scaldrum dodge

English edit

Etymology edit

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Related to scald?”) See dodge (“a trick”).

Noun edit

scaldrum dodge (plural scaldrum dodges)

(UK, obsolete, slang) A beggar's trick of burning the body with a mixture of acids and gunpowder, so as to appear to have been injured in an accident.

References edit

John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary