Dude: An Easterner, or anyone in up-scale town clothes, rather than plain range-riding or work clothes.
Elephant: Short for 'to see the elephant'; to go to town, or to see the world, usually for the first time.
Eucher, euchered: To out-smart someone, to be outwitted or suckered into something.
Exodusters: The Biblically inspired name taken by black emigrants who departed the post-Civil War South for the promised land of Kansas.
Fandango: From the Spanish, a big party with lots of dancing and excitement.
Faro: A card game that took its name from faroon, a derivative of pharaon (pharaoh.) The Pharaoh was the king of hearts in a regular deck of cards. Players bet on the order in which cards would be drawn from a box.
Feller: Fellow. "That big feller over there is the sheriff."
Fetch: Bring, give. "Fetch me that hammer."
Fight like Kilkenny cats: Fight like hell.
Fine as cream gravy: Very good, top notch.
Fish: A cowboy's rain slicker, from a rain gear manufacturer whose trademark was a fish logo. "We told him it looked like rain, but left his fish in the wagon anyhow."
Fish or Cut Bait: Do it or quit talking about it.
Fixin': Intending. "I'm fixin' to get supper started."
Flannel Mouth: An overly smooth or fancy talker, especially politicians or salesmen. "I swear that man is a flannel-mouthed liar."
Flush: Prosperous, rich.
Fork over: Pay out.
Four-flusher: A cheat, swindler, liar.
Free-Soilers: People opposed to the extension of slavery. The name came from the Free-Soil Party, which existed from 1848 to 1854.
Full as a tick: Very drunk.
Fuss: Disturbance. "They had a little fuss at the saloon."
Galvanized Yankees: Former Confederate soldiers who served in the U.S. Army in the West following the Civil War, and during the Indian Wars.
Game: To have courage, guts, gumption. "He's game as a banty rooster." Or, "That's a hard way to go, but he died game."
Get a Wiggle On: Hurry.
Get it in the Neck: Get cheated, misled, bamboozled.
Get my back up or get your back up: To get angry. "Don't get your back up, he was only joking."
Get the Mitten: To be rejected by a lover. "Looks like Blossom gave poor Buck the mitten."
Gitty-up: Go, Move. A term used to get the horse to start moving.
Give in: Yield.
Goner: Lost, dead.
Gone up the flume: Yield, lost, dead.
Gospel Mill: A church.
Gospel Sharp: A preacher.
Got the Bulge: Have the advantage. "We'll get the bulge on him, and take his gun away."
Go through the Mill: Gain experience the hard way.
Grand: Excellent, beautiful. "Oh, the Christmas decorations look just grand!"
Granger: A farmer.
Grassed: To be thrown from a horse.
Grass widow: A divorcee.
Gringo: A derogatory word for Anglos. One source claims it comes from a shortening of the title of a popular song during the Mexican War, "Green Grow the Lilacs."
Grubstake: To provide the materials a prospector needs, including food and money, in return for a percentage of any claim that the prospector might find.
G.T.T.: Gone To Texas. A common expression used after the Civil War. People would find the letters G.T.T. carved into their doors by their kin when they left. Many outlaws went to Texas.
Half seas over: Drunk.
Hang around: Loiter.
Hang Fire: Delay.
Hard case: Worthless person, bad man.
Heap: A lot, many, a great deal. "He went through a heap of trouble to get her that piano."
Heeled: To be armed with a gun. "He wanted to fight me, but I told him I was not heeled."
Hemp: Cowboy term for rope; in verb form to hang someone. Hemp fever was a morbidly jocular term for a hanging. A hemp committee was a group of vigilantes or a lynch mob and a hemp necktie was the rope they did the deed with.
High-grader: In the mining camps of the Old West, a high-grader was a man who stole any big nuggets which he saw in the sluice boxes.
Hill of Beans: Slang for something of trifling value, as in "it ain't worth a hill of beans."
Ho Down: A party or celebration.
Hog-killin' Time: This a "what I mean" very good time!
Hounds: Rowdies of the gold-rush days of San Francisco.
Here's how: A toast, such as Here's to your health.
Hitch in the Giddy-up: Not feeling well, as in: "I've had a hitch in my giddy-up the last couple days."
Hit pay dirt: Mining term. To find something of value.
Hobble your lip: Shut up.
Hold a candle to: Measure up, compare to.
Hold your horses: Stay calm. "Hold your horses, we're on our way."
Hoosegow: Jail, from the Spanish juzgado, meaning courthouse.
