Do You Know the Meaning of These 1800s Words?

By: Jonnathan Chadwick
Estimated Completion Time
4 min
Do You Know the Meaning of These 1800s Words?
Image: Southern Stock / Photodisc / Getty Images

About This Quiz

Words are the fashion of society's language, and they change just as often as actual fashion does. You only need to read a few sentences to  guess what century something was written in. Word meanings can stay constant or evolve. 

As they say, "there is nothing new under the sun," but that hasn't stopped us from creating new words to describe old things. It's fun to do, and as long as that remains true, there will be an infinite number of words in the world. A lot of words of the 1800s have become obsolete today, but others have become more popular. Some have gained new definitions. Some have been split in half and recombined to create new words. Some have completely disappeared, and some are simply ridiculous. What do you know about words from the 1800s?

The world is filled with gal-sneakers, mutton shunters, daddles, chuckaboos, church-bells and gigglemugs. Some people walk around with door knockers on their face and some people walk around with gas-pipes on their legs. We all get the morbs and do the bear and shoot into the brown, but we probably don't know what those words mean. 

What do you know about words from the 1800s? Can you tell us the meanings of these words?

Sauce-box / Mouth
Pixabay by Engin_Akyurt
Do you know what your sauce-box is?
Eyes
Mouth
Ears
Nose
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Much like today's "pie hole," "sauce-box" was used in the 1800s to describe a person's mouth. It is not the same as the word "saucebox," which originated hundreds of years earlier and is defined as "one addicted to saucy remarks."

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Buster Keaton - The Boat
First National Pictures
If somebody asked you how life started, an appropriate response would be ________.
Batty-fang
Damfino
Doing the bear
Gas-pipes
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

"Damfino" is a shortened version of "damned if I know," and the word is pronounced with a long I. The word became popular in the late 1800s, and by the early 1900s, it made its way into a major Hollywood film — Buster Keaton's "The Boat."

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Church Bell
Pixabay by dimitrisvetsikas1969
What would the 1800s version of you call a loud and talkative neighbor whose voice you can still hear ringing in your ears?
Meater
Mutton shunter
Church-bell
Rain napper
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

There's an array of words to describe overly talkative people, and "church-bell" was used to specifically describe a talkative woman in rural areas during the 1800s. A "jaw-me-down" was the male equivalent.

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Vintage bed / cot
Pixabay by hansbenn
If your friend doesn't feel like doing anything except sleep all day, what might you say about them?
They've got the morbs.
They should shake a flannin.
They should mind the grease.
They bubbled around.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

If you've "got the morbs," you're feeling tired and down. It stems from the word "morbid" and became common slang in the late 1800s. It's a temporary state that can be caused by something as simple as eating too much pie at Thanksgiving.

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Richard Caton Woodville, Sr. - Walters Art Museum
Public Domain via WikiCommons
Some people flirt with their crush, some people shy away, and others "do the bear." What does that mean?
Secret handshake
Hug
Avoid each other
Kiss
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

According to "Passing English of the Victorian Era," "doing the bear" describes courtship that involves hugging. The term originated from a Spanish phrase that was popular in Mexico during the time. Today, a strong hug is known as a bear hug.

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Marie Camus du Martroy
Public Domain via WikiCommons
Which of the following is another term for a fight?
Bricky
Chuckaboo
Dustup
Daddles
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

"Dustup" is still used today to describe a small fight or quarrel — it's meant to conjure up the image of dust rising from the floor during a commotion. The phrase first appeared in writing toward the end of the 19th century.

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Panning for Gold
Image Source / Image Source / Getty Images
The California Gold Rush started in 1848. What's the name for a gold miner who joined the gold rush?
Forty-eighter
Forty-niner
Fiftier
Fifty-oner
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The peak of the California Gold Rush came in 1849, when everybody who was brave enough to venture west for gold did so. They came to be known as "forty-niners," and today forty-niners are honored all over California. Must have been nice to be a forty-eighter.

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Harvard University
Pixabay by 12019
The locals at college parties are known as ________.
Daddles
Door-knockers
Gas-pipes
Townies
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

In the early 19th century, the word "townie" became a popular way to define a permanent resident of a college town, especially in schools that are today's Ivy League colleges. Those townies probably crashed a lot of parties.

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Halloween
Pixabay by socialneuron
When you're too old to go trick-or-treating but too young to stay in on Halloween, you might go out and "wake snakes." What does that mean?
Go to the library
Walk your pet snake
Go to a party
Get into mischief
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Many snakes are ambush hunters. They sit motionless and unnoticed until they're disturbed, so stepping in the wrong place at the wrong time can turn dangerous very quickly. This is where the phrase comes from.

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Junk
jada photo / Moment / Getty Images
People who got rich by selling poorly built, third-rate junk were known as what?
Shoddyocracy
Mutton shunters
Meaters
Nose baggers
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Canal Street in downtown New York City is notorious these days for rampant shoddyocracy. Everything from fake Gucci and Prada to Rolex and Hublot is casually sold in the area, and some people make a lot of money from the knockoff items. Let's build a bargainocracy instead.

