Cant Dictionary

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Cant Dictionary

Catch a Skeg at this, Lemons! It ain’t flam, or send me to the Whistles!

If that don’t make sense to you, cutter, maybe you need my cant dictionary. Sure, any cony knows words like blood and dead-book, but if you thought that was all there was to the language of the planes, you’re an addle-cove for sure.

I’ve included some of the rhyming slang that native Cagers occasionally use. It’s particularly popular with Anarchists and Xaositects who’ve tumbled to the dark. More cant comes from the costers, or stall-holders in the Great Bazaar, for jink and goods. I’ve described some of this to help you when you’re out hunting for a bargain. There are a lot of terms used by thieves and other knights of the cross trade, you’d do well to learn these so you’re not peeled. And of course, I’ve added plenty of insults to brighten your day!

Anyway, I’ll leave you to it. I’ve even organised it all alphabetical for you and now its sortable and searchable too. Ain’t I the modron philanthropist? In return, I’d be much obliged if you’d drop me word of any cant you happen to catch a skeg of. Watch the Spire, bloods.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

• Adam (noun) — An accomplice, a partner-in-crime.
• Addle-cove (noun) — An idiot. Also an adjective, addle-coved. Canon
• Anarchist (noun) — A common name for members of the Revolutionary League or Hands of Havoc. Canon
• Anthill (noun) — A city or town, also confusingly can refer to Sigil’s Hive Ward. Canon
• Apple-chaser (noun) — Someone willing to do anything for jink, no matter how degrading. So-called for the “road apples” left behind by ponies in Sigil’s streets.
• Astral conduit (noun) — A naturally-occurring wormhole through the Astral Plane which connects the Outer Planes to the Prime. Canon
• Athar (noun) — One of Sigil’s factions, also called the Lost. Its members believe that there are no true powers. Local priests would like them to get lost. Canon
• Athar at the Spire (noun) — Someone who seems to be invulnerable.

B

• Backring (noun) — A planar version of “backwater” or “backwood” on the Prime.
• Bad neighbourhood (noun) — An understated Upper Planar term for gate towns to the Lower Planes, such as Plague-Mort.
• Bally (adjective) — Crazy, silly, bizarre, obscure. “Bally sod!” The term is used more by upper class Cagers than by your average berk. The latter tend to use sodding; bally is less crude.
• Bang around (phrasal verb) — To hang around, or waste idle time. Between adventures, bashers often “bang around the Cage”.
• Bar that (phrasal verb) — An almost-polite way to say “shut up” or “don’t talk about that.” It’s quick, to the point, and can be used as a warning: “Bar that, there’s a Hardhead over there!” Canon
• Bark (verb) — To give word, to betray. “They knew we were coming. Some berk barked.” Canon
• Barkle (noun) — Originally, nonsense, or something that would be laughably passed off as such.
• Barmy (adjective or noun) — Adj. Insane, as in, “The winds of Pandemonium’ll drive a body barmy if he stays too long.” Noun. Barmies are folks who’ve been “touched” by the impossible contradictions of the planes. Canon
• Barrikin (noun) — Chatter or shouting: “Where’s that barrikin coming from?”
• Basher (noun) — A neutral reference to a person, usually but not always implying a thug or fighter. Canon
• Bauble (noun) — An electrum coin
• Be open to (phrase) — Be wary of, stay on guard, keep your eyes peeled “Be open to that one, he’s a scriber”.
• Beau-nasty (noun) — A slovenly fop; one finely dressed, but dirty. Also used to refer to polymorphed fiends.
• Before there were tieflings (phrase) — A very long time ago.
• Believe well (exclamation) — Goodbye, farewell.
• Believers of the Source (noun) — One of Sigil’s factions, also called the Godsmen. They believe that all people have got the potential to become a power, if they try.
• Belly of the beast (noun) — A dungeon.
• Berk (noun) — A fool, especially one who gets into a mess when they should have known better. Canon
• Birdcage (noun) — A cell, prison, or anything that compares to one. Sigil is often called the Birdcage. Canon
• Bite the iron (idiom) — To be murdered or slain in a vicious manner.
• Biter (noun) — A small but aggressive creature or cutter. Insult.
• Black diamond, bought the (idiom) — To be ripped off by an appraiser, merchant, or traders.
• Bleak Cabal (noun) — A faction with despondent members and a view that life is meaningless. Also known as the Bleakers, the Cabal, or the Madmen. Canon
• Bleed, bleeder (verb, noun) — An expression of distaste or disgust. “They’ve put me on Hive patrol? That bleeds!” Additionally, a bleeder is a reference to anyone the speaker dislikes.
• Bleeding cully (idiom) — One who parts easily with his money, especially a cony who’s been bobbed.
• Blek (sometimes blex) (noun) — In polite company, faeces. Also dirt, slime, or sewage. Derived from the name of the tanar’ri lord of slime, Juiblex. “Scrape your boots, you’ve stepped in a pile o’ blek.”
• Blinds (noun) — The dead-ends of the Mazes, but also meaning anything impossible or hopeless, as in “You’ll hit the blinds if you try lying to the factol.” Canon
• Blitz (verb) — To go through a portal rashly or hastily.
• Blizzard in Baator (phrase) — Used to describe something rare or unusual, as in “a friendly fiend is as rare as a blizzard in Baator.” This saying is ironic given Stygia and Cania have blizzards quite often.
• Blood (noun) — An expert, sage, or professional in any field. Calling someone a blood is a sign of deep respect. Canon
• Blood of the War, get to the (phrase) — To get to the real motivation behind something. Used mostly by fiends.
• Blood War, the (noun) — The name given to the eternal conflict between the baatezu and tanar’ri. Canon
• Blood-town (noun) — A burg which is largely populated by a single race of fiends, for example Jangling Hiter.
• Bloodbath (noun) — A gathering of powerful high-ups and bloods, usually indicating that something dangerous or important is happening.
• Bloodcrow (noun) — A scavenger of the battlefields of the Blood War, looking for treasure, chant, or food.
• Bloody halo, has a (phrase) — A dangerous celestial.
• Bob (verb) — The business of cheating someone, whether it’s of their cash, their honour, or their trust. Good guides in Sigil warn a cutter when someone’s bobbing him. A thief might boast he’d “bobbed a leatherhead on the street”. Canon
• Bob up (phrasal verb) — To raise the price of something during a crisis.
• Body (noun) — “A body” is the planar way of saying “someone”. Canon
• Bone-box (noun) — The mouth, named because of its teeth, fangs or whatever. “Stop rattling your bone-box”, is telling a berk to lay off the threats or bragging. Canon
• Born with a sneer (phrase) — Overly cynical, said by many a prime about all planars.
• Box (noun) — A rogue modron.
• Boxed, getting (phrasal verb) — Dead, getting.
• Boxer (noun) — An armour or craftsman who is capable of crafting armour or packs for rogue modrons.
• Brain-box (noun) — This refers to a cutter’s head, usually in a crude or uncomplimentary way. “Go soak your brain-box”, is a common phrase in Sigil, and “He banged his addled brain-box on it” means a berk finally figured something obvious out. Canon
• Branch out (phrasal verb) — To use Yggdrasil as a means of travel. “I took a portal to Ysgard, then I branched out to Elysium.”
• Break-teeth words (idiom) — Words that are difficult to pronounce. Lower planar languages are often referred to as “break-teeth tongues”.
• Brick beast (noun) — Any very massive and ugly building. “Timson just got scragged by the Hardheads; they’re taking him down to the brick beast!”
• Bridle-cull (noun) — Highwayman, Outlands bandit.
• Bub (noun) — Booze, wine or ale — usually cheap and barely drinkable. Canon
• Bub-addled (phrasal verb) — Drunk
• Bub-bawling (phrasal verb) — Phrase used to describe the screed that passes a bubbers lips when their tongues are loosened by the drink. As in “Stop your bub-bawling berk, the rotgut’s got a hold on your tongue.”
• Bubber (noun) — A drunk, especially one who’s fallen on hard times. Bubbers get little sympathy from most Cagers. Canon
• Bubber-box (noun) — Any jail cell set aside for allowing belligerent bubbers to “sleep it off”
• Burg (noun) — Any town smaller than Sigil, in size or in spirit — at least that’s how folks from Sigil see it. Other bodies don’t agree. Canon

