subs. (Winchester College).—1.  A small ruler.

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  2.  (thieves’).—A coat; spec. an overcoat (also UPPER BENJAMIN) of a particular cut formerly worn by men: said to have been derived from a well-known London advertising tailor of the same name: formerly called a JOSEPH.

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  1837.  LOCKHART, Scott (1839), V, 59. A vastly scientific and rather grave professor in a smooth drab BENJAMIN.

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  1815.  PEACOCK, Nightmare Abbey, 139. His heart is seen to beat through his UPPER BENJAMIN.

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  1836.  SCOTT, Tom Cringle’s Log, ii. BENJAMINS, and great-coats, and cloaks of all sorts and sizes.

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  1851.  BORROW, Lavengro, lix. The coachman … with narrow-rimmed hat and fashionable BENJAMIN.

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  1865.  Pall Mall Gazette, 7 March, 3, 2. [Quoting East-end slang.]

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  3.  (Australian).—See quot.

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  1870.  CHAS. H. ALLEN, A visit to Queensland, 182. With the black people a husband is now called a BENJAMIN, probably because they have no word in their own language to express this relationship.

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