Can You Use These Century-Old Slang Words in a Sentence?

Not to be confused with steamy, which delves into an entirely different territory, the image of steam captures the term "steam up" well. Something usually steams before it boils over, such as one's nerves. When someone gets really riled up, all that huffing and puffing can make it seem like there's steam coming out of their ears.

In the early days of film screenings, the images flickered a little from frame to frame. This, in turn, may account for the spread of the word flick to mean film. There's also a raunchier version of flick called a skinflick.

Say you want to belittle someone's enterprise. You might call it a rinky-dink establishment in the boondocks, a venture so insignificant you don't even care to mention it, let alone go there. That's not very nice now, is it?

If you are wearing your glad rags, you're sure dressed up to the nines! Sunday best with a little more glamour, more pizzazz, so you can show up at a party and foxtrot until dawn. You're ready to impress anyone in sight and then some.

If you're pulling a fast one on someone, you're probably so swift and sly at your deception/cheating game that your victim won't see it coming. You have to be fast, of course, to fool someone without them having noticed a thing.

You wouldn't want to be called a copper in the early part of the twentieth century, but nowadays being called a cop, a shortened version of copper, is just fine by most police officers. Time has really taken the sting out of being called a copper.

Linked to cushions, if you have a cushy position you're pretty comfortable without actually having to do much. No sweat, no discomfort, no major hassles to deal with. Cushions really do absorb any hardness while propping you up.

Possibly an altered form of daisy, if something or someone is called a doozy it means it's really special (for better or worse). And who doesn't want to be a doozy in someone else's eyes? Even though something bizarre can be called a doozy, it's still an original, a stand-out.

Linked to witchcraft, you'd better cross your fingers to keep your good luck and not have your plans jinxed. If someone puts a jinx on you, call Sabrina, your friendly neighbor/witch. She can undo any jinx unless, of course, she's the one who jinxed you in the first place.

If you were a called a floozy, you probably were perceived as being less than a virgin. In other words, the person was calling you unchaste; however, wearing skirts above the knee was considered very bold and daring back then. Remember, the bikini was named after the site of atomic bomb tests, indicating the stir it caused!

A goof may be naturally silly or take up the persona to entertain people with their goofy eccentricities. Some people are such goofballs! Put a dingbat, a ditz, and a real goofball together and it's going to be one goofy party!

If you're a rat, your ... er, associates may find out and get rid of you before you betray them and turn them in. Invariably, there will be a rat in a gangster flick. Gangsters bump off rats for failing to uphold their code of loyalty. Mum's the word if you're a gangster.

You can really be silly and incompetent in a lovable way, you know? If someone calls you a doofus, they're probably saying it with a smile. Think about it. How can you not enjoy the antics of a doofus? They're memorable, that's for sure.

Saying scram to mean "get out of here" now has something quaint and humorous about it. You may use it when joking around with friends. Whether or not they take you seriously is another matter altogether. For emphasis, you can always try 23 Skidoo!

If someone calls you a dingbat, they probably think you're endearingly dumb in a silly kind of way. If they say it behind your back, they might already have you pegged as a nitwit. Fret not, they probably like you anyway.

Linked to the early 1920s, using "frame" to mean implicating someone for a crime they didn't commit has been a mainstay in the lexicon of films. Think "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" and the entire genre of detective/gangster stories.

If the thought of someone immediately conjures up an image of their arms around a wine bottle or another kind of liquor, chances are they are a wino. In other words, that person can't get enough of their booze.

Sometimes used to refer to jail nowadays, hoosegow is traced to the Spanish word for panel of judges. The story goes that hoosegow is how jugado might have sounded when it was overheard. Whatever the exact origin, it stuck.

A variant of the word simpleton, simp is rarely heard nowadays. Whether it be a simp or a simpleton, the term conjures up a lovable fool who is too clueless to pick up on social cues.

The classic hippie road movie "Easy Rider" starring Henry Fonda and Dennis Hopper turns the term on its head, giving it a cool, relaxed, countercultural meaning. The term, as it's defined originally, refers to a pimp or parasitical type of person.

Possibly of Yiddish origin, a shamus refers to a police officer or private detective. Used in a derogatory sense, a shamus is the type of copper who might be friends with a rat. Then again, you never know when one will turn on the other.

Apparently, this term was used to refer to detectives in Ireland. It transferred nicely to the government men of the United States who sniffed around looking for clues. If you think of a G-man, think of a snoop/detective for the government.

An onomatopoeia (it sounds like what it is), zing implies zest and that sizzling quality that gives something its oomph. If it's got zing, it has pizzazz. If you've got it, you know it. Zing has an energy all its own and one immediately recognizes it.

Although dilly may sound silly, it actually means something extraordinary, as in really special and remarkable. Then again, being extraordinarily silly could be dilly for someone who cherishes all things goofy. It's a doozy!

Even though it's associated with deceit or a swindle of some kind, the meaning of goldbrick evolved over time. Originally linked to someone selling bricks as gold, by World War I goldbrick meant anyone who told white lies in order to avoid their duties.

Coughing up means handing over or surrendering something, especially money, when you'd really rather not. It's uncomfortable yet just has to be done after oodles of persuasion. Unsurprisingly, it's often heard in gangster movies.

It's got to be pretty nifty to be deemed a jim-dandy. It's so sweetly exciting that it has a candy named after it. It may also be used to describe a car with style, even if one's definition of style differs from another's.

There has been a lot of speculation about the origin of 23 Skidoo. Does 23 refer to an unlucky losing number, a street in New York, or is it just a variant of the word skedaddle? In any case, it's a way to tell someone to get a move on, and make it snappy!

If you're blotto, you're pretty drunk. This one might have acquired its name from the word blot. When things start to get hazy and confused, blot starts to sound a lot like blotto, doesn't it? Three bottles of wine will get you there.

Bearing an abundance of ribbons and medals can conjure up an image of a fruit salad. You get them for serving in the military and serving it well. The ornamental effect of all those medals, with its mix of colors, made someone come up with this playful term.

Apparently making duck soup is foolproof, easy as pie, you know? You can't mess it up. Whoever came up with it gets the credits for one funny-sounding image. The Marx Brothers thought so. They named one of their films "Duck Soup."

No, we don't mean it in the passing gas sense, although some people find fart jokes hilarious and gas. Gas, you guessed it, means something is considered delightfully fun. If you're having a hard time visualizing the meaning, think of laughing gas.

Now obsolete, ack emma is traced to a British signaling code in usage around World War I. It then spread to the general population. Ack stands for A and Emma stands for M. Rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? Pip emma is the P.M. version of it.

If everything is jake, you're doing just fine. Everything's cool. And sometimes doing all right is just perfect. No complaints at all. In fact, if someone says that all is jake then there's really nothing to worry about.

If something (or someone) is lulu, it's really wonderful. You wouldn't want to miss it or part with it. If a woman gets called a lulu, it's a compliment unless, of course, it's said ironically. Still, it's too lulu to carry any real sting.