C

• Cage, the (noun) — A common name for Sigil, used by the locals. Derived from ‘birdcage’. Canon
• Cager (noun) — A native or resident of Sigil. Canon
• Cagestruck (adjective) — The expression of cluelessness which newcomers to Sigil always exhibit. Canon
• Cake, piece of (idiom) — A piece of chant that’s very misleading; something sought after to only later find to be useless.
• Canny (adjective) — Smart or talented.
• Case (noun) — The house or place where a cutter lives. Has a positive connotation as a nice or decent place. Canon
• Catch a skeg (idiom) — Get a look: “If you catch a skeg at the portal key, be sure to let me know.”
• Celestial (adjective or noun) — Adj. Of or relating to the Upper Planes. Noun. An intelligent being native to the Upper Planes. Includes aasimon, archons, eladrin, guardinals, and more. Canon
• Celestian (adjective or noun) — Adj. From or of Mount Celestia. Noun. Confusingly, either a native of Mount Celestia or the enigmatic Power from Oerth, a favourite of planewalkers.
• Centre of the Multiverse (phrase) — A place that doesn’t exist; there is no true “centre of the Multiverse.” No matter where a body stands, he’s at the centre of things (at least from his perspective).
• Chant, the (noun) — An expression that means news, local gossip, the facts, the moods, or anything else about what’s happening. “What’s the chant?” is a way of asking for the latest information a basher’s heard. Canon
• Chaosmen (noun) — A nickname for the Xaositects, or Hands of Havoc. Canon
• Checking (verb) — The act of assailing the position held by an important yugoloth or baatezu commander. The term is derived from chess.
• Chiv (noun) — A weapon, usually something with a blade.
• Ciphers (noun) — A nickname of the Transcendent Order faction, used because most folks don’t know what they’re talking about.
• Clueless (noun) — The folks who just don’t get it, usually primes. Use this on a planar and there’s likely to be a fight. It’s also an adjective, like calling someone a “clueless berk.” Canon
• Codger (noun) — Old man or woman. Not always complimentary, but sometimes a term of endearment. “Ah Elminster’s just a good ol’ codger!”
• Colour pool (noun) — Portals on the Astral Plane that grant access to the Outer Planes and Prime Material. Canon
• Conduit riding, conduit rider (phrasal verb, noun) — Planewalkers from the Outer Planes who travel to the Prime Material Plane, especially if they do so often. “Brax doesn’t know the Gray Waste from gray paste, but he’s one hende conduit rider.”
• Cony (noun) — A prime, or a generally naive berk. Someone easily peeled and bobbed. Victims of cony-catchers.
• Cony-catcher (noun) — Con-men, tricksters or thieves looking for someone to peel.
• Cordance, planes of (noun) — The Mechanus – Outlands – Limbo triad of planes. Between the Upper and the Lower Planes; the Law/Chaos equivalent of the Planes of Conflict. Also called the Cordants or the Purgatories. Formally, Mechanus is the Plane of Concord, Limbo the Plane of Discord, and the Outlands the Plane of Concordant Opposition (which suggests maybe those primes weren’t quite so clueless after all…)
• Cordians (noun) — A collective name for the modrons, rilmani and slaad; planeborne creatures who are neither good nor evil in morals. It’s not a term that’s used often, because it’s rare that anyone needs to refer to these three races in the same sentence. See also, monitors.
• Coster (noun) — Stall holder in the Great Bazaar (particularly a food stall). Also costermonger.
• Counting [portals, layers in the Abyss etc.] (phrasal verb) — Wasting time. i.e. “How was your last mission?”, “Just great, they made me count layers in the Abyss”; or “They made me count portals.”
• Counting worms (idiom) — Dead.
• Cross piking (phrasal verb) — Planewalking via natural ability, such as the githzerai planeshift, or teleport without error. “You know, I haven’t seen the fiends cross piking much lately.”
• Cross-trade (adjective or noun) — Adj. The business of thieving, or anything else illegal or shady in nature. A “cross-trading scum” is a thief who’s got on the wrong side of the Mercykillers. Noun. One can also be a Knight of the Cross-Trade. Canon
• Crow feeder (noun) — An executioner or assassin. Someone who kills for another.
• Crude (noun) — Inner planar slang for a Prime.
• Cry beef (phrasal verb) — To cry beef, to give the alarm; “They’ve cried beef on us!”
• Cube (noun) — A modron (it doesn’t matter what shape they really are).
• Cutter (noun) — A complimentary term that refers to anybody, male or female. It suggests a certain amount of resourcefulness or daring, so it’s a lot better than calling someone a berk. Canon

