blood-red fancy

English

Noun

blood-red fancy (plural blood-red fancies)

1. (obsolete, slang) A red neckerchief worn at prizefights to show support for a contender.
   • 1845, George William M. Reynolds, The Mysteries of London, volumes 3-4, page 85:

     Roll of snow, six snooze cases, three narps, and a blood-red fancy.

   • 1930, Helen Simpson, Desires and Devices, page 263:

     But the witness persisted, and pulled out handkerchief after handkerchief, offering Birds'-eye Wipes and Blood-red Fancies with all the fervour of the good salesman loth to miss an opportunity; […]

See also

• Randal's man

References

• John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary