Exodusters - The Biblically inspired
name taken by black emigrants who departed the post-Civil War South for
the promised land of
Express - The mails or mail stage.
talk, to get out fast.
Fagged Out - Fatigued, worn out.
Fair to Middlin' - Feeling pretty
Fair Shake - A fair trade, a
satisfactory bargain or exchange.
Falutin - See High-Falutin
Family Disturbance - Whiskey
- From the Spanish, a big party with lots of dancing and excitement.
Faro - A card
game that took its name from faroon, a derivative of pharaon
(pharoah.) The Pharoah was the king of hearts in a regular deck
of cards. Players bet on the order in which cards would be drawn
from a box.
Fat In The Fire - To have one's
plans frustrated. "If I don’t get this job completed, the fat’s going
to be in the fire.”
Feeze - To be in a feeze is to be
in a state of excitement.
- Fellow. "That big feller over there is the sheriff."
Bring, give. "Fetch me that hammer." "He fetched him a punch in
Fetch Up - Stop suddenly.
worthless dog, mongrel. Also referred to as fiste and tyst.
Fid Of Tobacco - A chew, or quid of
Fiddle - A
Fiddle Faddle - Trifling discourse,
Kilkenny Cats - Fight like hell.
Fill a Blanket
- Roll a cigarette.
Find One's Self - To provide for
one's self through labor and wages.
Fine as cream gravy
- Very good, top notch.
Finefied - Made fine, dandified.
Finical - Nice, foppish, pretending to
Fire-New - Brand new.
Firewater - Liquor
First-Swathe - First quality.
cowboy's rain slicker, from a rain gear manufacturer whose
trademark was a fish logo. "We told him it looked like rain, but left
his fish in the wagon anyhow."
Fish or Cut
Bait - Do it or quit talking about it.
used instead of "fought.”
Fit - A short return after intermission,
a turn, a period or interval. "I almost lost my crops after that fit of
Fits And Starts - At short and sudden
Five Beans in the
Wheel - Five cartridges in the six chambers of a rvolver.
Westerners often left the chamber under the hammer empty for safety
Fix - A condition, predicament,
Fix One's Flint - To settle, to do for,
Fixin' - Intending. "I'm fixin' to get
Fixings or Fixins' - Cooked food, also called "Doings." Arrangements,
embellishments, trimmings, garnishings.The term was also used for the
tobacco and paper needed to roll cigarettes.
Fix One’s Flint - To settle a matter.
Flack - Sales
talk, advertising, exaggeration.
Flannel Mouth - An
overly smooth or fancy talker, especially politicians or salesmen. "I
swear that man is a flannel-mouthed liar."
Flap-Jack - A fried cake, pancake,
Flat - A foolish fellow, a simpleton.
Also refers to a flat-bottomed boat.
Flats - Low lands, valley
Flat Out - To collapse, to prove a
Flinders - Shreds, splinters, broken
Fling - A sneer or contemptuous remark
Flitter - A corruption of the word
fritter, a pancake.
Flummux - Perplex, embarrass, put to a
Flunk Out - To retire through fear, to
Flusteration - Heat, hurry, confusion
Fob Off - To delude by a trick.
Fogy - A stupid fellow, as, "He is an
Folded Up - A horse bucking.