D

• Dark (noun) — Anything secret is said to be dark. “Here’s the dark of it” is a way of saying “I’ve got a secret and I’ll share it with you.” Canon
• Dazzle (noun) — Magic, particularly that with a flashy effect. A dazzler is a wizard or spell-casting priest.
• Dead-book, put in the (idiom) — A body in the dead-book is dead. Some people have others “put in the dead-book”. Canon
• Dead, the (noun) — Another name for the Heralds of Dust. Canon
• Deader (noun) — Anyone in the dead-book. Canon
• Deadman’s tree (noun) — A term referring to any gallows.
• Defiers (noun) — Another name for the Athar. Canon
• Diabolate (noun) — A baatezu of pit fiend status or higher, especially one of the real high-ups in the Dark Eight, or a Lord of the Nine.
• Diced (verb) — When a body takes a chance, she is said to have diced. You can also take a dice. “Lierna sure took a dice when she blitzed through that Limbo portal.”
• Dirty halo, to have a (idiom) — A polite way to express that a celestial or paladin has fallen from favour. Alternatively, if said about a fiend, it implies that the fiend is risen.
• Dizzy (verb) — A term for a sod who can’t seem to get the hang of subjective gravity.
• Doomguard (noun) — A faction in Sigil that believes in entropy and decay. Also called the Sinkers. Canon
• Doughty up (phrasal verb) — To dress up, disguise, or impersonate someone. “Doughty up as a tout and we can go bob some berks blind.”
• Drape (verb) — To betray a body to the Hardheads. “He’d better not drape me now that I’ve told him the dark of our plan.”
• Dreamer (noun) — Inner Planar slang for an Outer Planar.
• Dustmen (noun) — One of the factions of Sigil. They basically believe everybody’s dead. They’re also called the Dead. Formally called the Heralds of Dust. Canon

E

• Earn a page, or earn a book (idiom) — To learn a valuable lesson. Most commonly used when a cutter picks up some dark without suffering too much for it.
• Empty bubbles, the (noun) — Descriptive slang term for Agathion, last layer of Pandemonium. Also any place that’s hard to get to and probably not worth the effort.
• Emptying, empty (verb, noun) — The process of losing one’s belief and finding nothing, thus accepting the Bleaker’s viewpoint.

F

• Faction (noun) — One of the fifteen philosophical groups that rule Sigil. Canon
• Factioneer (noun) — A general term for any faction member. Canon
• Factol (noun) — The leader of a faction. Canon
• Factor (noun) — One of the factol’s high-up advisors, or a body who’s devoted his life to the faction. Usually in the highest position of power in a faction, and often considered for the job of the factol if the old one steps down or is otherwise removed. Canon
• Factotum (noun) — A dedicated member of a faction. Canon
• Faith-fool (noun) — Athar term for priests and clerics.
• Fated, the (noun) — A faction that holds that if they’ve got something, it’s because it belongs to them. This doesn’t always sit well with others. Fated are also called the Takers or the Heartless. Canon
• Feeding the crows (idiom) — Killing for hire.
• Feeding the Wyrm (idiom) — The act of executing a prisoner. Specifically, it’s a unique type of execution carried out by the Mercykillers.
• Fhorgers (noun) — Derogatory name for the Believers of the Source.
• Fiend (noun) — Primarily refers to baatezu, yugoloths, gehreleths, hordlings and tanar’ri, but sometimes includes any intelligent beings native to the Lower Planes (night hags, imps, quasits, and the like). Canon
• Flam (noun) — Idle stories, useless information. Canon
• Foam, foaming, foamed up (noun, verb, adjective) — Upset or annoyed “That berk’s foaming, better not go near him”.
• Folded (adjective) — Originally used to describe deliberate altering of anything. e.g. “That folded map you bought ain’t worth the jink you paid for it.” Also, colloquially describes harm done to another being. e.g. “The Mercykillers sure folded that berk.”
• For the Mazes (idiom) — Absolutely and completely fed up. Meaning a blood would rather be in the Mazes than the position they’re in now. “I’m for the mazes if the Sinker-Sensate alliance sticks!”
• Fourish (adjective) — Stubborn, refusing to listen to new ideas: “Don’t be so sodding fourish!” From the close-mindedness of Inner Planars, who refuse to believe in the Rule of Threes, pointing instead to the “fourishness” of the Inner Planes.
• Fourth rule (phrase) — An exception. Refers to the so-called unwritten rule of the Multiverse: There’s an exception to every rule. “A githzerai who likes githyanki? He’s fourth rule.”
• Fraternity of Order (noun) — A faction in Sigil, also called the Guvners. They believe that knowing physical laws gives a cutter power over everything. They’re not the kind of folk to argue logic with. Canon
• Ful (adjective) — Very, extremely, completely and utterly. “Those baatezu Hardheads were ful angry when we gave them the laugh!”

G

• Gad (quantifier) — Many, much, a lot of. “That prime’s got a gad of jink on him!”
• Game, the (noun) — A polite reference to interplanar politics; it is considered bad form for all but the most top-shelf bloods to use this term.
• Gannet (noun) — An indiscriminate eater, particularly referring to someone not of tiefling descent. Implies that the eater is a glutton and would eat or consume anything placed in front of them.
• Garnish (noun) — A bribe, as in “Give the petty official a garnish and he’ll go away”. Canon
• Gate (noun) — Another term for a portal. All gates in Sigil are generally called portals. The term is also used in a general sense to describe any sort of passage between one plane and another. Canon
• Gate-town (noun) — A burg on the Outlands that has a gate to another Outer Plane. Each plane has one gate-town, and the town often has the same basic appearance, outlook, and attributes as the inhabitants, architecture and terrain of the corresponding plane. Canon
• Gearhead (noun) — Slang term for a modron. Suprisingly, modrons don’t seem to mind the term.
• Geartown (noun) — A nickname for The Fortress of Disciplined Enlightenment, a city on Mechanus which is home to the Guvners. Used mostly by non-Guvners, but sometimes used by low-ranking members of the faction. (They don’t seem to mind the nickname).
• Gearward (noun) — A term used on the Outlands in a manner similar to cardinal directions on the Prime. Towards Mechanus, but not necessarily pointing directly towards that plane. Example: ‘Tradegate’s gearward of Faunel.’
• Gelt (noun) — Money, jink, usually referring to small change (greens, stingers and the like). It ain’t usually used for larger amounts.
• Ghost (noun) — A prime who visits the planes via astral spell. Since it involves little physical risk on the prime’s part, it’s often considered cowardly (the prime hasn’t even deigned to bring their actual body).
• Give the rope (idiom) — What happens to condemned criminals who don’t manage to give the law the laugh. Usually thieves are the only folks who use this term.
• Gleaming pip (noun) — A worthless small-time thief or a pickpocket. It’s considered an insult to both honest cutters and thieves who see themselves as a cut above the rest.
• Godsmen (noun) — Another name for the Believers of the Source. Canon
• Gour (noun) — Chef, usually of dubious quality, sarcastically abbreviated from ‘gourmet’.
• Grail (noun) — False information.
• Graybeard (noun) — A sage or scholar. This term refers to the stereotypical wizened old man but can apply to any learned intellectual, even female ones! Canon
• Great Ring, Great Wheel (noun) — The Outer Planes, often depicted in maps and diagrams (which are often misleading) as a ring. This also refers to their infinite size, another allusion to the endlessness of a ring. Canon
• Great Road (noun) — A series of permanent, always-active gates scattered throughout the Outer Planes. The Great Road connects all the Outer Planes, although the gates themselves are so spread out it’s said it would take many lifetimes to walk the entire Great Road. A few of the gates are linked by paths, but most are not connected in any way. Canon
• Great Void (noun) — The Quasi elemental Plane of Vacuum. Canon
• Green (noun) — A copper coin (see Economy of the Planes for more details).
• Grinner (noun) — Colloquial term for a mimir.
• Gully (noun) — A potential victim of a peel, a gullible sod. Canon
• Guvners (noun) — A nickname for the Fraternity of Order. Canon

