Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day Twenty-Nine

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the Coronavirus crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored…..

Bishop

This is a cocktail of sorts according to the dictionary, “a mixture of wine and water, into which is put a roasted orange”. It’s a drink that Samuel Johnson enjoyed, so it dates back to at least the seventeenth century. Interestingly, the drink still seems to exist today, although rum has been added into the concoction of red wine, water and an orange. I can’t see it catching on at JD Wetherspoons, but it’s right up Nicholson’s street…..