α. 1700s–1800s blacklegs.
β. 1700s blacklegg, 1800s– blackleg.
blacklegn.
/ˈblaklɛɡ/, U.S. /ˈblækˌlɛɡ/ 1. In singular and †plural.
a. A type of myositis occurring mainly in young cattle, caused by the bacterium Clostridium chauvoei and characterized by gas gangrene of the affected part of the body (usually the hindquarters or shoulder) and toxaemia, typically terminating in death within a few days.Other names for this disease include black quarter, hyan, murrain, quarter evil, quarter ill, and speed.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of cattle, horse, or sheep > [noun] > disorders of cattle or sheep > other disorders
shotc1500
foul?1523
redwater1594
blacklega1722
garget1725
dunt1784
black water1800
cothe1800
fardel-bound1825
navel ill1834
bluetongue1867
heartwater1880
orf1890
tick-borne fever1921
strike1932
a1722 E. Lisle Observ. Husbandry (1757) 347 They have a distemper in Leicestershire frequent among the calves, which in that country they call the black-legs..It is a white jelly settling in their legs, from whence it has its name of black-legs.
1768 C. Varlo Mod. Farmers Guide II. xxxvii. 367 (heading) To prevent the Black-legg, or Black-quarter in Calves or Lambs.
1817 J. Farey Gen. View Agric. Derbyshire III. 77 At Blackwell, Mr. Joshua Lingard stated, that the Black-leg sometimes happens to his rearing Calves..; the causes of it are unknown, and it is without a remedy.
1884 Illustr. Sydney News 26 Aug. 15/2 A cattle disease, known as blackleg, is stated to have killed a number of cattle in the Mount Alexander district.
1941 R. Headstrom Adventures with Microscope xxix. 103 This is but natural in view of the prominence given to them as the causative agents of..such animal diseases as glanders, blackleg, anthrax, and chicken cholera.
1971 B. K. Green Village Horse Doctor 226 He was running steer yearlings in some big pastures... He had had them vaccinated for blackleg.
2003 A. Proulx Close Range (new ed.) 223 The rancher said nothing, got up and moved as though apostasy, like blackleg, was contagious.
b. Any of several diseases of plants in which the stem of the plant decays and blackens; esp. (a) a fungal disease chiefly affecting beets and brassicas caused by fungi of the genera Pleospora and Leptosphaeria; (b) a bacterial disease of potato caused by Pectobacterium carotovorum.
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the world > plants > disease or injury > [noun] > associated with particular type of plant > crop or food plant > vegetables
blackleg1834
1834 ‘M. Doyle’ Kitchen Garden i. 41 This is the best method of avoiding that disease which gardeners term the black leg.
1880 Encycl. Brit. XII. 281/1 To prevent the cauliflowers from getting the disease of ‘black legs’.
1904 Gardeners' Chron. 9 July 28/2 It is reported of the Black-leg disease that it is causing great ravages in Germany, and in some localities producing a loss of 75 per cent.
1931 K. M. Smith Textbk. Agric. Entomol. iv. 21 As regards the latter the process of feeding on the stem is thought to give rise to a condition in young mangold plants known as ‘blackleg’ or ‘strangle’.
1956 Nature 10 Mar. 465/2 Phoma betae..the cause of black leg in sugar beet.
2002 Sunday Tribune (Ireland) (Nexis) 21 July 13 Blight and blackleg have destroyed half of the early crop of British Queens potatoes, and the main crop..is expected to be 20% down.
2. depreciative. A swindler, esp. a swindling bookmaker. Also †in plural with singular agreement (see quot. 1813) (obsolete).
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > [noun] > player of games of chance > cheat or swindler
butter1474
rooka1568
steal-counter1588
nicker1669
sharper1681
tat-monger1688
gambler1735
blackleg1767
gouger1790
sharp1797
tatsman1825
leggism1843
spieler1859
sniggler1887
1767 Gazetteer & New Daily Advertiser 17 June They were intimate with some of those, who, in the modern turf-language, are called..Black Legs, or in the open intelligent language of fair truth, Vagabonds, Impostors, and Thieves.
1771 P. Parsons Newmarket II. xl. 163 Numberless words of theirs [sc. of the frequenters of the Turf] are exotics every where else;—then, how should we have been told of black-legs, and of town-tops;..taken-in,—beat-hollow, [etc.].
1774 R. Cumberland Note of Hand ii. i. 22 Mac cormuck... Gentlemen of the turf; what sort of gentlemen are they? Francis... These fellows are gamblers, black-legs, sharpers.
1812 Examiner 14 Sept. 591/1 Any blackleg or pickpocket in the land.
1813 Examiner 17 May 319/1 I was..posted as a black-legs.
1853 W. M. Thackeray Eng. Humourists v. 230 You see noblemen and blacklegs bawling and betting in the Cockpit.
1921 R. S. Holland Panelled Room ix. 103 She had been the wife of a professional gambler and companion of blacklegs.
1986 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 18 Feb. c20/1 Gambling..had become a regular business, with professionals (the so-called ‘blacklegs’) plying their trade and their tricks along the Mississippi.
