1) At a pinch; on an exigency.
2) To go into a tradesman's shop under the pretence of purchasing rings or other light articles, and while examining them to shift some up the sleeve of the coat. Also to ask for change for a guinea, and when the silver is received, to change some of the good shillings for bad ones; then suddenly pretending to recollect that you had sufficient silver to pay the bill, ask for the guinea again, and return the change, by which means several bad shillings are passed.
On an emergency. At a fight in Albany, New York, on the 12th instant, one man was stabbed desperate...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
v. to thin out and disappear (ofgold-bearing). This use is given in the `Standard,' butwithout quot...
Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris