subs. (old).—1. The throat. For synonyms, see GUTTER ALLEY. Also RED LANE and RED LION LANE.
1534. UDALL, Roister Doister, i. 3. M. Mumble. … Good ale for the nones. Tib. Talk. Whiche will slide downe the LANE without any bones.
1812. COLMAN, Poetical Vagaries, 75.
| O! butter’d egg! best eaten with a spoon, | |
| I bid your yelk glide down my throat’s RED LANE. |
1865. London Society, Jan., p. 13. I eat the macaroon. You see it’s all gone down RED LION LANE.
2. (nautical).—The course laid out for ocean steamers between England and America. [There are two lanes, or lane-routes both narrowly defined: the northern for westward bound, and the southern for eastering bottoms.]
THE LANE, subs. phr. (various).—1. (theatrical) Drury Lane Theatre; 2. (colonial brokers’) Mincing Lane; 3. (corn factors’) Mark Lane; 4. (legal) Chancery Lane; 5. (thieves’) Petticoat Lane, and 6. (ibid.) the old Horsemonger Lane Jail, now demolished. Cf. CADE, HOUSE, GARDEN, etc.
1856. H. MAYHEW, The Great World of London, p. 82 note. Horsemonger Lane Jail—THE LANE.
1880. G. R. SIMS, Ballads of Babylon (Forgotten—A Last Interview). Whenever THE LANE tried Shakespeare, I was one of the leading men.
1893. P. H. EMERSON, Signor Lippo, iii. I started off for THE LANE, the professionals’ emporium.
HARRIETT LANE, subs. phr. (military).—Tinned or preserved meat.
