One who spins yarn or thread from wool or cotton.
"It seemed as if, first in her own fire within the house, and then in the fiery haze without, she tried to discover what kind of woof Old Time, that greatest and longest-established Spinner of all, would weave from the threads he had already spun into a woman. But his factory is a secret place, his work is noiseless, and his Hands are mutes."
Charles Dickens, Hard Times (1854).
A thief skilled in prestidigitation.
“I never know, when I’m telling a story, whether to cut the thing down to plain facts or whether to drool on and shove in a lot of atmosphere, and all that. I mean, many a cove would no doubt edge into the final spasm of this narrative with a long description of Goodwood, featuring the blue sky, the rolling prospect, the joyous crowds of pickpockets, and the parties of the second part who were having their pockets picked, and—in a word, what not. But better give it a miss, I think. Even if I wanted to go into details about the bally meeting I don’t think I’d have the heart to. The thing’s too recent. The anguish hasn’t had time to pass. You see, what happened was that Ocean Breeze (curse him!) finished absolutely nowhere for the Cup. Believe me, nowhere. These are the times that try men’s souls. It’s never pleasant to be caught in the machinery when a favourite comes unstitched, and in the case of this particular dashed animal, one had come to look on the running of the race as a pure formality, a sort of quaint, old-world ceremony to be gone through before one sauntered up to the bookie and collected.”
P. G. Wodehouse, The Inimitable Jeeves (1923).
A writer or printer of shortish, inexpensively produced tracts, often written anonymously. The word comes from a Latin love poem entitled "Pamphilus seu de Amore."
"Though you doe not speak plaine, your pamphleteers do."
Peter Heylin, Relations and Observations (1648).
Someone who makes money off the antics of a trained monkey.
“On bears and popinjays (parrots) there was an admittance toll levied, which was paid at the Passage du Petit-Châtelet, in front of the Petit-Pont. As for monkeys, ‘The Rules Governing the Trades of Paris, by Etienne Boilève, Provost of this City’, lays down the following: ‘The Merchant who brings a Monkey to sell must pay four deniers: and if the Monkey belongs to someone who has bought it for his own amusement, it is exempt, and if the Monkey belongs to an exhibitor, the exhibitor must give a performance for the toll-collector, and in exchange for his performance be exempted on everything he buys for his needs: and mistrels too are exempted in exchange for singing one verse of a song.’ What this amounts to is that the animal exhibitor, instead of paying the four-denier toll the merchant has to pay, would pay his due in songs and capers. Hence the expression: payer en monnaie de singe, literally, to pay with monkey money, i.e., avoid paying a debt, with fine words and empty promises.”
Jacques Yonnet, Paris Noir: The Secret History of a City (1954).
[Translated by Christine Donougher]
A member of a gang of swindlers. A cavalry soldier (especially from Germany) employed in the wars of the 16th and 17th centuries.
"Four persons were required to perform their cosning commodity. The Taker-up, the Verser, the Barnard and the Rutter."
Greene's works, The defence of conny catching, To the Reader (1591).
In ancient Rome, the aediles were magistrates in charge of public buildings, streets, etc. Among the French the term is still used as a fancy way to refer to municipal officers.
"Thunder against, with respect to street-paving: 'What are our aediles thinking about?'"
Gustave Flaubert, Dictionary of Platitudes (1880).
[Translation by J. I. Rodale (1954).]
A gatherer of memories (i.e. a writer who frames an account of his or her own personal experiences).
"When two memoir-writers had told the same tale, Suetonius and Tacitus accept it and endorse it, without a suspicion that both may be lying."
W. G. Clark, Vacation Tour (1860).
Someone who applies and tends the fire and roasts coffee, malt, or other food.
"Muster up all the Fidlers in the Town; let not so much as the Roaster of Tunes, with his crack'd cymbal in a case, escape ye."
Thomas Otway, The Cheats of Scapin (1677).
A prophetic poet of the Gaulish druids.
"Druid was the general name of the Sect or Order; and their Literati were divided into Priests, Vates, and Bards, who were their Divines."
Lachlan Shaw, The history of the province of Moray (1775).
A guide. A leader. A pilot.
"If a ship is lost by default of the lodeman, the maryners may bring the lodeman to the windlass or any other place, and cut off his head."
Laws of Oleron in Black Book Admiralty (Rolls) (1536).
Someone who breaks the law in pursuit of illicit gain. A generalist.
“When Mr. Keuner, the thinking man, heard
That the most famous criminal of the city of New York
A smuggler of alcohol and a mass-murderer
Had been shot down like a dog and
Buried without ceremony
He expressed nothing but dismay.
‘How,’ he said, ‘has it come to this
That not even the criminal is sure of his life
And not even he, who is prepared to do anything
Has a measure of success?
Everyone knows that those are lost
Who are concerned for their human dignity.
But those who discard it?
Shall it be said: he who escaped the depths
Falls on the heights?
At night the righteous start from their sleep bathed in sweat
The softest footstep fills them with alarm
Their good conscience pursues them even in their sleep
And now I hear: the criminal, too
Can no longer sleep peacefully?
What confusion!
What times these are!’”
Bertolt Brecht, Stories of Mr. Keuner (1965).
[Translated by Martin Chalmers]
A soldier holding a position of responsibility or command on the right of a troop of horse.
"O wha has slain my right-hand man, That held my hawk and hound?"
Earl Richard in Sir Walter Scott, The minstrelsy of the Scottish border (1802).
The official responsible for keeping a city's walls in good repair.
"The charter of Henry VII provides that the mayor and citizens of Chester, may yearly choose two citizens to be overseers of the walls, called Muragers."
Municipal Corporations' Report (1506).
