Gallnipper: a large mosquito.
- 1842: The gallnippers of Florida are said to have aided the Seminoles in appalling our armies. Mrs. Kirkland, Forest Life, p.184
- 1888: Our rainwater was full of gallnippers and pollywogs ... banks of mud all bred mosquitoes, or gallnippers, as the darkies call them. Mrs. Elizabeth Custer, Tenting on the Plains, pp. 76-77
G'hal: a rowdy girl; a reveler or ruffian girl. See also B'hoy.
- 1848: Go it, all ye g'hals, and ye b'hoys, as much as you can, while you are young. Dow, Patent Sermons, p.167
Gone coon, gone sucker: a goner.
- 1840: I was afeared you were a gone coon. C.F. Hoffman, Greyslaer, p.221
- 1845: The acquisition of Canada ... is put down on all sides as a gone coon. Mr. Giddings, Ohio, in Congress
- 1851: I feared that I should lose my way, and then I knew I was a gone sucker. An Arkansaw Doctor, p.109
Gotham: New York City.
- 1836: An Albany or Newark dog is well worth fifty cents, if brought to Gotham's authorities, as if actually killed in Gotham's streets… We understand that a dog's flesh is quite a luxury in Gotham market. Philadelphia Public Ledger, August 5
- 1840: Col. Johnson was in New York, drinking juleps at Delmonico's. He was warmly received by Gothamites. Daily Pennant St. Louis, July 22
Go the whole hog: to go all the way.
- 1830. As ladies now wear pantaloons and boots, I see no reason why they should not go the whole hog and mount the hat and swallow tailcoat likewise. N. Dana, A Mariner's Sketches, p.186
- 1833: T. Hamilton quotes a placard, "Jackson for ever. Go the whole hog!" The expression, I am told, is of Virginian origin. In that state, when a butcher kills a pig, it is usual to demand of each customer, whether he will go the whole hog. Men and Manners in America, pp. 17-18
Gouge: to gouge at your opponent's eyes in a fight, a widely referred to tactic throughout the century.
- 1820: In most cases both parties were severely bruised, bitten, and gouged, and would be weeks in recovering. Peter Burnett, Recollections, p.19
- 1826: ... I saw more than one man who wanted an eye, and ascertained that I was now in the region [on the Mississippi] of gouging. T. Flint, Recollections, p.98
- 1830: "Gouge him! Gouge him!" exclaimed a dozen voices. George Prentice, Northern Watchman, Troy, New York
- 1843: Rowdy Bill was famous as a gouger, and so expert was he in his anti-optical vocation, that in a few minutes he usually bored out his adversary's eyes, or made him cry "peccavi." R. Carlton, The New Purchase, p.158
Greased lightning: anything very fast.
- 1833: He spoke as quick as greased lightning. Boston Herald, January 15
- 1837: If I didn't fetch old dug-out through slicker than snakes, and faster than a greased thunderbolt. R.M. Bird, Nick of the Woods, p.90
- 1842: The horse went up the street like a blue streak of greased lightning. Philadelphia Spirit of the Times, September 7
Grist: a quantity or bunch.
- 1833: There has been a mighty grist of rain lately up above. J.K. Paulding, Banks of the Ohio, p.133
- 1847: He owes old Sambo a whull grist of fourpences for blackin' his boots, runnin' of ar'nds, and sich like small chores. J.K. Paulding, American Comedies, p.142
- 1853: That old Greke that folks tell so much about never poured out sich a grist of oratory in all his born days. Seba Smith, Major Jack Downing, p.411
Grit: guts; courage; toughness.
- 1834: Mother says before I was a week old I showed that I was real grit. Seba Smith, Major Jack Downing, p.25
- 1855: They are full of grit, and ready to swallow Cuba alive. Seba Smith, Major Jack Downing, p.434
Grocery: a drinking establishment. See also Doggery, Dram shop, Groggery.
- 1830: Wilson told the Sheriff to take the jury to a grocery, that he might treat them, and invited every body that chose to go. Some men who have held a good standing in society followed the crowd to the grocery. Jeffersonian, June 30
- 1857: Some will set up a small grocery or groggery; they go into debt to those who have a bigger groggery. John Taylor at the Bowery, Salt Lake City, Journal of Discourses, August 9, v, p.119
Groggery, grog Shop: a low drinking establishment; a dive.
- 1835: Long lines of unpainted, wretched looking dwellings, occupied as groggeries. Ingraham, The South West P. 190
- 1843: To enlarge the Congressional districts ... would break the power of mere shake-hands and grog-shop influence. Mr. Underwood, Kentucky, House of Reps., Congressional Globe, April 21
Grum: surly; gloomy; glum.
- 1834: The poet looked gloomily, or what is vernacularly called grum. Robert Sands, Writings, P.187
- 1842: The sun seems extraordinarily sulky and grum. Philadelphia Spirit of the Times, June 18
Gum: lies; exaggerations. As a verb, to dupe someone.
- 1843: Now this was all gum; Sam could not read a word. R. Carlton, The New Purchase, p.255
- 1844: He was speaking of the moon hoax, which gummed so many learned philosophers. Yale Literary Magazine, xiv, p.189
Guttersnipe: a homeless child who roamed and slept in the streets. Hundreds roamed the larger cities throughout much of the century.
- 1890: Guttersnipe is the name which has been given to the more weakly street arab, the little fellow who, though scarcely more than a baby, is frequently left by brutalized parents at the mercy of any fate. This little chap generally roams around until he finds some courageous street arab, scarcely bigger than himself, perhaps, to fight his battles and put him in the way of making a living, which is generally done by selling papers. In time the guttersnipe becomes himself a full-fledged street arab ...with two hard and ready fists, and a horde of dependent and grateful snipes. Darkness and Daylight in New York, p. 116
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