subs. (venery).—1. The female pudendum. For synonyms, see MONOSYLLABLE.
2. (tailors’).—An extremely long and wide collar.
3. (old).—A halter. TO DIE IN A HORSE’S NIGHTCAP = to be hanged. See LADDER.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS.—Anodyne necklace; Bridport dagger; choker; hempen cravat; hempen elixir; horse’s neckcloth; horse’s necklace; neck-squeezer; neckweed; squeezer; St. Andrew’s lace; Sir Tristram’s knot: tight cravat; Tyburn tiffany; Tyburn tippet; widow.
FRENCH SYNONYM.—La cravate de chanvre.
1593. Bacchus’ Bounties, in Harleian Miscellany (ed. PARK), II., 304. Yea, his very head so heavie as if it had beene harnessed in an HORSE-NIGHTCAP.
1608. Penniles Parliament, in Harleian Miscellany (ed. PARK), I., 181. And those that clip that they should not, shall have a HORSE NIGHT-CAP for their labour.
1681. Dialogue on Oxford Parliament (Harleian Miscellany, II., 125). He better deserves to go up Holbourn in a wooden chariot, and have a HORSE NIGHT-CAP put on at the farther end.
1883. Echo, 25 Jan., p. 1, c. 4. Even an attempt is made to lighten the horror of the climax of a criminal career, by speaking of dying in a HORSE’S NIGHT-CAP, i.e., a halter.
