subs. (thieves’).—See quot. Fr. un lessiveur (thieves’ = whitewasher); un médecin (= doctor: cf. malade = prisoner; l’hôpital = prison); un parrain.
1888. GREENWOOD, The Night Cabman, in Odd People in Odd Places, 18. It was for the benefit of a man, whose name I needn’t mention, who was ‘in trouble’ and in need of a bit of money, the card said, to procure him a ‘MOUTHPIECE,’—which, perhaps you might not be aware, is another word for a defending counsel among those sort of characters.
