A concise dictionary of English slang by William Freeman

These 270 pages contain a selection of some of the verbal treasures of the English language which each generation coins for its own use.

How many readers know, for instance, that bocus-pocus comes from a 17th century guide to conjuring, or that a maiden's prayer can also be an observation bal-loon, or even that a pussyfoot is really a teetotaller?