2006 D. G. Schwartz Roll Bones xi. 253 When the winds of reform blew down the gambling dens,..the blacklegs there simply joined their brethren on the river, starting the golden age of the riverboat gambler.
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society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > match-making > [noun] > match-maker
broker1377
marriage-maker1591
proxenete1609
matcher1611
ring-carriera1616
matchmaker1638
match-broker1640
marriage broker1662
marriage-bawd1676
match-monger1680
flesh-broker1699
wife broker1700
black-sole1725
marriage-monger?1748
Blackfoot1808
blackleg1825
1825 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Suppl. Black-leg, a matchmaker; synon. Black-foot.
1898 Eng. Dial. Dict. I. 284/1 Black-leg, a match-maker, a go-between in love affairs. Cf. black-foot. S[e]lk[irk].
4. depreciative.
a. Originally British regional. A person who continues to work despite a ban or strike by a trade union; a person who takes a striker's place; = scab n. 4b.
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society > occupation and work > worker > worker according to manner of working > [noun] > striking > refusing to strike
dung1765
scab1777
knobstick1794
leg1815
rat1824
nob1825
black1826
blackneb1832
blacknob1838
knob1839
snob1839
blackleg1844
snob-stick1860
non-striker1868
ratter1890
strike-breaker1904
1844 Times 27 May 7/6 The number of men—either ‘black legs’ or ‘fresh men’—now employed in various collieries.
1865 Pall Mall Gaz. 29 Oct. 7 If the timber merchants persist in putting on ‘blacklegs,’ a serious disturbance will ensue.
1875 R. J. Hinton Eng. Radical Leaders iv. xix. 333 The police were used to watch the strikers or to protect the blacklegs, as those are called who work outside the Union movement.
1890 W. Booth In Darkest Eng. i. iv. 34 Men hungering to death..are the materials from which ‘blacklegs’ are made.
1934 ‘L. G. Gibbon’ Grey Granite iii. 186 The manager had ta'en on a bouroch of blacklegs with a bit of the plant on the go again.
1999 Canad. Forum Sept. 22/1 No English miner would come to Canada to break a strike. I am no Black-leg. Every miner in England belongs to the union.
2003 E. Mumford Redesigning Human Syst. iv. 58 The family of the ‘black leg’, who remained at work when others were on strike, was subject to abuse and ignominy.
b. A person who fails or refuses to join his or her colleagues for a particular purpose, or who breaks the rules of a trade or group. Also †in plural with singular agreement (see quot. 1844) (obsolete).
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the mind > will > decision > irresolution or vacillation > reversal of or forsaking one's will or purpose > [noun] > desertion of one's party or principles > one who
renay1340
apostate1362
renegatec1450
starter1519
reniant1532
changeling1539
rannigala1560
recreant1570
turncoat1570
renegado1573
start-away1574
off-faller?1575
start-back1579
departer1586
reneger1597
retrospicientc1600
runagadea1604
renegade1611
turn-tail1621
runagado1623
trip-coata1625
retrogredient1650
retrograde1651
tergiversator1716
rat1755
ratter1819
tergiversant1833
blackleg1844
strike-breaker1904
faller-out1964
1844 Times 4 June 7/2 Hayton..is a blacklegs—that is, a man not belonging to the pitmen's union.
1889 Pall Mall Gaz. 21 Nov. 5/1 The question of the preparation of a list of master-baker ‘blacklegs’ was also touched upon. These men are selling bread at 4½d. the quartern, and at even a lower rate.
1913 ‘A. R. Hope’ Half & Half Trag. 275 We abused him as a ‘blackleg’ because his industry set too high a standard to the rest.
1955 Times 3 Aug. 9/4 Any milkman delivering outside his boundaries would be regarded as ‘a blackleg’ (their own expression).
1971 Times 28 Jan. 7/8 The clause was known as the blacklegs' charter.
2000 E. Hopkins Industrialisation & Society (2002) iii. 65 This ‘rattening’ was the intimidation of blacklegs by damaging their workshop tools and equipment.
Compounds
General attributive (in senses 2 and 4).
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the mind > will > decision > irresolution or vacillation > reversal of or forsaking one's will or purpose > [adjective]
renayedc1380
renegate1488
regenerate?1536
runagate1549
renegantc1550
turncoat1571
relenting1576
reneged1594
renegado1612
recreant1613
tergiversating1654
renegade1664
apostate1671
tergiversant1710
blackleg1767
revulsionary1817
tergiversated1831
tergiverse1852
tergiversatory1891
breakaway1934
walk-in1978
1767 St. James's Chron. 24–6 Dec. Members of the Black-leg Club..unanimously agreed..that the said Ketch be expelled.
1835 Niles' Weekly Reg. 24 Oct. 123/1 The other members of the blackleg company left us, with feelings of mortification that they had come their twelves miles without any success in their business.
