- “tuppence more and up goes the DONKEY,” a vulgar street phrase for extracting as much money as possible before performing any task. The phrase had its origin with a travelling showman, the finale of whose performance was the hoisting of a DONKEY on a pole or ladder; but this consummation was never arrived at unless the required amount was first paid up, and “tuppence more” was generally the sum demanded.
- in printers’ slang, means a compositor. In the days before steam machinery was invented, the men who worked at press—the pressmen—were so dirty and drunken a body that they earned the name of pigs. In revenge, and for no reason that can be discovered, they christened the compositors DONKEYS.
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Position in the dictionary: 1035 of 4022 slang words.Next words in the dictionary: dookin, dose, doss, dossing-ken, dot and go one, double, double cross, double lines, double up, double-shuffle
Previous words in the dictionary: done!, done up, dona and feeles, don pedro, don, dominoes, domino, dominie, dollymop, dolly shop