ARGOTIER, _m._ (thieves’), _one of the brotherhood of thieves_, or “family man.”
ARGOUSIN, _m._ (popular), _foreman_, or “boss.”
ARGUCHE, _m._ (thieves’), _cant_, or “flash;” _a fool_, _dunce_, or “go-along.”
ARGUEMINE, _f._ (thieves’), _hand_, or “famm.”
ARICOTEUR, _m._ (thieves’), _executioner_.
ARISTO, _m._ for _aristocrat_ (popular), _a man in comfortable circumstances_.
ARISTOCRATE, _m._, _an appellation given by prisoners to one of their number whose means allow him to obtain victuals from the canteen_.
ARLEQUIN (popular), _broken victuals of every description mixed up and retailed to poor people_. The word has passed into the language.
Autrefois chez Paul Niquet Fumait un vaste baquet Sur la devanture. Pour un ou deux sous, je crois, On y plongeait les deux doigts Deux, à l’aventure. Les mets les plus différents Etaient là, mêlés, errants, Sans couleur, sans forme, Et l’on pêchait sans fouiller, Aussi bien un vieux soulier Qu’une truffe énorme.
ARME, _f._ (military), passer l’---- à gauche, _to die_, “to lose the number of one’s mess.” See PIPE.
ARMÉE ROULANTE, _f._ (thieves’), formerly _gang of convicts chained together which used to make its way by road to the hulks_.
ARMOIRE, _f._ (popular), à glace, _the four of any card_; _head_; (military) ---- à poils, _soldiers’ knapsack_, or “scran bag.” An allusion to the hairy skin that covers or covered soldiers’ knapsacks.
ARNAC, _m._ (thieves’), à l’----, _with premeditation_.
ARNACHE, _f._ (popular), _deceit_; _treachery_. Etre à l’----, _to be cunning_, _wide-awake_, a “deep one;” _to deceive, and not allow oneself to be deceived_.
ARNACQ, ARNACHE, _m._ (thieves’), _detective_, _informer_, “nark.”
ARNAUD, _m._ (popular), avoir son ----, être ----, _to be in a bad humour_, to be “nasty.”
ARNELLE (thieves’), _the town of Rouen_. From La Renelle, a small river.
ARNELLERIE, _f._ (thieves’), _rouennerie_, _printed cotton_.
ARNIF, _m._ (thieves’), _policeman or detective_. Also denominated “bec de gaz, bourrique, cierge, flique, laune, peste, vache.” In English cant or slang “crusher, pig, copper, cossack, nark.”
ARPAGAR, _m._ (thieves’), _the town of Arpagon, near Paris_.
ARPION, _m._ (thieves’ and popular), _foot_, “trotter;” _toe_.