The Vulgar Tongue: A dictionary of filthy words

He was a muse to Robert Burns; a soldier with a penchant for port; and an ‘antiquarian Falstaff’ who took midnight walks through London, eavesdropping in slums, drinking dens and dockyards. Francis Grose was one of the first to record phrases like ‘fly-by-night’ or ‘birds of a feather’ – and many believe he deserves to be as well-known as that more celebrated compiler of the English language, Samuel Johnson.
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