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Victorian Child
Public Domain via WikiCommons
The best way to get out of trouble is to have a really good excuse or "tell a thumper." What does that mean?
Tell an unbelievable lie
Tell a white lie
Tell the truth
Tell a clever lie
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

To "tell a thumper" meant to tell a clever lie, as opposed to a stupid lie. A real whopper was a "double-thumper." The word "thump" on its own has a completely different meaning, of course.

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Elephant herd
skaman306 / Moment / Getty Images
What does it mean to "see the elephant"?
Have an epiphany
Experience the world
Travel to Thailand
Eat Asian food
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

To "see the elephant" is an idiom that has taken on a few different meanings over time. In the military world, it means to experience war; in the civilian world, it means to experience all the world has to offer, both good and bad. It can also mean to explore all the sights of a big city.

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19th Century Baseball Team
Public Domain via WikiCommons
The Los Angeles Lakers got Chicagoed by the Boston Celtics. What does "Chicagoed" mean?
Cheated
Badly beaten
Celebrated
Booed
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

To get "Chicagoed" means to get badly beaten. Chicago was known as the epicenter of crime during Prohibition, but this term actually stems from Chicago's baseball team of the mid-1800s. The team was so good they regularly shut out other teams.

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The Studd Brothers
Public Domain via WikiCommons
Today's best friends are known as "besties," "bros," "baes," "homies," "pals" and more. What was a best friend called in 1800?
Orf chump
Daddle
Chuckaboo
Rain napper
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

"Passing English of the Victorian Era" says the word "chuckaboo" has no deep meaning and is just "a name given familiarly to a favorite chum." Best friends have been given countless nicknames over the centuries.

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Grilled steaks
Mike Lang / Moment / Getty Images
If you were served a disgusting piece of steak at dinner, you might serve up what insult?
Sauce-box
Bow-wow mutton
Skilamalink
Whooperups
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

According to the "1811 Dictionary of Vulgar Tongue," "bow-wow mutton" means "dog's flesh." It describes meat that looks unfit for human consumption, and the phrase "bow-wow" was also a vulgar term used to define a man from Boston.

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Victorian Dog
CC BY 2.0 via WikiCommons
If you ask someone a really important question and then say, "don't sell me a dog," what are you telling them?
Don't be funny
Be nice
Don't be nice
Don't lie to me
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Up until the last quarter of the 1800s, this phrase was pretty popular. Apparently people who sold dogs in the 1800s were known to lie and try to sell mutts as purebreds. From that practice came this phrase.

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Thunderstorm
Pixabay by AbelEscobar
A person who wins a billion dollars and doesn't care might be described as what?
Orf chump
Smothered parrot
Nose bagger
Dying duck in a thunderstorm
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

A dying duck doesn't care about sitting in a thunderstorm, and this phrase describes an uncaring or lackadaisical person. The phrase can be used in a flattering and unflattering way, depending on the circumstances.

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Simple Math
kutaytanir / E+ / Getty Images
A person who doesn't know the answer to 2 + 2 might be called what?
Gigglemug
Muttonhead
Nanty narking
Nose bagger
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The word "mutton" means sheep, and sheep have often been seen as slow-witted animals, regularly outsmarted by wolves and foxes. Sheep aren't as dumb as most people assume, but "muttonhead" is still used to describe a dim-witted person.

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Ballet
Eva Carollo Photography / Moment / Getty Images
Do you know the slang term for a ballet tutu in 1880s London?
Fifteen puzzle
Half-rat
Gas-pipe
Fried carpet
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

"Fried carpet" was a term specifically used to describe the short ballet skirt worn by a ballerina at the theater in London during the late 1800s. Today such skirts are known as tutus, and they still look like fried carpets. The term originated at the Old Gaiety theater.

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Open boxes
MirageC / Moment / Getty Images
James realized he got "hornswoggled" when he opened his package and found only mud and rocks. What happened to James?
He got the best deal possible.
He won the lottery.
He got swindled.
He got lucky.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Whose horn got swoggled? "Hornswoggle" is an early 19th-century verb that means to cheat, deceive or manipulate someone. Someone who has been hornswoggled has been cheated or swindled.

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Cricket game
Public Domain via WikiCommons
If you want to create fear or stir panic, what should you do?
Establish a funk
Do the bear
Make a stuffed bird laugh
Shake a flannin
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Legend has it this term stems from a cricket player who created fear and panic as a strategy to defeat his opponents. The word "funk" originated a century earlier, and today the word describes a state of depression.

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Pantry
Chris Griffiths / Moment / Getty Images
If you have "oodles and scadoodles" of food, how much food do you have?
Not enough
Just enough
The wrong amount
An abundance
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

"Scadoodles" is a word to try out next time you have an abundance of something. It's probably a combo of "scads" and "oodles," both of which mean the same thing. These slang words became common in the latter half of the century.

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Leave on Horse and Carriage
Public Domain via WikiCommons
When your friend looks at you and says, "It's time to skedaddle," what do you have to do?
Cook food
Jumping jacks
Abruptly leave
Sing a song
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

"Skedaddle" is similar to "scadoodle," and both words became common slang around the same time, but skedaddle is still commonly understood today. Legend has it the word began as military slang during the Civil War.

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Daddles / Hands
CC BY-SA 4.0 via WikiCommons
What are your daddles?
Feet
Eyes
Hands
Ears
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The word "daddle" has taken on many meanings over the years, including a variation of "dawdle," as in to walk slowly, but in Victorian slang the word referred to a person's hands. To "tip your daddle" meant to give your hand.

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Brat
Elva Etienne / Moment / Getty Images
If you really don't like the mean-faced little brat next door, you might call them a what?
Sauce-box
Farthing-faced chit
Skilamalink
Dying duck in a thunderstorm
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The word "chit" has been used as a derogatory term since at least the 1700s, and by the 1800s, it was combined with "farthing-faced" to create this epic diss. It's pronounced with a hard CH, and today "chit" means a short note regarding a debt.

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Pigs on a Farm
Public Domain via WikiCommons
The English language is full of "holy cows," "one-trick ponies" and "pink elephants." What does the "whole hog" mean?
Something big
Entirely
An incredible feat
A national dish
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

"Whole hog" is a phrase that means "the entire thing." Perhaps a diner once proclaimed he ate the whole hog when he was asked what he had for dinner. If you go whole hog, you hold nothing back.

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Monanteuil
Public Domain via WikiCommons
Can you imagine another way to say something is smart or presentable?
Afternoonified
Poked up
Mafficking
Doing the bear
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

"Afternoonified" was common Victorian slang, used to describe something that is smart or cultured. Afternoon tea originated in Britain during the Victorian era, and it was quite the afternoonified affair.

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Queen Victoria and her cousin
Public Domain via WikiCommons
The act of putting on a false persona to get someone to like you is known as what?
Faking a picture
Copping a mouse
Collie shangles
Butter upon bacon
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

To "fake a picture" means to manipulate someone's perception of you using unconventional means. Everybody from car salesmen to job applicants is known to fake a picture from time to time. The phrase became common in the 1860s but isn't in much use today.

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Acrobat / gymnast
John M Lund Photography Inc / DigitalVision / Getty Images
What were "freakeries" in the 1800s?
Shopping malls
Disco clubs
Hotels
P.T. Barnum freak and acrobat shows
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

P.T. Barnum is known for revolutionizing circus entertainment, and he is also known for his freak shows, or "freakeries." Two of Barnum's most famous stars were the four-legged woman and a lady who claimed to be 161 years old.

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Oil Portrait of Julia Dean
CC BY-SA 4.0 via WikiCommons
If you're puzzled, you're confused. What does it mean if you're "fifteen puzzled"?
Tall
Fast
Absolutely confused
Genius
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The popular brain teaser game called 15 Puzzle was created in the late 1800s, but before that, the phrase "fifteen puzzled" was used to describe a state of absolute confusion. The puzzle game was invented in Upstate New York.

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The Prince of Wales
Public Domain via WikiCommons
Everybody knows one person who has been "mollycoddled" their entire life. What does that mean?
Spoiled
Determined
Driven
Disciplined
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

"Mollycoddle" became common slang in the first half of the 1800s. It's a verb that means to overly pamper or spoil someone. It comes from the pet name for Mary, "Molly," and "coddle," which means to handle tenderly.

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Horse Race
mikedabell / E+ / Getty Images
The first Kentucky Derby took place in 1875, when champion racehorses were known as what?
Church-bells
Cat-laps
Four-legged fortunes
Daddles
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

A champion horse today may also be known as a "four-legged fortune," but the term originated in the late 19th century. Horse racing dates back in America all the way to the 1600s, but it wasn't until after the Civil War that it became officially organized.

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Massimo d'Azeglio
Public Domain via WikiCommons
What would Victorians call a man who "won't take off his coat"?
The morbs
A coward
A man who makes a stuffed bird laugh
Somewhat dim
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Every gentleman knows its impolite to viciously beat someone while still wearing a coat, and someone who refuses to take their coat off is refusing to fight, making them a coward. This phrase was common street slang of the time.

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Prince Ernest and Victor
Public Domain via WikiCommons
Your friend who's always frowning might be called a Debbie Downer. What would you call a friend who's always smiling?
Gal-sneaker
Gigglemug
Umble-cum-stumble
Not up to dick
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

"Gigglemug" is 1800s Victorian slang for a "habitually smiling face." Today the word "mug" has many meanings, but in American slang, it means a person's face, as in a mugshot. The word "mug" by itself isn't commonly used today.

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Vintage Boxer
Public Domain via WikiCommons
Getting rowdy in the streets was known as what?
Making a stuffed bird laugh
Mafficking
Doing the bear
Minding the grease
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Mafficking was a slang word that meant "street rowdyism." The word "Maffick" came from "Mafeking Night," a British celebration involving the South African War in 1900.

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Southern Stock / Photodisc / Getty Images