or dorse, subs. (vagrants’).—A bed, or lodging; also a sleep, or LIB (q.v.). [Origin uncertain.] For synonyms, see KIP and BALMY.
1789. G. PARKER, Life’s Painter, p. 165. Dorsed. The place where a person sleeps, or a bed. ‘I DORSED there last darkey.’
1858. A. MAYHEW, Paved with Gold, p. 118. Into this branch curtained retreat, the lads crept on all fours, one after another, to enjoy their DOSS, as, in their slang, they called sleep.
1883. Daily News, 3 April, p. 3, col. 5. He replied that he had only come there to have a DOSS (sleep).
1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 9 Sept., p. 3, col. 2. If you want a DOSS, a DOSS is provided. A wooden framework, about as wide as the widest part of a coffin, and a wooden pillow and a blanket of leather.
Verb (vagrants’).—To sleep. For synonyms, see BALMY and infra. Also DORSE.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS.—To go to the arms of Murphy (q.v.); to have forty winks; to go to Bedfordshire; to take a little (or do a dose) of the balmy; to chuck (or do) a doss; to snooze; to go to by-by; to read the paper; to shut one’s eyes to think; to retire to the land of Nod.
FRENCH SYNONYMS.—Battre la couverte (military); se foutre un coup de traversin (= to have a little turn up with the bolster); se bâcher, pagnotter or percher (to roost); se mettre dans la bâche; se bourser (popular); éteindre son gaz (popular: to put out one’s light; = also to die); entrer aux quinze-vingts (Les Quinze-vingts = a government hospital for the blind); dormir en chien de fusil (i.e., to sleep sitting, the head between the knees); dormir en gendarme (popular: ‘to sleep with one eye round the corner’) fermer les châssis (to put up shutters or ‘peepers’); se coller dans le pieu (popular).
SPANISH SYNONYMS.—Acostarse con las gallinas (= to go to bed by cock-light); encamarse; tomarle ô una el sueño; tumbar (literally, to tumble down).
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. To DORSE with a woman signifies to sleep with her.
1846. Punch, vol. XI., p. 165.
| Then silent flowed the tears of those maidens as perforce, | |
| Each saw her favourite champion sent, as Bell’s Life says, DORSE. |
1850. Lloyd’s Weekly, 3 Feb., ‘Low Lodging House of London.’ One said, Mate, how long have you been knocking about; where did you DOSS? I didn’t know what they meant, and when they’d told me, they meant, where did I sleep?
