subs. (common).—An unblushing falsehood; an enormous blunder; a serious accident: and so forth. TO COME (or GO) A HOWLER = to come to grief; to run amuck.
1885. Daily News, 16 May, p. 4, c. 8. Now, to speak respectfully of old scholars that were before us, the translators of the Bible constantly made what undergraduates call HOWLERS, or grievously impossible blunders.
1886. STEPHENS and YARDLEY, Little Jack Sheppard, p. 34. Jack. My dears, you’re late. Bess. Our hansom came a HOWLER.
1888. Indoor Paupers, p. 24. As to how we are to spend the eight hours, or thereabouts, that remain after meals, church, and HOWLERS are disposed of, nobody, except ourselves and a few private friends outside, cares in the least.
1891. Moonshine, 14 March. Oh, I saw some piece in which a Johnnie smoked some cigarettes, and at last CAME A HOWLER, and wanted to commit suicide.
1891. Pall Mall Gazette, 12 Sept., p. 2, c. 3. We wondered yesterday how many of our classical readers would see the HOWLER—or the joke.
