TO GET THE WRONG PIG BY THE TAIL, is to make a mistake in selecting a person for any object. If a charge is made against a man, who on inquiry proves to be the wrong one, it is said they have the wrong pig by the tail. This is also called getting the wrong sow by the ear.

At the late election in Massachusetts, a Mr. C. C. Bell was elected by the Whigs, but was afterwards induced by the opposite party to give them his vote. Soon after, for fear of being forgotten, he wrote to a high official, presenting his claims for reward, closing as follows:

"If you can assist me now in your official capacity, you will command my everlasting gratitude. I have lived in obscurity and am not ambitious for office, but if my Democratic friends will not support me now, and help me out of my dilemma, why then I must make the best of it I can.

"I did not seek the office I have now, and was not at the meeting when I was elected, but the Whigs supposed they could by some means make me a traitor to my party. But, sir, as the old saying is, they got the wrong pig by the tail."

TO GIRDLE A TREE. In America, to make a circular incision, like a belt, through the bark and alburnum of a tree to kill it.-Webster. Settlers in new countries often adopt this method to clear their land; for when the trees are dead they set them on fire, and thús save themselves the trouble of chopping them down with the axe.

The emigrants purchase a lot or two of government land, build a log house, fence a dozen acres or so, plough half of them, girdle the trees, and then sell out to a new comer.-Mrs. Clavers, Forest Life, Vol. I. GIST. The main point of a question or action; that on which it lies or turns.-Jamieson. A word introduced from the language of law into very common use.

TO GIVE HIM JESSY, is to give him a flogging. A vulgarism of recent origin.

Well, hoss, you've slashed the hide off 'er that feller, touched his raw, and rumpled his feathers-that's the way to give him jessy.—Robb, Squatter Life, p. 33.

TO GIVE HIM THE MITTEN. This phrase is used of a

girl who discards her sweetheart. She gave him the mitten means that she gave her lover his dismissal or discarded him. In England the phrase to give him the sack or give him the bag, denotes the same thing.

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TO GIVE IT TO ONE is to rate, scold, or beat him severely. -Holloway, Prov. Dict. Used in the same sense in America. GIVEN NAME. The Christian name, or name that is given to a person, to distinguish it from the surname, which is not given but inherited.

TO GLIMPSE. To get a glimpse of; as, 'I barely glimpsed him.'

GLUT. A wooden wedge.-New England. Mr. Pickering says this word is used in England, and refers to Rees's Cyclopedia.

THE GO. The mode; the fashion.

This is all the go.'

What! Ben, my old hero, is this your renown?

Is this the new go?-kick a man when he's down!

When the foe has knocked under-to tread on him then :

By the fist of my father, I blush for thee, Ben!-Tom Crib.

GO AHEAD. To proceed; to go forward. A seaman's phrase which has got into very common use.

I was tired out and wanted a day to rest; but my face being turned towards Washington, I thought I had better go ahead.-Crockett, Tour down East, p. 101.

We slip on a pair of India rubber boots, genuine and impenetrable, and go ahead without fear.-N. Y. Com. Adv.

The specific instructions to conquer and hold California were issued to Commodore Sloat, by Mr. Bancroft, on the 12th of July, 1846. Previous to this, however, he had been officially notified that war existed, and briefly instructed to "go ahead."-Ibid. June 13.

TO GO BY. To call; to stop at. Used in the Southern States.-Sherwood's Georgia. Mr. Pickering says this singular expression is often used at the South. "Will you go by and dine with me?" i. e. in passing my house will you stop and dine? "Its origin," observes Mr. Pickering, "is very natural. When a gentleman is about riding a great distance through that country, where there are few great roads, and the houses or plantations are often two or three miles from them, a friend living near his route asks him to go by his plantation, and dine or lodge with him."-Vocab. THE GO BY. To give one the go by is to deceive him; to leave him in the lurch.-Craven Glossary.

TO GO FOR. To be in favor of. Thus, 'I go for peace with Mexico,' means I am in favor of peace with Mexico, or, as an Englishman would say, I am for peace with Mexico. This vulgar idiom is a recent one, and is greatly affected by political and other public speakers, who ought to be the guardians of the purity of the language instead of its most indefatigable corruptors. In the following extract from a religious paper, the reader of correct taste and feeling will hardly know which to admire most, the sentiment or the language:

Will Mr. Greeley say that he or any other citizen has the right to oppose "the Country"—that is, its laws-whenever he or they shall choose to pronounce them "wrong?" We say, go for your country-right, as she may be in some things-wrong, as she is, perhaps, in others; but whether right or wrong, or right and wrong, (which is always nearer the truth in all her proceedings,) still, go for your country.-Gospel Banner.

