Backing and filling: Literally, the alternate movements of a steamboat. Metaphorically, changing one's mind; waffling.
Bad egg: a bad person; a good-for-nothing person.
- 1864: A bad egg-a fellow who had not proved to be as good as his promise. The Atheneum, p.559
Balderdash: nonsense; foolishness; empty babble.
- 1848: The steam was well up on both boats, which lay rolling, and backing and filling, from the action of the paddles, at the dock. Stray Subjecm p.1 74\
- 1854: Men will be sent to Congress who will not back and fill, and be on one principle for one week, one month, and one moon, and upon another principle another week, and month, and moon. Mr. Stephens, Georgia, House of Reps., Congressional Globe, December 1
Bar, barr: the popular pronunciation and spelling of bear, as used prolifically in the South.
- 1843: They say you've no barr nor turkey out thare in Filledelfy? R. Carlton, The New Purchas
- 1847: All the marks left behind showed me that he was the bar. T.B. Thorpe, The Big Bear of Arkansas, p.25
Beans, don't know, don't care: anything; something; nothing.
- 1857: "Well, then," said the General, "I don't care beans for the railroad, not a single old red-eyed bean, not a string-bean." Knickerbocker Magazine, February
Beat the Dutch: to beat all or beat the devil.
- 1840: Of all the goings on that I ever did hear of, this beats the Dutch. Knickerbocker Magazine, February
- 1854: Well, it does beat the Dutch, and the Dutch, you know, beat the d --- 1. Knickerbocker Magazine, May
Beatingest, beatemest, beatenest: anything or anyone that beats the competition.
- 1874: I reckon I am the beatin'est man to ax questions in this neck of timber. Edward Eggleston, The Circuit Rider, p. 119
Bee: a gathering of friends, family and neighbors to carry out a specific, time consuming job, e.g., a cornhusking or quilting bee (see also “Quilting Bee”).
- 1829: This collection of neighbors is called a Bee, and is the common custom to assist each other in any great piece of labor, such as building a house, logging, etc. The person who calls the bee is expected to feed them well, and to return their work day for day. Basil Hall, Travels in North America, pp.311-312
B’hoy: a rowdy young man; reveler; ruffian. See also G'hal.
- 1847: [He] had lived too long in the wire grass region to misunderstand the character of that peculiar class of b'hoys who dwell there. Knickerbocker Magazine, March
- 1852: [The occupants of the sleigh] are of not-to-be-mistaken Bowery cut - veritable b'hoys. Charles A. Bristed, The Upper Ten Thousand, p.29
- 1853: My off-handed manner just suited the b'hoy, on whom any superfluous politeness would have been thrown away. Knickerbocker Magazine, July
Biddy: a hen.
- 1874: [The English hens] had a contented cluck, as if they never got nervous, like Yankee biddies. Louisa May Alcott, Little Wives
Big bugs: bigwigs; important people.
- 1853: Who is that walking there with the big bugs in front? he eagerly asked. Why, don't you know? That is the Governor. Daily Morning Herald, St. Louis, May 10
- 1856: Hiram was beloved by many of the big bugs at Washington. Knickerbocker Magazine, March
- 1856: She's one of the big bugs here -that is, she's got more money than almost anybody else in town. Widow Bedott Papers, No.25
Biggest toad in the puddle: the most important person in a group.
Bodaciously: an exaggeration of "bodily."
- 1833: It's a mercy that the cowardly varmints hadn't used you up bodaciously. James Hall, Legends of the West, p.38
- 1878: I saw a man in Stockton, California, who had been bodaciously chawed up to use his own language, by a grizzly bear. J.H. Beadle, Western Wilds, p.118
Body: a person.
- 1798: This hot weather makes a body feel odd. How long would a body be going to Washington? Davis, Travels in America, p.223
Boodle: a crowd of people.
- 1833: He declared he'd fight the whole boodle of 'em. Seba Smith, Major Jack Downing, p. 183
Border ruffians: those living outside the civilized settlements.
- 1857: A great majority of the people of the West, on the borders, may be emphatically termed Border ruffians. The Eastern people call them by that name. John Taylor at the Bowery, Salt Lake City, August 9
- 1860: I only wanted to convince gentlemen… that Indianians made better border ruffians than we did. Mr. Craig, Missouri, House of Reps., Congressional Globe, January 4
Born days, in all one’s: In all one's lifetime; since one was born.
- 1840s: Where have you been all your born days, not to know better than that? Sam Slick in England, ch.2
[Not] born In the woods to be scared by an owl: refers to one who is experienced and therefore unafraid.
Brick in one’s hat, to have: to be drunk.
- 1854: A seedy-looking old negro, with a brick in his old hat, and a weed ‘round it. Knickerbocker Magazine, August
Bub and sis: brother and sister, especially applied to children.
- 1872: Many eminently genteel persons, whose manners make them at home anywhere, are in the habit of addressing all unknown children by one of the two terms, bub and sis, which they consider endears them greatly to the young people. Poet at the Breakfast Table, ch.1
Bucket shop: a gin mill; a distillery.
- 1881: A bucket-shop in New York is a low gin mill or distillery, where small quantities of spirits are dispensed in pitchers and pails [buckets]. When the shops for dealing in one-share or five-share lots of stocks were opened, these dispensaries of smaller lots then could be got from regular dealers and were at once named bucket-shops. New York Evening Post, October
Buckskin: a Virginian.
- 1824: We suspect that Capt. Tribby Clapp doodled the Buckskins. Franklin Herald, April 13
Bully for you!: well done; good for you.
- 1861: “Bully for you!” alternated with benedictions, in the proportion of two bullies to one blessing. Atlantic Monthly, June, p. 745
- 1864: The freckles have vanished, and bully for you. Daily Telegraph, November 18
Bummer: the original word for bum. A lazy hobo or drunk.
- 1857: The irreclaimable town bummer figured in the police court. San Francisco Call, April 28
- 1860: Another great sham connected with our social life is that of spreeing or bumming. Yale Literary Magazine
- 1862: A great majority of the bummers, who so long infested this city, have either left or gone to work. Rocky Mountain News, Denver, May 10
Bunkum (Buncombe): claptrap.
- 1827: This is an old and common saying in Washington, when a member of Congress is making one of those hum-drum and unlistened-to long talks which have lately become so fashionable.... This is cantly called talking to Bunkum: an honorable gentleman, long ago, having said that he was not speaking to the house, but to the people of a certain county [Buncombe] in his district, which, in local phrase, he called Bunkum. Niles' Weekly Register, September 27
- 1843: Mr. Weller of Ohio thought the question had been sufficiently debated, for nearly all the speeches had been made for Buncombe. Mr. Underwood, Kentucky, House of Reps., Congressional Globe, December II, p.43
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