H

• Half-a-turn back (idiom) — A while ago, long enough ago to be difficult to be precise, but still in recent memory. Typically used to describe anything that occurred much less than a turn or two ago. See also a turn or two.
• Half-head (adjective) — Not all there, a few bricks short of a wall, a half wit.
• Hardheads (noun) — A less-than friendly term for the Harmonium faction. Canon
• Hark (verb) — To listen.
• Harmonium (noun) — A faction of the planes, also called the Hardheads by their detractors. The faction slogan could be “do it our way or no way”. Canon
• Heartless, the (noun) — Another name for the Fated. Canon
• Hende (adjective) — An adjective meaning a real blood. “She’s the hendest tiefling this side of Baator, and no mistake.” Unhende is conversely worse than addled, clueless and leatherheaded put together!
• High-up (noun) — Powerful. This refers to a spell, position, or anything else with plenty of power that can theoretically be measured. A person of money and influence. Factols, for example, are high-ups. It’s bad form to call one’s self this; it’s a phrase that others bestow. Canon
• Hipped (verb) — Stranded. “Hipping the rube” means stranding someone by sending them through a one-way portal. Canon
• Honey-peel, honey-peeler  (noun, verb) — The honey-peel is the act of fooling or manipulating an individual through seduction of fiendish origin, and a honey-peeler is a master of the craft.
• Horde, the (noun) — A common lower-planar term for the Tanar’ri… well… horde!
• Howl, howling (noun, verb) — Particularly loud or obnoxious rumours, especially from barmies: “He gets a pot of bub in him and he always spouts the howl.” Derived from the noises of the winds in Pandemonium.
• Hunted in the Cage (idiom) — In trouble. Sigil often becomes a hide-out for those who have angered a power, the fiends, or someone else really powerful. If such a person gets hunted even in the Cage, the cutter is in real trouble.

I

• Idea-pot (noun) — Head, brain, or skull. Often used in vulgar comparison to chamber pots. “If you’d used your idea-pot instead of your cess-pot for once, we wouldn’t be in this mess!”
• Indeps (noun, verb) — The common name for members of the Free League. Canon
• Inker (noun) — An inker is one who records or reports events through writing, i.e. a Guvner scribe, a Merkhant debt-recorder, or a writer for SIGIS.
• Inner Planes (noun) — The Elemental (Air, Earth, Fire, Water), the Paraelemental (Ice, Magma, Ooze, Smoke), Quasielemental (Ash, Dust, Lightning, Mineral, Radiance, Salt, Steam and Vacuum) and the Energy Planes (Positive and Negative). Canon
• It’s a demiplane (idiom) — Meaning “I don’t know” or “I don’t care” e.g. “Hey, umm… ‘cutter’… where’s Thoth’s Laboratory?” “It’s a demiplane.”
• Ivories (noun) — Powers. Cager Rhyming Slang: Ivory Tower = Power.

J

• Jangled up (adjective) — The state of being both upset and confused, for example, “I’m going to jangle him up a bit,” or “I’m pretty jangled up, but I’ll live.”
• Jark jink (noun) — Counterfeit coinage. “Watch that cross-trading costermonger close, cutter, he’ll slip you jark jink for change if you’re not peery.”
• Jark, jarkman (noun) — A copy or forgery. A jarkman creates jarks, but so do leaf-binders.
• Jester (noun) — A slick thief, spy, or other rogue that constantly gives authorities the laugh. Beringe, the Anarchist, for one.
• Jink (noun) — The goal of the poor: money or coins. “That’s going to take a lot of jink!” means an expensive bit of garnishing. For specific cant coin names, see greens, stingers, baubles, jinx, and merts. Canon
• Jinkflip (noun) — A moneychanger.
• Jinkmonger (noun) — A disreputable money lender. This term is considered a serious insult to honest bankers (if there is such a thing).
• Jinkskirt or jinkshirt (noun) — A prostitute. The term refers both to the price such bashers can be had for, and to their habit of jinking their skirts up or unbuttoning their shirts to attract customers. There are further variations: a greenshirt is the lowest kind of male streetwalker and a mertskirt is a high-priced, Lady’s Ward doxy. A bloodskirt caters specifically to fiends (cf. Bloodlust). A fireshirt caters for Tieflings (cf. Firewalker).
• Jinkster (noun) — A person who welches on a debt, a cheater.
• Jinx (noun) — Gold coin (see Economy of the Planes for more details).
• Joyward (noun) — A term used on the Outlands in a manner similar to cardinal directions on the Prime. Towards Elysium, but not necessarily pointing directly towards the plane. Example: ‘Tir na Og’s joyward of Tir fo Thuinn.’
• Jumping out the window (idiom) — Trying an untested portal, or even trying a procedure you’re not sure will result in a portal.
• Junk-jinker, jinker (noun) — A peddler who deals in cheap merchandise or trinkets. This term is considered offensive to merchants and traders of finer goods.

