ruffmans

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

rough +‎ -mans

Noun

ruffmans (uncountable)

  1. (obsolete, Britain, thieves' cant) Woods, hedges or bushes.
    • 1611, Middleton, Thomas, “The Roaring Girl”, in Bullen, Arthur Henry, editor, The Works of Thomas Middleton‎, volume 4, published 1885, Act 5, Scene 1, pages 128–129:
      Ben mort, shall you and I heave a bough, mill a ken, or nip a bung, and then we'll couch a hogshead under the ruffmans, and there you shall wap with me, and I'll niggle with you.
    • 1994, Scott, Amanda, Dangerous Illusions, →ISBN:
      Happen we seen there was a damber in the ruffmans, and since we'd no yen t' deck the chates, we'd ha' binged a wast but for the rhino we was promised.

References
  • [Francis Grose] (1788), “Ruffmans”, in A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 2nd corrected and enlarged edition, London: Printed for S. Hooper, […], OCLC 3138643.
  • “ruffmans” in Albert Barrère and Charles G[odfrey] Leland, compilers and editors, A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant, volume II (L–Z), Edinburgh: The Ballantyne Press, 1889–1890, page 191.
  • Farmer, John Stephen (1903) Slang and Its Analogues‎, volume 6, pages 71–72
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