subs. (showmen’s).—1. A bitch.
2. (stock exchange).—In pl. = Buenos Ayres and Rosario Railway Ordinary Stock.
3. (venery).—The female pudendum: see MONOSYLLABLE; and (4) a maidenhead. TO PLUCK A ROSE = (1) to take a maidenhead, and (2) a woman’s euphemism for micturition or defecation in the open air: cf. TO PICK A DAISY (GROSE, HALLIWELL).
1730. SWIFT, Panegyric on the Dean [CHALMERS, English Poets, xi. 489].
| The bashful maid, to hide her blush, | |
| Shall creep no more behind a bush; | |
| Here unobserved she boldly goes, | |
| As who should say, to PLUCK A ROSE. |
UNDER THE ROSE, phr. (colloquial).—Secretly; in confidence (DYCHE, GROSE).
1546. J. DYMOCKE, Letter to Vaughan [WALSH]. And the sayde questyons were asked with lysence, and that yt shulde remayn UNDER THE ROSSE, that is to say, to remayn under the bourde, and no more to be rehersyd.
1616–25. The Court and Times of James the First [T. L. KINGTON-OLIPHANT, The New English, ii. 71. As to the prepositions we see UNDER THE ROSE].
1625. JONSON, The Staple of News, ii.
| You are my lord, the rest are cogging Jacks, | |
| UNDER THE ROSE. |
1632. CHAPMAN, The Ball, ii. 2. UNDER THE ROSE the lords do call me cousin.
c. 1707. Old Song, ‘Praise of the Dairy Maid’ [D’URFEY, Wit and Mirth; or Pills to Purge Melancholy (1707), i. 12].
| Oh Dairy-Maids, Milk-maids, such bliss ne’er oppose; | |
| If e’er you’ll be happy, I SPEAK UNDER THE ROSE. |
1753. The Adventurer, No. 98, 13 Oct. UNDER THE ROSE, I am a cursed favourite amongst them.
1762. SNELLING, Coins, 2. The rose … symbol of secrecy … [was] used with great propriety on privy seals, which came into use about the middle of the twelfth century.
1821. LAMB, The Essays of Elia, ‘Mrs. Battle’s Opinions on Whist.’ All people have their blind side—their superstitions; and I have heard her declare, UNDER THE ROSE, that Hearts was her favourite suit.
1868. OUIDA, Under Two Flags, iv. All great ladies gamble in stock nowadays UNDER THE ROSE.
1892. HUME NISBET, The Bushranger’s Sweetheart, 37. I no longer wondered that he should have quitted England UNDER THE ROSE.
A ROSE BETWEEN TWO THORNS (or NETTLES), phr. A woman sitting between two men: the usual retort is, mutatis mutandis, as in quot.
1708–10. SWIFT, Polite Conversation, i. [Miss. sitting between Neverout and the Colonel.]—Miss. Well; here’s a ROSE BETWEEN TWO NETTLES. Neverout. No, Madam; with submission, here’s a NETTLE BETWEEN TWO ROSES.
TO STRIKE WITH A FEATHER AND STAB WITH A ROSE, &c., &c., phr. (colloquial).—To chastise playfully. A Music Hall refrain (c. 1888), but see quot.
1612. WEBSTER, The White Devil, iv. 4. Mar. If I take her near you, I’ll CUT HER THROAT. Flam. WITH A FAN OF FEATHERS?
