An obsolete British slang term for an umbrella, playing on the idea of the device catching rain before it hits you.
An obsolete British slang term for an umbrella, playing on the idea of the device catching rain before it hits you. It belongs to a rich tradition of 18th-19th century cant and slang where everyday objects got colourful nicknames. Now entirely archaic and encountered mainly in historical dictionaries or period fiction.
He stepped out with his rain napper tucked under his arm as the sky was already turning grey.
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UK and Irish slang — Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, Yorkshire, Glaswegian, Brummie, Welsh, West Country, plus Irish English. Centuries of regional dialects feeding into modern British and Irish street talk.
See all British & Irish slang slang on Slangora.
Browse all slang words starting with R.
Obsolete British criminal slang from the thieves' cant tradition, meaning to divide the stolen loot among the members of a criminal crew. Nap here means to take or seize, and regulars refers to the established shares owed to each person. Thieves' cant was a deliberate secret language used by criminals, beggars, and traveling people in 17th–19th century Britain to talk openly without being understood by outsiders.
(UK, slang, obsolete) To divide up the booty.
(UK, figuratively, by extension) To risk everything on a single chance or to bet heavily on a particular outcome.
(UK, army, slang) To finish; to put an end to; to kill.
(UK, slang, obsolete) An umbrella.