To have a rod in pickle, or in soak, is to have a flogging prepared for one. The phrase is often used in jest, here as in England.
·noun ·see <<Picle>>. II. Pickle ·vt A troublesome child; as, a little pickle. III. Pickle ·vt Any...
Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
An arch waggish fellow. In pickle, or in the pickling tub; in a salivation. There are rods in brine,...
Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose
See brine ...
The Sailor's Word-Book
·noun A merry-andrew; a buffoon. II. Pickle-herring ·noun A herring preserved in brine; a pickled h...
East out of Little Tower Hill, near the Victualling Office (Hatton, 1708 Not named in the maps. Si...
A Dictionary of London by Henry A Harben.
A sea-sprite, borrowed from the Teutonic. ...