R. K. Cowles

A

Abisselfa- by itself

Abandons-fondlings

Abandons- street prostitutes

Above board- in open sight

Above one's bend- out of one's power

Above snakes- above ground; still alive

Absquatulate- to leave

A cartwheel- silver dollar

Ace-High - first class

Ace in the hole- a hideout

According to Hoyle - correct, by the book

Acknowledge the corn - to admit the truth, to confess a lie

Acock - Knocked over, suddenly surprised.

Acorn calf -a weak or runty calf

Acquisitive - booty, plunder.

Acreocracy - a landlord interest.

Across lots - fastest way possible

Actual - money

Adam's Ale - water

Addle-headed - empty-headed.

Addle-pot - a spoil sport

Advantage - carrying a derringer in a coat pocket that is charged and at half cock

Afeared - frightened

Afterclaps - unexpected happenings after an event is supposed to be over

Afly - to become expert at

Agregado- farm hand allowed to work for himself on part of the landowners soil

Airtights- canned goods

Airin' the lungs -cussing

Airin' the paunch - vomit

Air line road - railroad track when it passes over the level unbroken prairie

Airtights - canned goods

Alamo- cottonwood tree

Albino- pale cream horse

Alcade- title applied to a mayor or judge

Alfalfa desperado - a farmer

Alfilaria- the pin grass of the plains

A lick and a promise - do a haphazard job

Alkali- man drunk or sick on poisoned water

Alkali flat- a flat stretch of country ruined by alkali

All abroad - at a loss

All beer and skittles - unpleasant

All day sucker- long lasting candy

All down but nine - not understood

Allers - always

All my eye - nonsense, untrue

All over - bearing a resemblance to some particular object

All-overish - uncomfortable

All the caboose - everywhere

All the shoot - the whole assembly

All to pieces - completely

Allot upon - to intend

All-standing - without preparation

Amble -to walk

Ambush - scales used by grocers, coal-dealers

Amigo- friend

Among the willows -dodging the Law

Amputate your timber- go way

Angelicas - young unmarried women

Angle iron- triangle instrument hung outside cook house on the range

Angoras - hair-covered, goat-hide chaps

Annex - to steal

Ante- to pay up

Anti-fogmatic - raw rum or whiskey

Anti-goglin - lopsided

Appaloosa- horse whose spots vary in sizes and colors

Apple - saddle horn

Apple Jack - liquor distilled from cider

Apple peeler - pocket Knife

Apple pie order - in top shape

Appola- sticks on which small pieces ogf meat were roasted over an open fire

Apron straps- straps attached to saddle to secure items on it

Aquisitive- booty; plunder

Arbuckle - coffee

Arizona nightingale- donkey; burro

Arizona tenor- man suffering from tuberculosis

Arkansas toothpick - long, sharp knife

Artastra- mill stone used for crushing gold, silver or ore

Ary - either.

Ash-hopper - box for ashes

Ask no adds - ask no favor

Atole- corn meal porridge

At sea - at a loss

Atween - between

Atwixt - between

Auger - big boss

Axle grease - butter

B

Bach - a bachelor

Backdoor trots - diarrhea

Back staircase -a derisive tern for a woman's bustle

Bad box - in a bad predicament

Bad egg - bad person

Bad medicine -bad news

Bag of nails - topsy-turvy

Bait - food

Baker’s dozen - thirteen

Bake - to overheat a horse

Balderdash - nonsense

Baldface dishes - china dishes

Ballast - money

Balled up - confused

Ballyhoo - exaggeration

Balmy - sleepy, dull

Bamboozle - to deceive

Banco- a sandbank in a water course

Band wagon - peddler's wagon

Bandana- neckerchief for several purposes

Banded - hungry

Bandera- flag

Bandero - widow’s weeds

Bangtail - wild horse

Banjo - a short-handled shovel

Banquette a side-walk

Banter- to challenge; to defy

Barboguelo- chin strap of a hat

Bar dog - bar tender

Bared - shaved

Barber’s cat -sickly-looking person

Barber’s clerk -over-dressed fellow who trys to act like a gentleman

Barefoot - unshod horse

Barkin' at a knot -doing something useless

Barking irons -pistols

Barking squirrel- prairie dog

Barranca- steep sided ravine

Barrens - elevated lands upon which grow small trees

Barrow-tram-a-rawbone - awkward looking person

Barrel boarder -a bum

Barrel fever - hangover

Base burner - drink of whiskey

Bat - a frolic, a spree

Batch of crumbs- bugs, a man finds in his blanket

Batea- small receptacle for panning gold

Batting his eyes -man who look on but don’t play poker

Battlin' stick -a stick to stir clothes in the wash pot

Bat wings - chaps

Bay-window - pregnancy

Bazoo -mouth

Beads - bubbles which rise on a glass of wine or spirits

Bean master -the cook

Bear- fully armed; prepared for trouble

Bear sign - donuts

Bear's nest- cattle ranch's line camp

Beating the road -traveling on a railroad train without paying

Beat the devil around the stump -to evade responsibility or a difficult task

Bed him down -to kill a man

Bed-post -a moment

Bed-rock -not able to go lower

Bee in your bonnet -an idea

Beef -to kill

Beef-headed -stupid

Beef tea -shallow water fouled by cattle

Been in the Sun -drunk

Been through the mill -been through a lot

Bee-sweetening -honey

Beetle-crushers -feet

Bell heather- cow who wears a bell in the lead

Bellyache -complain

Belly cheater -a cook

Belly robber -a cook

Belly through the brush - dodge the law

Belly wash - weak coffee

Belvidere - handsome man

Bend an elbow - have a drink

Bender - a spree or a frolic

Benzinery -low-grade drinking place

Best bib and tucker -wearing your best clothes

Betty -pear-shaped bottle

Between hay and grass - between boyhood and manhood

Bible - small packet of papers used to roll cigarettes

Bible puncher- a man who quotes the Bible

Bible two- a list of wanted men

Biddy - a nagging or complaining woman.

Biff -to strike in ones face

Big augur -ranch owner

Big bug - important person

Big fifty - rifle for buffalo hunting

Big figure - to do things on on a large scale

Big guns- men of importance

Big house- home of the ranch owner

Big jump - death

Big nuts to crack -difficult or large undertaking

Big pasture -the penitentiary

Big sugar- ranch owner

Biggest toad in the puddle -most important person in a group

Bilk - to cheat or a man who failed to pay his dues

Bird cage- a derisive tern for a woman's bustle

Biscuit - saddle horn

Biscuit Roller -the cook

Biscuit Shooter -the cook or a waitress in a restaurant

Bite the dust- fall on face from falling off the saddle

Bite the Ground - to be killed

Bit House -a saloon or store everything costs a bit [12 1/2 cents]

Black-eyed Susan - six-gun

Black jack- ore or zinc to a miner

Black-Leg - gambler

Black sack- rum and molasses

Black Snake - long whip

Black strap- molasses

Blackstrap -gin and molasses

Black Water -weak coffee

Blarney - flattery, tall tales

Blather - impudence

Blatherskite -blustering, noisy, talkative fellow

Blaze- to make a trail

Blazers- deception; a lie

Blazes -euphemism for hell or the devil

Blazzing saddles or devil's bit- a root used as medicine

Blind trail- lost or misleading trail

Blot a brand- to deface a brand

Blotched brand- a defaced brand

Blow -to taunt or rest after a steep climb

Blow in- to arrive

Blow out - feast

Blow out a man's lamp- kill him

Blue backs- Confederacy paper money

Blue belly- a soldier

Blue devils -dispirited

Blue John -skimmed milk

Blue lightnin' - six-gun

Blue stocking -an epithet applied to literary ladies

Blusteration - noise of a braggart

Bobbery - argument

Bobtail guard -the first cowboy guarding the cattle at night.

Bockey -a bowl made from a gourd.

Bodega - liquor store

Boogered up- badly injured

Boggy top - pie baked without a top crust

Bog-trotter - one that lives in a boggy country

Bogus - rum and molasses

Boil over - horse that starts bucking

Boisderache- buffalo chips

Bolt -to swallow food without chewing

Bonanza - discovery of an exceptionally rich vein of gold or silver

Bone orchard -cemetery

Bonnet strings- thongs of a man's hat

Boodle -a crowd of people

Boogered up -crippled

Boot-licker - ass-kisser

Boom along - to move rapidly

Boot yard - cemetery

Bo-Peep -to play at bo-peep

Boose -drink liquor

Boosy - a little intoxicated

Boosily -lazily, in a state of intoxication

Border draw- method of drawing a gun with the weapon on the opposite side

Border roll- a maneuver of a gunslinger surrendering his gun only to spin it and shoot it

Border shift- a passing of a gun from one hand to another

Bosh -nonsense.

Boss -the best, top

Bossy - calf

Boston dollar - penny

Bothahrayshun -a bother

Bottle courage- whiskey

Bottom -low land with rich soil

Bottom-lands - rich flat land on the banks of rivers.

Bottled courage -whiskey

Boudin- tender buffalo meat used in sausage

Bouncing -large, heavy

Bouge -to swell out

Boughton- store bought from outside not homemade

Bowie-Knife -a knife

Box canyon- a blind canyon one entry, no exit

Box herder -a person in charge of the women at a brothel or saloon

Brace- to fix a gambling game

Brain tablet -cigarette

Brand artist - rustler who alters brands with a running iron

Brasada- armful of firewood

Brassero- brick oven

Brave maker- whiskey

Breachy -unruly oxen

Bread jerker - Adam's apple

Beak down timber- to get out fast

Brick in one’s hat -to be drunk

Brigham young cocktail -strong whiskey

Broke in two - horse bucking

Bronc buster - cowboy who could tame wild horses

Broken wind - lung infection in horses

Broomtail - long, bushy-tailed range mare

Brother-chip - fellow-carpenter

Brown study -deep thought

Brown gargle -coffee

Brush - skirmish, or fight

Buck nun- a recluse bachelor

Buckaroo - cowboy

Bucket of blood - violence-prone saloon

Bucket shop - gin mill or distillery

Bucking the tiger -playing poker

Buckle bunnies -female groupies who follow and befriend rodeo riders

Buckle-to set about any task with energy and a determination

Buckskin- a Virginian

Buffaloed -confused

Buffaloed- struck on the head before drawing one's gun

Bug juice -booze

Build a loop -shaking out a coil of rope in preparation for roping

Bulgar- uncommonly large

Bull - officer of the law

Bulldoze - bully, threaten

Bulldozer - big person

Bullet mold- a hinged mold for making bullets

Bullets- pockets; pieces of gold

Bull nurse - cowboy

Bullwhacker - person who drives a team of oxen

Bulo a smoke- to roll a cigarette

Bumblebee whiskey - liquor strong enough to sting

Bunch quitter- horse or cow that has a habit of breaking free of the bunch

Bunko artist - con man

Bunuelo- biscuit fried in fat

Burg - town

Burgeois- person of middle class

Burn the breeze -ride at full speed

Bunch quitter- horse or cow has the habit of breaking free from the bunch

Burrow milk -nonsense

Buscadero- searcher used by gunmen

Bushed-worn down; tired

Bushwhack - cowardly attack or ambush

Buss - kiss

Buster -anything large in size

Butt- handle of a gun

Butter nut- confederate soldier

Button - A young boy

Buzzard bait - worn out horse

Buzzard food -dead

By Hook or crook -to do any way possible

By the skin of one's teeth -when a man has made a narrow escape from any dilemma

C

Caboodle - the whole thing

Caboose - ship's cooking-range

Cabron- an outlaw of the lowest order

Cactus boomers- wild brush cattle

Cahoots - partnership

Calaboose - jail

Calamity Jane - hard-cussing, heavy-drinking frontier woman, Queen of Spades

Calf slobbers - meringue on the top of pie

Calibogus-rum and spruce beer

Calico -painted horse

Calico Queen - prostitute

California- to bring an animal down by tripping it

California collar -hangman's noose

California moccasins- sack tied around the feet to protect against the cold

California pants- striped or checkered pants of heavy wool

California prayer book - a deck of cards

California widow - a woman separated from her husband, but not divorced

Calling- courting

Calumet- long stemmed pipe

Calzoneras- pants slit outside of leg below the knees

Camas- staple food of Native Americans northwest and Canada

Came apart- horse bucking

Camino real- public highway

Camp staller- a horse reluctant to leave camp in the morning

Canary cage- a derisive tern for a woman's bustle

Can opener- spurs

Candle-light - dusk

Canister - gun

Canned cow - canned milk

Cannon -revolver

Can openers - spurs

Cantina- a saloon or wine shop

Cap the climax- to beat all

Cardinal -a woman's cloak

Carmudgeon- a miser

Carretela- horse drawn carriage

Carryall - four-wheeled pleasure carriage

Cartucho- cartridge shell

Cash in- to die

Catalogue woman -mail order bride

Catawampous -fiercely, eagerly

Catawamptiously Chawed Up -completely demolished

Catch a tartar - attack one of superior strength or abilities

Catch a Weasel Asleep -referring to something impossible

Catgut - Rawhide rope

Cat's Paw- to be made a tool to accomplish something

Cattle baron -cattle owner with numerous herds of stock

Cattle Kate -female cattle rustler.

Catty-cornered -diagonally across

Cavort -to frolic

Cat wagon -wagon that carried prostitutes along cattle trails

Cavallard -caravans crossing the prairies

Cerro- a hill

Chaffy- clownish

Chap - boy, lad, a fellow

Chapping- beating of a man with leggings

Chaqueta- heavy jacket

Charlie Taylor- butter made of molasses and fat

Chaw- a plug of tobacco

Chaw up -to use up

Che-muck- miner's term for food

Chew - eat

Chew gravel - thrown from a horse

Chip - money drawer in a bank

Chisel -to cheat or swindle

Chitlins - fragments

Chock - put a wedge under a thing

Chock full- entirely full

Chock up- close tight

Choke strap -necktie

Choke the horn -to grab the saddle horn

Chow - cooked food

Chuck -to throw

Chuck -food

Chuck away- meal time

Chucklehead -a fool

Chuck-line rider -unemployed cowboy who rode from ranch to ranch, exchanging a bit of news and gossip for a meal

Chuck Wagon Chicken - fried bacon

Churn twister - a farmer

Claim jumper-one who illegally took possesion of a claim

Clap-trap- artifice for attracting applause

Claw leather - grab the saddle horn

Clean his plow- to whip a man

Clip -a blow or a stroke with the hand

Clinch mountain - rye whiskey

Clodhopper - a clown

Close-Fisted -stingy, mean

Clothesline - rope

Coach whip snake- harmless snake that resembles coach whips

Coal-hod - kettle for carrying coals to the fire

Cocinero -the camp cook

Cocked hat - knock someone senseless

Cocktail guard- last guard of the night on a trail drive

Cofecito- cup of coffee

Coffee boiler - lazy person

Coffin varnish - whiskey

Coil - rope

Contle- raised rear part of saddle

Cookie - cook

Cold as a wagon tire -dead

Cold meat wagon - hearse

Colors - particles of gold gleaming in a prospector's gold pan

Cooling yer heels -staying for a while

Come a cropper -come to ruin, fail

Common doings- plain food

Compressed hay - cowchips

Concord- stagecoach

Conniption fit -a fit of hysteria

Consumption - tuberculosis

Converter -a preacher

Cookie- the cook

Coon's age- long time

Coosie -the camp cook

Coot- an idiot

Copper -copper coin

Copper a bet -betting to lose

Corn-cracker - a native of Kentucky

Corn-dodger - bread made of corn and water or milk

Corned -drunk

Corn juice -whisky

Corral dust -lies and tall tales

Cottonwood blossom -man lynched from the limb of a tree

Cotton To -to take a liking to

Countrified -rustic

Couldn't hold a candle to -not even close

Coulee- steep sided ravine

Cowboy cocktail - straight whiskey

Cow chip - dried cow manure

Cow grease - butter

Cowhide -particular kind of whip made of raw hide

Cow juice - milk

Cow peas- black bean

Cow salve- butter

Cow sense - intelligence

Cow wood - cowchips

Crack -best

Cracked - crazy

Cracker - small hard biscuit

Crackerbox - a bronc saddle

Cracklings - the remains of a wood fire

Crack up - to brag or boast

Cradle- a rocking box, washing gold from dirt and gravel

Crambo -a diversion in which one gives a word, to which another finds a rhyme

Crawl his hump - to start a fight

Crazy as a loon - very crazy

Creepmouse - a term of endearment to babies

Critter - creature, varmint

Croaker - pessimist, doomsayer

Crony- pal

Crooked as a Virginia fence -figuratively to persons of a stubborn temperament

Cross cut- short cut on a journey

Cross grained- troublesome

Cross patch- ill- tempered person

Crotchety - whimsical; fanciful

Crowbar hotel - jail

Crown fire- fire that swept through the top of trees

Cruller -cake made of a strip of sweetened dough, boiled in lard

Crumb castle - chuckwagon

Crumb Incubator -a cowboy's bed

Crummy - the caboose of a railroad train

Crusty- sturdy

Cubby-hole -snug place for a child

Curandero- one who cures by herbs

Curly Bill spin- a maneuver of a gunslinger surrendering his gun only to spin it and shoot it

Curly wolf -real tough guy

Curmudgeon - a miser

Curry favor - to seek or gain favor by flattery

Curry the kinks out - to break a horse

Cush- sweet fried corn meal cake

Cut a caper - the act of dancing in a frolicksome manner

Cut a dash -make a great show

Cut a figure- make an appearance

Cut a path- to leave

Cut a rusty- to go courting

Cut and dried -ready made

Cut and run - to be gone.

Cut dirt - to go fast.

Cut a path - leave

Cut a swell - present a fine figure

Cut his suspenders - A departed cowboy

Cut of his jib - The form of his profile

Cut stick - to leave immediately and quickly

Cut up shines - play tricks

Cutter - one horse sleigh

Cyprian- prostitute

D

Dabster - one who is expert in anything

Daisy - good; excellent

Dancing devil- dust storm

Dander - passion, emotion

Dang - euphemism for damn

Dangler - an express train

Dead-alive - dull, inactive

Dead as a door nail - completely dead

Dead fall- a drinking den

Dead man's hand -poker hand consisting of a pair of aces and a pair of eights

Dead meat - corpse

Dead shot- accurate marksman

Deadshot - strong liquor

Deadwood- to have advantage over someone

Deal from the bottom- to cheat

Death camass-poisonous plant

Death on - very fond of

Dehorn- a quarrelsome hard drinker

Democrat pasture- grazing area, enclosing natural gap in mountain of a canyon

Derringer- pocket pistol

Desert canary - a burro

Desert rat- a wandering prospector for gold

Devil's addition - Red Light District

Deviltry - mischief

Dew wrangler- horse herder in morning

Dice house - bunkhouse

Dickens - euphemism for devil, a lot

Dicker - barter; negotiate

Didn't have a tail feather left - broke

Dig out- to depart

Diggers - spurs

Diggings - one’s home

Dilly-dally - to delay

Dipping - chewing snuff

Dirk - a dagger

Dinero - money

Dish - to ruin

Disremember - forget or choose to forget

Ditched - arrested

Ditties- odds and ends

Ditty - a which-i-ma-call-it

Dive - bunkhouse

Doctor's cutter- sleigh with large top for a doctor

Dog cheap - anything exceedingly cheap

Doggery - cheap saloon

Doggie - an orphaned calf or small calf

Dogs - destroyed

Doings - cooked food

Don't care a continental - don't give a damn

doofunnies- knives and trickets

Double shuffle-change in pace and rythme

Dough belly - a cook

Dough boxer - camp cook

Dough puncher - camp cook

Dough wrangler - a cook

Doughgods - biscuits

Douse-the-lights - sleep time

Dowd- woman's night cap

Down in the mouth - dispirited

Down to the blanket - Almost broke

Doxology works - a church

Dragged out- exhausted

Dram shop - a small drinking establishment

Draw -drawing your gun

Draw cuts - decide by drawing straws

Dreadful - a lot

Dreambook - small packet of papers used to roll cigarettes

Driving the nail -sport consisting of attempts to drive a nail into a post with rifle or pistol fire

Dry gulch - ambush someone

Dug-out -a canoe

Dull music - anything tedious

Dump - jail or boarding house

Dunderhead - blockhead

Dust devil whirl- dust storm

Dusted - thrown from a horse

Dutch oven- heavy cast iron pot

Dynamite - whiskey

E

Eagle - gold ten dollar coin

Easy in the trigger- quick tempered, always tempermentally at half cocked

Eating irons - silverware

Enramada- a bower, shady grove

Equalizer - pistol

Estufa- heated room where sacred fire burn

Eucher - to out-smart someone

Eventuate - terminate

Exalted- hanged

Excuse-me-ma'am -a bump in the road

Exfluncticate - to destroy

Eye baller- a meddlar; nosy person

F

Fag - to get out fast

Fair to middlin' - feeling pretty good

Fair shake - fair trade

Fam-a-diddle - a fancy dress

Family disturbance - whiskey

Fan a gun- a method of firing a revolver

Fan the breeze- to hasten

Fandango - a big party

Fat in the fire - to have one's plans frustrated

Fence crawlers- horse or cattle prone to break or jump fences

Fence rider a fence sitting spectator at a horse breaking

Fetch - bring, give

Fice - a worthless dog

Fiddle - a horse's head.

Fiddle faddle - nonsense

Fight like kilkenny cats - fight like hell

Fill a blanket - roll a cigarette

Fine as cream gravy - top notch

Firewater - liquor

Fish Bait - do it or quit talking about it

Five beans in the wheel - five cartridges in the six chambers of a rvolver

Fix - predicament, dilemma

Fix one’s flint - to settle a matter

Fixin' - intending

Fixing for high riding- prepare to depart in a hurry

Fixings - cooked food

Flag your kite- hurried departure

Flannel mouth - an overly smooth or fancy talker

Flap-Jack - a fried cake, pancake, fritter

Flat- foolish fellow

Flats - low lands, valley

Flea-trap - a cowboy's bedroll

Flinders shreds- splinters; broken pieces

Flummux - perplex, embarrass

Flusteration - confusion

Fo farrow- a decorative fancy dress

Fogy - stupid fellow

Folded up -horse bucking

Fore-handed - to be in good circumstances

Fork- to mount

Fork a hoss - ride a horse.

Forted in - Intrenched in a fort

Forty rod lightning - Liquor

Four-flusher - a cheat; bluffer

Fox boots - to repair boots by adding new soles or leather

Fraggle- to rob

Freeze- be in a state of excitement

French leave - to run away

Frog walk- movement of a horse short easy hops

Frolic - a wild celebration

Frying size- young fellow

Fuddled - tipsy

Full as a tick - very drunk

Full chisel or full drive - at full speed

Full of prunes- spirited

Full-rigged - completely leather-covered saddle

Full split- with the greatest violence and impetuosity

Fussed dark - twilight

G

Gaboon- spittoon; cuspidor

Gadabout - one who walks about without business

Gal-boy - romping girl or tomboy

Gallery- porch of a house

Gallnipper - large mosquito

Gallowses - suspenders

Galranized yankee- captured confederate soldier given freedom if joining union

Gambusino- gold prospector or gold thief

Game Leg - lame leg

Gammon - humbug

Gay cat - one who cases banks and towns for future jobs

General treat - glass of liquor bought by one person in a tavern to everyone present bought by one

Get a wiggle on - hurry

Get it in the neck - get cheated, misled

Get shed of - get rid of

Get the mitten - be rejected by a lover

Get the wrong pig by the tail - make a mistake in selecting a person for any purpose

Ginnin' about - moving fast

Girls of the line - prostitutes

Give him jessy - give a flogging

Give the mitten - when a lady turns down a man’s proposal

Goat meat - venison killed out of season.

Go boil your shirt - get lost

Go the whole hog - in favor of anything

Goings on - behavior

Gone goslin - done for

Goose drownder- heavy rain

gophering- diggings by prospector

Gospel mill - a church

Gospel sharp - a preacher

Got the bulge - have the advantage

Grab a root - eat a meal

Grab the apple - grabbing hold of the saddle horn

Grail- small particles

Grappling irons- spurs

Grassed - thrown from a horse

Grass widow - a divorcee

Grease bush- resinous bush

Greased lightning - very fast

Greasy belly - a camp cook

Greenhorn- inexperienced man of the way of the west

Greens - leaves and green vegetables

Grist- a bunch

Gritty - courageous, spirited

Grocery- a saloon

Grog – gin and water

Groggery- saloon

Grub pile - cooked meal

Grub slinger - a cook

Grub spoiler- a cook

Grub worm- a cook

Grubstake - provided the materials a prospector needs, including food and money

Grunter -a hog

Gulch- deep sided ravine with a stream at the bottom

Gully washer - a hard rain

Gump - a foolish person

Gunslinger- someone resorted to the guns

Grunter- hog

Gun hung- armed with holstered gun

Gut hooks - spurs

Gut warmer - whiskey

Guttersnipe - a homeless child who roamed the streets

Gypped- to be cheated

Gypsum- gyp

H

Hair case - hat

Hair in the butter - a delicate situation

Half faced cabin- temperory cabin with one side open

Half seas over - intoxicated

Hammer and tongs - in a noisy, furious manner

Hand and glove - intimate

Handle- a man's name what he goes by

Hang fire - delay.

Hang up one’s fiddle - to give up

Hard case - worthless

Hard money - silver and gold

Hard row to hoe - a difficult matter or job to accomplish

Hardware- a belt gun

Harum-scarum - a person always in a hurry

Hatchet pipe- tomahawk and smoking pipe

Have a mind to - to be willing

Hawg legs- single action pistol

Hay baler - a horse

Hay wire- crazy

Hay seed- a rough, ignorant man

Heap - a lot

Hearn- heard

Hearty as a buck - very well, healthy

Heeled - to be armed with a gun

Hell-fired -immensely great

Hell rousers - spurs

Hellabaloo - confusion

Helter-skelter - In a hurry

Hemp fevor- a hanging

Hen skins - cowboy's bedroll

Hide - to beat, spank

Higgledy-piggledy - in confusion

High binder - a dangerous and vicious man or horse

High-grader - a man who stole any big nuggets which he saw in the sluice boxes

High lonesome- a heavy drinker

High tail - ride off quickly

Hill nutty- a prospector of hill country

Hill of beans - something of trifling value

Hindsite first - backwards

Hit pay dirt - find something of value

Hitch rail- a rail to horses upon

Hitched - got married

Hitching post- a post to tie a horse upon

Hits the flat - go out on the prairie

Hobble your lip - shut up

Hocter- tiny amount

Hog at the trough - superior

Hog-killin time - having a good time

Hog ranch - ranches that seemed to raise hogs yet are dens for drinking

Hog wild- excited

Hoja- corn shuck used as cigarette paper

Hold a candle to - compare to

Hold down a claim- to establish legal ownership

Hold your horses - stay calm

Hole up- to take shelter

Holler calf rope- to give up

Honey-fogle - to swindle

Honey-fuggled - to pull the wool over one's eyes

Hook - to steal

Hooks - spurs

Hook shop- brothel

Hooraw- to ride through town and raise hell

Hoosegow - a jail

Hop - a dance

Hopped for mama - horse bucking

Horn - glass of liquor

Hornswoggle - to cheat or trick

Horse thief special - a raisn and boiled rice dish.

Horse feathers - ridiculous

Hot as a whorehouse on nickel night - too darn hot

Hot rock - biscuit

Hot roll- bedroll

Huckleberry above a persimmon - a cut above.

Humbug - deception

Hounds - rowdies of the gold-rush

Hurricane deck - saddle of a bucking horse.

Husking bee - a social event a group of people husk corn and to drink

Husking frolic- a social event a group of people husk corn and to drink

I

Idaho brain storm- dust storm

Indian broke - a horse trained to be mounted from the right side

Indian side - right side of a horse

Indian whiskey - cheap, adulterated liquor

In for it - engaged in a thing from which there is no retreating.

In liquor - intoxicated

Iron - agun.

Iron horse - a railroad train.

Is that a bluff, or do you mean it for real play? - Are you serious?

J

Jack of Diamonds - whiskey made of rye

Jamboree- wild celebration

Java- coffee

Javalina- musk hog

Jawhawker- Kansas gorilla fighter [during the Civil War] or a tarantula

Jawing - talking.

Jerked meat - fresh meat dried in the open air

Jerky- jerked beef

Jerusalem undertaker- a comb

Jewerly- belt gun; firearm

Jicara- bowl

Jig is up - game is over

Jingled - drunk

Jingler - a person who talks in rhyme

Jimmying a bull - shooting a law officer

John B. - A cowboy hat

John Barleycorn - beer

John Henry- a signature

Johnny completely- a new comer to the country

Joshua tree- yucca plant

Joy juice - whiskey

Jump the broom - get married

Juniper- a new comer to the west

Justins - cowboy boots

K

Kansas neck blister- bowieknife

Kansas sheep dip- whiskey

Karimption- small crowd

Keep that dry - keep it secret

Keep the pot a boiling - keep it going

Kelly's- hand-made spurs

Kick- to complain

Kick up a row - create a disturbance

Kid- child pickpocket

Kidney pad - eastern saddle

Kill pecker guard- guard of cow herd from sundown

Kitchen safe - cupboard

Knee-high to a...grasshopper, lamb, jackrabbit - short statue or youth

Knob - hills .

Knock galley west - beat senseless

Knocked into a cocked hat- ruined

L

Lacing - a beating

Lag - prisoner

Lambasting - a beating

Land loper- a vagrant who strolls about the country

Lapper - a hard drinker

Lardon- a thief

Larruping- great

Lasso - long rope or cord, with a noose

Last round up- death

Latchpan - lower lip

Lay - price, salary, bed or a spread of land

Lead plumb - bullet

Lead poisoning - shot

Lead pusher - gun

Leafless tree- gallows

Leap the book - illegal or false marriage.

Leg bail - run away.

Left-handed wife - Mistress

Leggins - chaps

Lenty- inexperienced man

Lick - molasses or a blow

Lickety split - at full speed

Lick spittle- one who will stoop to any dirty work

Lickfinger - to kiss ass

Licking - a flogging, a beating

Life preserver - a gun

Lights - eyes

Like a thoroughbred - like a gentleman

Like lickin' butter off a knife - easy

Lilly liver- coward

Limb- leg

Lining the flue - eating

Lily Liver - a coward

Little end of the horn - come away from a situation at a disadvantage

Llano- prairie, plains

Loaded for bears - lightly intoxicated

Loaded to the gunwhales - drunk

Lock, stock, and barrel - the whole thing

Loco - crazy

Loco weed- poisonous, purple or white flower

Lone star - independent cowboy

Lonesome- a drink on one's own

Long and short- the end

Longhorned- experienced

Longhorns- wild cattle

Lookin' at a mule's tail - plowing

Lookin' to die -very ill

Lope - a leap

Lotion - a drink

Louse cage - bunkhouse

Love apples - canned tomatoes

Love lick - rough caress

Lubber- a sturdy man

Lucifer- strike on anything match

Lunger - a person with tuberculosis

Lunkhead- idiot senseless

Lynching bee - a hanging

Lubber - a sturdy man

Lunk-headed - idiotic; senseless

Lush-crib - a saloon

Lynching- illegal hanging

Lynching bee- a hanging