Abram-Man,

or Abraham Cove. A Tom Bedlam; a naked vagabond; a begging impostor.

The Abraham Ward, in Bedlam, had for its inmates begging lunatics, who used to array themselves “with party-coloured ribbons, tape in their hats, a fox-tail hanging down, a long stick with streamers,” and beg alms; but “for all their seeming madness, they had wit enough to steal as they went along.”—Canting Academy.

See King Lear, ii. 3.

In Beaumont and Fletcher we have several synonyms:—

“And these, what name or title eʹer they bear,

Jackman or Patʹrico, Cranke or Clapper-dudgeon,

Fraier or Abram-man, I speak to all.”


Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

Above par
Above your hook
Abracadabra
Abracax
Abraham
Abraham’s Bosom
Abraham Newland (An)
Abrahamic Covenant
Abrahamites
Abram-colour
Abram-Man
Abraxas Stones
Abreast
Abridge
Abroach
Abroad
Abrogate
Absalom
Absalom and Achitophel
Abscond
Absent

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