Fat

subs. (thieves’).—1.  Money; Fr., de la graisse (= grease or tallow). For synonyms, see ACTUAL and GILT.

  1859.  G. W. MATSELL, Vocabulum; or, The Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.

  2.  (printers’).—Composition full of blank spaces or in many lines. Verse is FAT, while this dictionary, with its constant change of type, is LEAN (q.v.). Hence, work that pays well. Fr., une affaire juteuse = a ‘fat job.’

  1811.  GROSE and CLARKE, Lexicon Balatronicum. FAT, among printers, means void spaces.

  1856.  Notes and Queries, 2 S., I., 283, s.v.

  1868.  O. W. HOLMES, The Guardian Angel, ch. xxiv., p. 203 (Rose Lib.). If collected and printed in large type, with plenty of what the unpleasant printers call FAT ensuring thereby blank spaces upon … thick paper.

  1885.  Athenæum, 27 June, p. 817, col. 1. With the aid of wide margins and a liberal amount of FAT, as the printers call it, the text is doled out in pages of but nineteen lines each, and thus the three articles are successfully expanded into a booklet of over two hundred pages.

  3.  (theatrical).—A good part; telling lines and conspicuous or commanding situations. [Cf., sense 2.] Fr., avoir des côtelettes = to have a BIT OF FAT (Dictionnaire Historique et Pictoresque du Theâtre. Paris, 1884).

  1883.  Referee, 18 March, p. 2, col. 4. They look miserable because they have nothing to do, all the FAT having been seized by Terry. Ibid. (1888), 15 April, 3, 1. I don’t want to rob Miss Claremont of her FAT, but her part must be cut down.

  Adj. (general).—1.  Rich; abundant; profitable.

  1785.  GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. FAT cull, a rich fellow.

  1888.  Puck’s Library, May, p. 25. This would make the labour so much lighter, that every time a girl went to set a pound of candy she would consider that she had a good FAT take.

  2.  (Australian).—Good. [An old English usage.]

  d. 1626.  MIDDLETON [works, II., 422].

  1890.  Speaker, 22 Feb., p. 212, col. 2. As ‘good’ in English is FAT in Australian, the story is probably true about the missionary—not a story of Dr. Lumholtz’s. After many years of work in the field, this good missionary was taken apart by some anxious but meagre inquirers in his flock. Sir, said they, must a man be very FAT to enter the Kingdom of Heaven? He was able to reassure them.

  CUT IT FAT.—See CUT.

  CUT UP FAT.—See CUT UP.

  BIT OF FAT, subs. phr. (popular).—See subs., senses 2 and 3; also adj. in both senses: and (venery) connection with a stout woman.

  ALL THE FAT’S IN THE FIRE, phr. (common).—Said of failures and of the results of sudden and unexpected revelation; disappointments: i.e., it is all ‘over’ or ‘up’ with a person or thing. A late equivalent is, ‘And then the band played.’

  FAT AS A HEN’S FOREHEAD, adv. phr. (old).—Meagre; SKINNY (q.v.).