subs. (common).—A bumpkin: also a dolt. For synonyms, see BUFFLE and CABBAGE-HEAD.
1811. GROSE and CLARKE, Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. JOSKIN. The drop-cove maced the JOSKIN of twenty quid; The ring dropper cheated the countryman of twenty guineas.
1819. LAMB, Letter to Mr. Manning. I hate the JOSKINS, a name for Hertfordshire bumpkins.
1828. BADCOCK (‘Jon Bee’), Living Picture of London, p. 15. The very sight of a countryman, either yokel or JOSKIN.
1859. G. W. MATSELL, Vocabulum; or, The Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.
1865. DICKENS, Christmas Stories (Doctor Marigold), p. 172 (H. ed.). They all set up a laugh when they see us, and one chuckle-headed JOSKIN (that I hated for it) made the bidding, ‘Tuppence for her!’
1876. C. HINDLEY, ed. The Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 14. An old JOSKIN of a countryman for an ostler.
1885. W. E. HENLEY, Ballads and Rondeaux, ‘Double Ballade of Life and Fate.’
| Dull Sir JOSKIN sleeps his fill, | |
| Good Sir Galahad seeks the Grail, | |
| Proud Sir Pertinax flaunts his frill, | |
| Hard Sir Æger dints his mail. |
1889. Sporting Life, 3 Jan. Your true JOSKIN, if an observer at all, can pretty accurately gauge the weather prospects.
1892. MILLIKEN, ’Arry Ballads. Old JOSKINS a-sucking long churchwarden pipes.
