play Old Gooseberry

English

Alternative forms

play up Old Gooseberry

Pronunciation

Audio (AU) (file)

Verb

play Old Gooseberry (third-person singular simple present plays Old Gooseberry, present participle playing Old Gooseberry, simple past and past participle played Old Gooseberry)

(archaic, idiomatic, UK) To suddenly put a stop to a disturbance by force or threats.
(archaic, idiomatic, UK) To play the devil; to make mischief.
- 1843–44, Dickens, Charles, The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit:
  I'll play old Gooseberry with the office, and make you glad to buy me out at a good high figure, if you try any of your tricks with me.

Synonyms

(make mischief): play Old Harry

References

[Francis Grose] (1788), “Play Old Gooseberry”, in A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 2nd edition, London: […] S. Hooper, […], OCLC 1179630700.
Farmer, John Stephen (1893) Slang and Its Analogues‎, volume 3, page 183
Eric Partridge, The Routledge Dictionary of Historical Slang. Routledge, 1973. →ISBN.