“A ragged fellow, whose clothes hang all in tatters.” 24. 'A poor sneaking fellow, a man of no spirit.' 22. 'An ill-dressed shabby fellow also a mean-spirited person.' 21. 'A low mean fellow, employed in all sorts of dirty work.' 20. “A large relaxed penis, also a dull inanimate fellow.” 18. 'A punning appellation for a justice,' or a punny name for a judge. 'An ape a pert, ugly, little fellow.' 16. HEDGE WHOREĪn itinerant prostitute, 'who bilks the bagnios and bawdy houses, by disposing of her favours on the way side, under a hedge a low beggarly prostitute.” 15. 'A lazy fat woman … a frowzy old woman.' 11. “A poor, miserable, emaciated fellow.' 9. “A lewd woman, or one that plays with her tail also an impotent man, or an eunich.” 6. 'A woman whose hair is dishevelled, and hanging about her face a slattern.' 4. A BLOWSE, OR BLOWSABELLAĪn unkempt woman. “A man much given to wenching,” or consorting with prostitutes. (And if you need more inspiration, here's some Victorian slang for good measure.) 1. Below are some of the tome's most hilarious, vivid, and archaic insults, arranged in alphabetical order for your put-down pleasure. The anthology is filled with slang words and terms of the kind dictionary scribe Samuel Johnson had previously deemed unfit for his influential A Dictionary of the English Language (1755).

And there's more where that came from if you browse through English lexicographer Francis Grose's A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, first published in 1785 and recently spotted by the Public Domain Review. For history buffs with a personal score to settle, 'You jerk' just doesn't have the same ring as 'You unlicked cub,' an insult from Georgian England.

Insult order translation