms to mariner vocabulary, tavern slang, popular literature and music at the time, current fashion trends, and other local figures of speech.^{[9]
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- In Victorian London (and beyond), slang terms let people chat about their lives and easily reference very particular situations or descriptions. It was almost like a sort of code that people could speak in!
- Naturally, Victorian slang evolved over the years, with different phrases coming in and out of style—just like they do today.
- In 1909, a book was even published about Victorian slang called Passing English of the Victorian Era: A Dictionary of Heterodox English, Slang, and Phrase by J. Redding Ware.
- In the book, J. Redding Ware describes Victorian slang as "a river of new language which has its tide and its ebb," and "often very seasonably local."^{[10]
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