subs. (common).—A place of residence or employment. [First used at the Western lead mines in the U.S.A. to denote whence ore was dug.]
ENGLISH SYNONYMS.—Birk; box; case; crib; chat; den; dry-lodgings; drum; place; pig-sty; pew; cabin; castle; chaffing-crib; caboose; sky-parlour; shop; ken; dossing-ken; hole; rookery; hutch; hang-out.
FRENCH SYNONYMS.—Une bagnole (pop.: from bagne = hulks); un bazar (military: also, a brothel); un bocal (pop.: also = stomach); une baraque (common: in disparagement); une baite (thieves’); une case (thieves’); une carrée (thieves’); une cambriole (thieves’); une cambuse (popular); une condition (thieves’); un creux (thieves’); une piole or piolle (thieves’).
GERMAN SYNONYM.—Bes, Beth, or Bajis.
ITALIAN SYNONYMS.—Bacchia; clocchia or cloccia (also = a bell); coschetta delle Fantasime.
SPANISH SYNONYMS.—Caverna (‘a cavern’; cf., English Den); aduana (also = a brothel, and thieves’ resort); nido (‘a nest’; nido de ladrones, a ‘cross-drum’; a thieves’ resort); percha (‘a perch’).
1838. J. C. NEAL, Charcoal Sketches, II., 119 [quoted by DE VERE]. Look here, Ned, I reckon it’s about time we should go to our DIGGINGS; I am dead beat.
1871. DE VERE, Americanisms, p. 171. The miner in California and Nevada has been known, in times of a rush, to speak of a place where he could stand leaning against a stout post, as his DIGGINGS for the night.
1883. Referee, 1 July, p. 3, col. 2. Mr. and Mrs. Bancroft are changing their DIGGINGS, and clearing out of Cavendish-square.
1884. W. C. RUSSELL, Jack’s Courtship, ch. viii. Oh, he lives round the corner. You may see his DIGGINGS from your daughter’s bedroom window, sir.
1888. C. J. DUNPHIE, The Chameleon, p. 86. ‘DIGGINGS’ I call my dwelling, according to the prevalent slang.
