subs. phr. (old).—1. Confusion, riot, high jinks; (2) revellers, good fellows, boon companions. Hence (3) wantonness, and spec. the act of kind; whence TO PLAY AT UPTAILS ALL = to copulate: see GREENS and RIDE: a play on this sense and the old card game of uptails all was frequent.
1602. DEKKER, Satiromastix [HAWKINS, The Origin of the English Drama, iii. 170]. Feel, my light UPTAILS-ALL, feel my weapon.
1647–8. HERRICK, Hesperides, 265.
| For love he doth call | |
| For his UPTAILES ALL. |
