subs. phr. (colloquial).—A scene of strife and tumult: e.g., the Stock Exchange, a noisy meeting etc.: also BEAR-COLLEGE (q.v.). Hence BEAR-GARDEN JAW (or PLAY) = ‘common, filthy, nasty talk’ (B. E.); rough unmannerly speech or play; talk (or rough and tumble) akin to that used in bear gardens and other places of low resort (GROSE).
1803. JOHN BRISTED, Ανθρωπλανομενος; or a Pedestrian Tour through Part of the Highlands of Scotland in 1801, II., 543. Squabbles and boxings arise, rendering the place more like a BEAR-GARDEN than a hall of instruction.
1833. MARRYAT, Peter Simple, II. xiii. I don’t know what officers are made of nowadays. I’ll marry some of you young gentlemen to the gunner’s daughter before long. Quarter-deck’s no better than a BEAR-GARDEN.
1848. FORSTER, The Life and Times of Oliver Goldsmith, IV., xi. He called Burke a BEAR-GARDEN RAILER.
1871. A. FORBES, My Experiences of the War between France and Germany, 301. THE BEAR-GARDEN-LIKE BABEL was rather more noisy than usual.
1883. Pall Mall Gazette, 14 June. That the university would not degrade itself in the eyes of visitors by BEAR-PLAY.
