Western Slang & Phrases - "P-Q"

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"Painting The Town Red" - A wood engraving by R.F. Zogbaum, in Harper's Weekly,

October 16, 1886. Courtesy Library of Congress.

This image available for photographic prints HERE!

P

Penny Dreadful - A slang term for cheap, lurid fictional magazines that incorporated the same kind of literature as the dime novels. Later generations would call them pulp fiction.

Pennyweighter - In the mining camps of the Old West, a pennyweighter was a person who stole very small quantities of gold from the mining operation for whom he worked.

Perk - Lively, brisk, holding up the head

Persnickity - Peculiar, picky.

Persuader - A gun.

Pertend Up - Better, more cheerful.

Peskily - Very, extremely, confoundedly. “I'm peskily sorry to hear of your loss.”

Petticoat Pensioner - A man who lives on a prostitute's earnings. Also called Sunday-man.

Picayune - Used to signify something small or frivolous.

Pickaninny - A negro or mulatto infant. Used in the Southern States.

Pick-Back - On the back. Often used when carrying children on the back - piggyback.

Picture - One's face or one's person.

Piddle - Waste time.

Piebald - A Paint horse.

Piece of Calico - A girl or a woman.

Piece of Pudding - A piece of luck, a welcome change.

Piece of Thick - Pressed cake tobacco.

Pied - A paint horse.

Pie Eater - Country boy, a rustic.

Pig Sticker - Knife or bayonet.

Pig Trail - Small side road.

Pike - A name applied in California to migratory poor whites.

Pilgrim - Cowboy term for an easterner or novice cowhand.

Pill - A doctor.

Pilled - Black-balled.

Pimping - Little, petty.

Pimple - The cowboy's name for the very small saddles used by Easterners.

Pine Top - Whiskey traded to the Indians in exchange for buffalo robes.

Pining Away For - Longing for.

Pink - Denotes the finest part, the essence. She is the pink of perfection.

Pinto - A paint horse.

Pirooting -  Having sexual intercourse.

Pistareen - One-fifth of a dollar, a silver coin, formerly in the United States, of the value of twenty cents.

Pitch a Fit - To throw a temper tantrum, get upset.

Plain-headed - A term that expresses that a lady is not good looking.

Plaguily - Vexatiously, horribly. “I am puzzled most plaguily to get words to tell you what I think.”

Plank, Plank Down, Plank Up - To pay in cash.

Plaster - Flatter

Play a Lone Hand - To do something alone.

Play Second Fiddle - To "play second fiddle" is to take an inferior part in any project or undertaking.

Play to the Gallery - To show off. "That's just how he is, always has to play to the gallery."

Played out - Exhausted.

Plow Chaser - A derogatory term for farmer.

Plow Handle - A single action pistol was sometime referred to as a plow handle. These were also referred to as "thumbusters," "cutters," "smoke poles," and "hawg legs."

To Plum - To deceive.

Plumb, Plum - Entirely, completely. "He's plumb crazy."

Plummy - Satisfactory or profitable.

Plunder - Personal belongings or baggage. "Pack your plunder, Joe, we're headin' for San Francisco."

Poke - A small sack, usually made of leather or rawhide. Also refers to a lazy person, a dawdler. “What a slow poke you are.”

Poke-Bonnet - A long, straight bonnet, much worn by Quakers and Methodists.

Poker - Any frightful object, especially in the dark.

Pokerish - Frightful, causing fear, especially to children.

Pokey - Jail

Pony Up - Pay over money. "Pony up that account." Also, post the pony, i. e. lay down the money.

Poppet - Term of endearment. "Come along, poppet."

Poppy-Cock - Bosh, nonsense, idle talk.

Pop Skull - Whiskey.

Pop Your Corn - Say what you have to say, speak out.

Porch Percher - A town loafer.

Portage - To carry boats or supplies overland between rivers or lakes.

Portmantle - A valise.

An El Paso, Texas Pokey, courtesy Library of Congress

Post the Pony - Pay up.

Pot Rustler - Cook.

Pot Shot - An Easy shot.

Power - A large quantity, a great number.

Pow-Wow - Native American feasts, dances and public doings.

Prairie Coal - Cowchips.

Prairie Dew - Whiskey.

Prairie Oysters - Fried or roasted calves' testicles. Also called Mountain Oysters.

Prairie Pancakes - Cowchips.

Prairie Tenor - Coyote.

Prairillon - A small prairie.

Prat - Buttock, behind.

Prayer Book - A packet of papers used to roll cigarettes. Also called a "dream book" or a "bible."

Pray Tell - Tell me.

Predicate - A proposition or argument.

Prehaps - Perhaps.

Priminary - Predicament, difficulty.

Prod, On the - Spoiling for a fight, also referred to as "proddy." 

Prog - Food, provisions of any kind.

Pshal, P'shaw - An exclamation for nonsense.

Pucker - In a state of irritation or anger.

Puddin' Foot - An awkward horse.

Pull in your Horns - Back off, quit looking for trouble.

Pull Foot - To leave in a hurry.

Pull Foot - To walk fast, to run.

Pull the Leg - To impose upon.

Pull the Long Bow - To tell falsehoods, lie.

Pullin my donkey's tail - A much older way of saying "are you pullin my leg"

Pulling a Kite - Making a face.

Pulling in the Pieces - To make money.

Punching Doggies - Cowpunching, driving the cattle to market.

Pung - A rude sort of sleigh, or oblong box made of boards and placed on runners, used for drawing loads on snow by horses.

Purge - Beer.

Push Your Barrow - Go away.

Put a Spoke in the Wheel - To foul up or sabotage something.

Put on the Nose Bag - To eat.

Put the Licks In - Run very fast.

Q

Queer Fish - An odd or eccentric person. Also called odd stick and odd fish.

Quincy - An indoor toilet.

Quirley - Roll-your-own cigarette.

Quirt - Whip

Quid - A corruption of cud, as, in vulgar language, a quid of tobacco.

Continued Next Page

"They say I killed six or seven men for snoring. It ain't true. I only killed one man

for snoring."

 -- John Wesley Hardin.