To decide in favor of, is another acceptation in which this phrase is often used, especially in stating for which man or measure any particular section of the country has decided, as, 'Ohio has gone for Clay,' 'Louisiana has gone for the annexation of Mexico.' Or still worse, Ohio has gone Whig,' Louisiana has gone Loco-foco. Other variations of the expression follow.

TO GO IT BLIND. To accede to any object without due consideration. Mr. Greeley, in speaking of General Taylor's claims for the presidency, says:

The Whig candidate must be fair and square on all the great questions before the country. He would speak not of his own course, but the Whig people could not go it blind.--N. Y. Tribune.

Meaning that the Whigs could not vote or go for General Taylor without a knowledge of his principles.

TO GO IT STRONG. To perform an act with vigor or without scruple.

President Polk in his message goes it strong for the Sub-treasury.-N. Y. Tribune.

The Evening Post goes it good and strong for the establishment of free public baths.-Newspaper.

The Senate has of late years refused to take any part of the book plunder, but they have gone it strong on the mileage.-Letters from Washington, N. Y. Com. Advertiser.

TO GO THE WHOLE FIGURE. To go to the fullest extent in the attainment of any object.

Go the whole figure for religious liberty; it has no meanin' here, where all are free, but it's a cant word and sounds well.--Sam Stick.

One half of you don't know what you are talking about; and t'other half are goin' the whole figure for patriotism.—Ibid.

TO GO THE BIG FIGURE. To do things on a large scale. Why, our senators go the big figure on fried oysters and whisky punch. -Burton, Waggeries.

TO GO THE WHOLE HOG. A Western vulgarism, meaning to be out and out in favor of anything. A softened form of the phrase is to go the entire animal.

Of the Congressional and State tickets we can only form a conjecture; but the probability is that the Democrats have carried the whole, for they generally go the whole hog-they never scratch or split differences.Newspaper.

The phrase has been caught up by some English writers.

The Tiger has leapt up heart and soul,

It's clear that he means to go the whole
Hog, in his hungry efforts to seize

The two defianceful Bengalese.-New Tale of a Tub.

TO GO THROUGH THE MILL. A metaphor alluding to grain which has been through the mill. A Western editor observed that the mail papers looked as if they had been through the mill, so much worn were they by being shaken over the rough roads. It is often said of a person who has experienced anything, and especially difficulties, losses, &c. GODSEND. An unexpected acquisition.

GOING. The state of the roads; the travelling. Ex.

The

going is bad, owing to the deep snow or mud in the roads ;' The going is good since the road was repaired.'

GOINGS ON. Behavior; actions; conduct. Used by us as in England mostly in a bad sense. See Carryings on.

Pretty place it must be where they don't admit women. on, I dare say, Mr. Caudle.-London Punch.

Nice goings

GOLD-THREAD. (Coptis trifolia.) A plant well known in medicine, valued for its stomachic and tonic properties.

GOMBO. The Southern name for what is called at the North

Okra, the pod of the hibiscus esculentis.

GOMBO. In the Southern States, a soup in which this plant enters largely as an ingredient.

GONDOLA. A flat-bottomed boat or scow used in New England.-Pickering.

GONE GOOSE. It's a gone goose with him,' means that he is past recovery. The phrase is a vulgarism in New England. In New York it is said He's a gone gander,' i. e. a lost man; and in the West He's a gone coon.'

If a bear comes after you, Sam, you must be up and doin', or it's a gone goose with you.-Sam Slick in England, ch. 18.

It may be the doctor can do something for her, though she looks to me as though it was a gone goose with her.-Major Downing, p. 87. GONE WITH, for become of. What is gone with it'' or with him,' for What has become of it or him?-Sherwood's Georgia. GONEY. A stupid fellow.-New England.

"How the goney swallowed it all, didn't he ?" said Mr. Slick, with great glee.-Slick in England, ch. 21.

Some on 'em were fools enough to believe the goney; that's a fact.—Ib. GOODNESS. This inoffensive word is much used in a variety of ways by people of all classes. Sometimes we hear from old ladies the exclamation, 'Oh, my goodness!' denoting surprise. 'Goodness me,'' goodness gracious,' and 'goodness sake,' are also common. It is not peculiar to the Americans; for we find a distinguished personage using it:

Now don't sleep, Caudle; do listen to me for five minutes; 'tisn't often I speak, goodness knows.-Punch.

"The devil's in the cat, I swear!

(Cried cooky): goodness gracious! there!"

Whilst Molly shrieked " Ah, wo is me!"-Reynard the Fox, 57.

goodness me!

My father's beams are made of wood,

But never, never half so good

As those that now I see.- Wordsworth, Rejected Addresses. Mr. Johnson says the Railroad company charges more than he thinks himself authorized to pay; if he yields, other companies will enlarge their demands, and goodness knows where he will find himself landed.-N. Y. Com. Advertiser.