1841 C. Sinclair Scotl. & Scotch I. 55 What would the Jockey Club have said to this rather black-leg transaction?
1890 Daily News 8 Sept. 6/1 There were hundreds of men..being subjected to blackleg competition.
1894 Daily News 31 May 7/5 There were two ‘blackleg’ cabs discovered on the rank.
1907 Daily Chron. 5 Sept. 1/7 The organisation of blackleg expeditions in this country to break up strikes abroad.
1955 Times 3 June 6/6 Members of the Amalgamated Engineering Union..have been recommended..not to do any ‘blackleg’ work such as repairing and servicing engines and rolling stock.
1976 Social Scientist 4 xii. 11 Workers who..attacked blackleg labourers..during a strike.
2004 Racing Post (Nexis) 22 May 16 You believe it's all right to bus in blackleg labour.
Derivatives
black-ˈleggery n. (also black-legery) blacklegs regarded collectively; (also) the characteristics or behaviour of a blackleg (sense 2).
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > [noun] > gaming > cheating or swindling in
gammoning1700
blacklegism1827
black-leggery1832
bunco1872
in and in1935
1832 W. Maginn in Blackwood's Mag. 32 427 From following any profession save the Army, the Navy, Black-apronry, and Black-leggery.
1882 Pall Mall Gaz. 9 Dec. 20 The two baronets resemble each other only in cowardice, spite, and blackleggery.
1907 J. J. Pence in S. P. Kaler & R. H. Maring Hist. Whiteley County Indiana 298/1 The hanging of Gregory McDougal..broke the backbone of the black-legery.
blackˈlegism n. (also black-leggism) the actions or behaviour of a blackleg (senses 2 and 4).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > [noun] > gaming > cheating or swindling in
gammoning1700
blacklegism1827
black-leggery1832
bunco1872
in and in1935
1827 ‘B. Bouverie’ Eton Misc. iii. 100 A most spirited imprecation on the demon of black-leggism figured in the beginning of the second book.
1845 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 58 204 There was a fair amount of black-legism on both occasions.
1922 Times 11 Aug. 5/4 To extend our working hours..due to a strike elsewhere would an act of international blacklegism.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
blacklegv.
/ˈblaklɛɡ/, U.S. /ˈblækˌlɛɡ/ depreciative.† 1. transitive. With it. Probably: to make a living by swindling or other dishonest practices. Cf. blackleg n. 2. Obsolete. rare.
ΚΠ
1791 Evening Mail 17 Oct. Oxley..has been a long time black-legging it on the town.
2.
a. transitive. To replace, injure, or betray as a blackleg (blackleg n. 4a). Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > working > labour relations > participate in labour relations [verb (transitive)] > summon (workers) to strike > break (strike) > by taking place of (striking worker)
blackleg1864
1864 Miner & Workman's Advocate 1 Oct. 7/1 There are several men come from South Wales (the neighbourhood of Pontypool) who have blacklegged their brethren at Potteryfield.
1893 Daily News 10 July 5/2 Is it fair to ‘blackleg’ these industrious men, as it were,..and adapt their researches to the needs and purposes of romance?
1897 Daily News 1 Sept. 2/4 They would be able to get many German engineers to ‘blackleg’ their English brethren.
1904 Daily Chron. 23 Apr. 5/7 The employers are permitted to persuade other workmen to ‘blackleg’ the men on strike.
1906 G. B. Shaw in Fabian News 17 2/2 One result is that the dead dramatist blacklegs the live one: Shakespeare can charge no royalty.
1920 Metal Industry Jan. 52/2 The men in the engineering shops refuse to work upon any material which they regard as being obtained in order to ‘blackleg’ the strikers.
1995 L. L. Downs Manufacturing Inequality viii. 302 Skilled male colleagues refused to blackleg the women.
b. intransitive. To behave or work as a blackleg. Also †transitive with it: to return to work before a strike is settled (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > working > labour relations > participate in labour relations [verb (intransitive)] > strike > strike-break
scab1806
blackleg1882
strike-break1961
1882 Sun (Baltimore) 8 June 1/6 One of those brought on today said..‘Oh, I have black-legged it before I have worked at Clearfield.’
1885 Sun (Baltimore) 20 May 6/1 I never ‘black-legged’ in my life; that is, I never joined strikers and then went back on them by going in the mines to work.
1907 Daily Chron. 9 Mar. 6/6 If the alternative is to ‘blackleg’ or to starve.
1952 Granta 15 Nov. 12/2 In the General Strike of 1926..most Cambridge and Oxford students either blacklegged or were prepared to blackleg.
1981 W. Foley Back to Forest in Forest Trilogy iii. 184 He was incapacitated again and our chimney was belching terribly. Syd would not blackleg on his mate, so I decided to do it myself.
2001 Mirror (Nexis) 5 Nov. 20 Mr McCartney..condones the coercion of PCSU members to blackleg in a legitimate dispute.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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