subs. (common).—A dance. [Generally informal, as a CINDERELLA (q.v.).] Also, as in quot. 1579, the motions of dancing. For synonyms, see SKIP.

1

  1579.  GOSSON, The Schoole of Abuse, p. 33 (ARBER’S ed.). He gaue Dauncers great stipends for selling their HOPPS.

2

  1811.  AUSTEN, Sense and Sensibility, ch. ix. At a little HOP at the park, he danced from eight o’clock till four.

3

  1823.  BADCOCK (‘Jon Bee’), Dictionary of the Turf, etc., s.v. HOP—a contra-dance of ordinary persons and promiscuous company is ‘a HOP’ and ‘a penny-HOP’ from the price formerly paid for admission.

4

  1830.  BULWER-LYTTON, Paul Clifford, iv. He gave them from time to time a very agreeable HOP.

5

  1847.  THACKERAY, Mrs. Perkins’s Ball (Mr. Larkins). To describe this gentleman’s infatuation for dancing, let me say, in a word, that he will even frequent boarding-house HOPS, rather than not go.

6

  1848.  RUXTON, Life in the Far West, p. 189. The ‘temple’ was generally cleared for a HOP two or three times during the week.

7

  1850.  F. E. SMEDLEY, Frank Fairlegh, p. 121. You’ll be at old Coleman’s HOP to-night, I suppose; so bye! bye! for the present.

8

  1852.  BRISTED, The Upper Ten Thousand, p. 129. Two undress-balls—HOPS they were called.

9

  1882.  Daily Telegraph, 13 Nov., p. 5, c. 3. At all seasons there is an immense amount of dancing; and at Washington there are continual ‘hotel HOPS’ in the winter.

10

  1887.  W. S. GILBERT, Patience, ii.

        Who thinks suburban ‘HOPS’
More fun than ‘Monday Pops.’

11

  1889.  Lippincott’s Magazine, Oct., p. 447. Hang me if she isn’t always on the plair, or at a HOP, with one of those twin kids!

12

  1892.  KIPLING, Barrack-Room Ballads, ‘Gentlemen-Rankers.’ To dance with blowzy housemaids at the regimental HOPS.

13

  HOP-AND-GO-KICK, subs. phr. (tailors’).—A lameter; a HOP-AND-GO-ONE. Cf., DOT-AND-CARRY-ONE.

14

  TO HOP THE WAG, verb. phr. (common).—To play truant, or CHARLEY-WAG (q.v.).

15

  1851–61.  H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, iii., 207. They often persuaded me TO HOP THE WAG, that is play truant from school.

16

  TO HOP (or JUMP) OVER THE BROOM (or BROOMSTICK), verb. phr. (colloquial).—To live as husband and wife; to LIVE (or GO) TALLY (q.v.).

17

  1811.  POOLE, Hamlet Travestie, ii., 3.

        JUMP O’ER A BROOMSTICK, but don’t make a farce on
The marriage ceremonies of the parson.

18

  1861–81.  H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, i., 136. There was always a BROOMSTICK wedding. Without that ceremony a couple weren’t looked on as man and wife.

19

  1860.  DICKENS, Great Expectations, xlviii., 227. This woman in Gerrard Street, here, had been married very young, OVER THE BROOMSTICK (as we say), to a tramping man.

20

  c. 18[79].  Broadside Ballad, ‘David Dove that Fell in Love.’ By L. M. THORNTON.

        The girl that I had hoped to hear
Pronounce my happy doom, sir,
Had bolted with a carpenter,
In fact HOPPED O’ER THE BROOM, sir.

21

  TO HOP THE TWIG, verb. phr. (common).—1.  To leave; to run away; TO SKEDADDLE (q.v.). For synonyms, see AMPUTATE.

22

  1785.  GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

23

  1789.  G. PARKER, Life’s Painter, p. 143. HOP THE TWIG … means to depart suddenly.

24

  1830.  P. EGAN, Finish to Life in London, p. 217. I have lost my ticker; and all my toggery has been boned, I am nearly as naked as when I was born—and the cause—the lady bird—has HOPPED THE TWIG.

25

  1884.  Daily News, 31 Oct., p. 3, c. 1. They knocked the Liberals down as fast as they could until they got too numerous and strong, and then we HOPPED THE TWIG.

26

  1888.  All the Year Round, 9 June, 543. TO HOP THE TWIG … and the like, are more flippant than humorous.

27

  2.  (common).—To die; to ‘kick the BUCKET (q.v.); to PEG OUT (q.v.). Also TO HOP OFF.

28

  ENGLISH SYNONYMS.  To be content; to cock up one’s toes; to croak; to cut (or let go) the painter; to cut one’s stick; to give in; to give up; to go to Davy Jones’ locker; to go off the hooks; to go under; to go up; to kick the bucket; kickeraboo (West Indian); to lay down one’s knife and fork; to lose the member of one’s mess; to mizzle; to pass in one’s checks; to peg out; to put on a wooden surtout; to be put to bed with a shovel; to slip one’s cable; to stick one’s spoon in the wall; to snuff it; to take an earth bath; to take a ground sweat.

29

  FRENCH SYNONYMS.Passer l’arme à gauche (pop.: = to ground arms); casser sa pipe (= to break one’s pipe); dévisser or décoller son billard (= to break one’s cue); graisser set bottes (= to grease one’s boots); avaler sa langue (= to swallow one’s tongue); avaler sa gaffe (= to lower one’s boat-hook); avaler sa cuiller or sa fourchette (= to swallow one’s spoon or one’s fork); avaler ses baguettes (military: = to swallow one’s drumsticks); n’avoir plus mal aux dents (= to get rid of the toothache: mal de dents, also = love); poser sa chique (pop.: = to put down one’s quid); claquer (familiar: = to croak); saluer le public (theat.: = to go before the curtain); recevoir son décompte (military: = to get one’s quietus; décompte = also [military] a mortal wound); cracher son embouchure (= to spit one’s mouthpiece); déteindre (pop.: = to wash off one’s colour); donner son dernier bon à tirer (familiar: in American = to pass in one’s checks; properly = to send one’s last proof to press); lâcher la perche (pop.: = to hop the twig); éteindre son gaz (pop.: = to turn off one’s gas. Cf., to snuff it); épointer son foret (pop.: = to blunt one’s drill, as in boring); être exproprié (pop.: = to be dispossessed); exproprier (= to take possession of a debtor’s land); péter son lof (sailors’); fumer ses terres; fermer son parapluie (pop.: = to close one’s umbrella); perdre son bâton (pop.: = to lose one’s walking stick); descendre la garde (pop.: = to come off guard); défiler la parade (military: = to face about); tortiller, or tourner de l’œil (pop.); perdre le goût du pain (pop.: = to lose one’s appetite); lâcher la rampe (theat.: = to chuck the footlights); faire ses petits paquets (pop.: = to pack up one’s traps); casser son crachoir (pop.: = to break one’s spittoon); remercier son boulanger (thieves’: = to thank the baker; boulanger = the Devil); canner; dévider à l’estorgue (thieves’); baiser or épouser la Camarde or camarder (pop: = to hug, or go to church with, Mother Bones [Camarde = Death]); fuir (thieves’: = to flee or escape); casser son câble (pop.: = to slip one’s cable); casser son fouet (pop.: = to break one’s whip); faire sa crêvaison (pop.: crêver = to burst up); déralinguer (sailors’: = to loose from the bolt-rope); virer de bord (sailors’: = to tack about); déchirer son faux-col (pop.: = to break one’s collar); dégeler (= to thaw); couper sa mèche (coachman’s: = to cut off one’s lash); piquer sa plaqu (sailors’); mettre la table pour les asticots (pop.: = to lay the cloth for the worms); aller manger les pissenlits par la racine (pop.: = to go grubbing off dandelion roots); laisser fuir son tonneau (familiar); calancher (vagrants’); laisser ses bottes quelque part (familiar: = to leave one’s boots about); déchirer son habit (pop.: = to tear one’s coat); déchirer son tablier (pop.: = to tear one’s apron); souffler sa veilleuse (pop.: = to blow out one’s candle: cf., to snuff it); pousser le boum du cygne (pop.); avoir son coke (familiar: = to get one’s cargo); rendre sa secousse (pop.); rendre sa bûche (tailors’); rendre sa canne au ministre (military: = to resign one’s commission); rendre sa clef (gipsy: = to give in one’s key); rendre son livret (pop.: = to pass in one’s checks); passer au dixième régiment (military); s’ennuyer (pop.: = to be at death’s door); chasser les mouches (pop.: to go fly-catching); ingurgiter son bilan (popular); resserrer son linge (pop.); faire sa malle (pop.: = to pack one’s trunk); avaler le goujon (pop.); s’habiller de sapin (pop.: = to put on a wooden surtout); avoir son compte (pop.); battre de l’œil (thieves’); s’évanouir (pop.: to mizzle); machaber (pop.: machabre = the Dance of Death); glisser (pop.); s’en aller dans le pays des marmottes (pop.: marmotte = puppet); déménager (pop.: = to move house).

30

  GERMAN SYNONYMS.Krachen gehen; niftern; pegern or peigern; schochern or verschochern (= to get black); verschwarzen.

31

  ITALIAN SYNONYMS.Sbasire (= to faint); sbasire su le funi (= to faint on the rope).

32

  SPANISH SYNONYMS.Hacer bodoques (= to take an earth bath); liarlas (= also to run away); obispar; corvado (= bent, curved); cierto (= certain).

33

  1839.  C. DANCE, Alive and Merry, i., 1. Day. Whist, darling! couldn’t you wait a bit till she’s HOPPED OFF, and then you and I could marry, and be ladies and gentlemen.

34

  1841.  Punch, I., 2, 2. Clare pines in secret—HOPS THE TWIG and goes to glory in white muslin.

35

  1842.  Punch, vol. II, p. 10. c. 2.

                  Yet henceforth—dash my wig!
I’ll live with thee, with thee I’ll HOP THE TWIG.

36

  1863.  Fun, vol. IV., p. 188. The night when Cromwell died a storm tore up many of the trees [of St. James’s Park]—though what connexion there may be between the destruction of their branches and the HOPPING THE TWIG of the Protector, we leave to our philosophical readers to decide.

37

  1870.  Chambers’ Miscellany, No. 87, p. 26. That her disease was mortal, was past a doubt, and a month or two more or less could make no difference, provided she HOPPED OFF … before the year was expired.

38

  ON THE HOP, adv. phr. (common).—1.  Unawares; at the nick of time; in flagrante delicto. Also ON THE H. O. P.

39

  1868.  Broadside Ballad, ‘The Chickaleary Cove.’

        For to get me ON THE HOP, or on my tibby drop,
You must wake up very early in the morning.

40

  1870.  London Figaro, 26 Aug. If to catch any of the more ordinary folk ON THE HOP is to secure a laugh, what must it be to catch the Tycoon ‘on the—top?’

41

  1892.  T. A. GUTHRIE (‘F. Anstey’), Mr. Punch’s Model Music-Hall Songs & Dramas, 32.

        I never saw a smarter hand at serving in a shop,
For every likely customer she caught UPON THE ’OP.

42

  2.  (common).—On the go; in motion; unresting.

43

  1892.  MILLIKEN, ’Arry Ballads, p. 22. A deal ON THE ’OP.

44

  3.  (colloquial).—See HIP.

45