subs. (old).—1. A gambling cheat; a decoy at auctions; a BEARER-UP (q.v.): the BONNET plays as though he were a member of the general public, and by his good luck, or by the force of his example, induces others to venture their stakes. BONNETING is often done in much better society than that to be found in the ordinary gaming-rooms; a man who persuades another to buy an article on which he receives commission or percentage, is said to BONNET, or bear-up, for the seller: also BONNETER: Fr. bonneteur = one profuse in compliments and bows.
1819. J. H. VAUX, A Vocabulary of the Flash Language. BONNET, a concealment.
1841. The Comic Almanack, October.
| Or a man at a hell, | |
| Playing the part of a BONNETTER well. |
1853. WHYTE-MELVILLE, Digby Grand, xxi. I began to think my military friend was ‘a BONNET,’—one of those harpies employed by gambling-house keepers to enhance temptation by the influence of example, and generally selected for their respectable and innocent appearance.
1868[?]. Times (quoted by BREWER, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 104). A man who sits at a gaming-table, and appears to be playing against the table; when a stranger appears, the BONNET generally wins.
1876. C. HINDLEY, ed. The Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, 217. We bid or praised up his goods: in fact, often acted as ‘puffers’ or ‘BONNETS’ to give him a leg up.
1885. Morning Post, 5 Sept., 7, 3. There was no distinct evidence to connect him with a conspiracy to defraud … He might have been used as a sort of BONNET to conceal the utter worthlessness of propositions made by the others.
2. (old).—A pretext; a pretence; a MAKE-BELIEVE (q.v.).
3. A woman: cf. PETTICOAT (q.v.).
1880. Punch’s Almanac, 3.
| Then comes Easter. Got some coin in ’and, | |
| Trot a BONNET out and do the grand. |
Verb (common).—1. To act as a BONNET (q.v.), to cheat; to puff; to ‘BEAR UP’ (q.v.).
1871. ‘Hawk’s-Eye,’ Budget of Turf Notes, 2. I could point out now what horses he is BONNETING for the 2,000 Guineas and Derby of this year, and the horses whose pretensions he is trying to discredit.
1887. Referee, 15 May, 1, 3. Nobody can suppose that I am anxious to BONNET for the Times newspaper.
2. (common).—To crush a man’s hat down over his eyes.
1835. DICKENS, Sketches by Boz, 229. Two young men, who, now and then, varied their amusements by BONNETING the proprietor of this itinerant coffee-house.
1836. DICKENS, Pickwick Papers, II., 216. You are a dutiful and affectionate little boy to come a BONNETIN’ your father in his old age.
1843. DICKENS, A Christmas Carol, 22. Scrooge reverently disclaimed … any knowledge of having wilfully BONNETED the Spirit at any period of his life.
1882. The Saturday Review, LIV., 629. The students hustled and ‘BONNETTED’ a new professor.
TO HAVE A GREEN BONNET, phr. (common).—To fail in business. [From the green cloth cap formerly worn by bankrupts].
