The 19th century must have sounded....odd.

Currently having fun with the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue - "A Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit and Pickpocket Eloquence".

Strange how the definitions new to some in the early 19th century seem both quaintly old and, at the same time, hilariously not of this world. We're quite safe, I think, to ridicule language far below that what we kinda talk like.....{cough}

Some examples:-

ADMIRAL OF THE NARROW SEAS. One who from drunkenness
vomits into the lap of the person sitting opposite to him.

BRIM. (Abbreviation of Brimstone.) An abandoned woman;
perhaps originally only a passionate or irascible
woman, compared to brimstone for its inflammability.

GIFTS. Small white specks under the finger nails, said to
portend gifts or presents. A stingy man is said to be
as full of gifts as a brazen horse of his farts.

RESCOUNTERS. The time of settlement between the bulls
and bears of Exchange-alley, when the losers must pay
their differences, or become lame ducks, and waddle out
of the Alley.