K

• Keynapped (verb) — Similar to tunnel-jacked, but this term only refers to instances when a cutter’s been hipped by a random portal switch.
• Kip (noun) — Any place a cutter can put his feet up and sleep for a night, especially cheap flophouses in the Hive or elsewhere. Also, to call kip is to make a place a body’s home, at least for a while. Canon
• Knight of the post, knight of the cross-trade (noun) — A thief, cheat, and a liar — clearly not a compliment unless, of course, that’s what the basher wants to be. Canon
• Knowing all the Abyssal Lords (idiom) — Having a really good memory, or knowing many things.
• Kobold king (noun) — One who thinks he’s an important blood, but is actually not. Ex: “Factor Trevant might be a high-up, but he’s just a kobold king next to Skall.”

L

• Ladies in waiting (noun) — The dabus, so called because they seem to be the Lady of Pain’s handmaidens. There’s also a dark rumour going round that they’re all aspiring Ladies themselves, and when the Serene One gets written into the dead book, one of them seamlessly takes over her role.
• Lady’s grace (exclamation) — Hello, good day. Derives from: “There by the Lady’s Grace go I”, a poem praising the Lady for her portals and the Cage. The writer was found flayed, but still the saying caught on! There’s no accounting for taste.
• Lady’s word (idiom) — Like ‘mum’s the word’, with a darker connotation. It implies secrecy, conspiracy — with a twist: To break the Lady’s word is to write your own name into the Dead Book.
• Ladywatcher (noun) — A berk doing something especially foolish, likely to get them put in the Dead Book. Like worshipping the Lady of Pain, for example.
• Lann (verb) — To tell or inform. See well lanned.
• Lathly (adjective) — Terribly, terribly, ugly. So ugly that even a fiend would be scared.
• Laugh, give the (idiom) — To escape or slip through the clutches of someone. Robbing a tanar’ri and not getting caught is giving it the laugh. Canon
• Laughing hand (noun) — An insulting hand sign. It’s made by placing the ring finger under the thumb while extending the other fingers.
• Laying out the red carpet (idiom) — Setting up an ambush.
• Leaf-binders (noun) — Bookbinders or scribes. Quite a common term in the Clerk’s Ward.
• Leafer (noun) — A tome or book. More specifically, an old or particularly boring book.
• Leafless tree (noun) — The gallows, which is where some berks wind up after they’ve been scragged. Canon
• Leatherhead, leatherheaded (noun, adjective) — A dolt; a dull or thick-witted fellow. Use it to call someone an idiot. Also an adjective; “a leatherheaded sod”. Canon
• Legion, the (noun) — A common lower-planar term for the Baatezu army.
• Lemon (noun) — Prime. Cager Rhyming Slang: Lemon and Lime = Prime.
• Leth (or ‘leth) (noun) — Abbreviation of gehreleth
• Lifted (verb) — Promoted through faction ranks, or, more formally, made a proxy. Example: “Sarin just lifted me. Guess who’s your new boss?”
• Lily (adjective) — True, truthful. Also used to refer to celestials.
• Little Ring (noun) — Sigil. Stems from “Great Ring” for the Outer Planes…Sigil herself is a ring within the Ring itself, hence the cant term.
• Living book (noun) — A blood, or someone with a lot of darks stashed away in his bone-box.
• Lost, to get lost (noun, idiom) — Dead. “He got lost” means he ain’t coming back without a resurrection. Canon
• Loth (or ‘loth) (noun) — Abbreviation of yugoloth Canon
• Lower Planes (noun) — Also called the dark planes or the nether regions (or the whistles by some, see below) — the Abyss, Acheron, Baator, Carceri, Gehenna, and Pandemonium. Canon

M

• Madmen, the (noun) — Another name for the Bleak Cabal. Canon
• Maggotborn, the (noun) — An upper-planar insult to the fiends, given that many of them arise from larvae.
• Maniarch (noun) — Xaositect high-up. From ‘hierarch’ and ‘maniac’.
• Mapping the planes (idiom) — Wasting time.
• Marionette (noun) — Any berk who deals with a yugoloth – because of their fame as manipulators.
• Mark (verb) — To make a note of something, as in: “Mark this kip. We’ll meet here at antipeak.” To be marked is to be identified, as in “That berk was marked as a Guvner.” Canon
• Mazes, the (noun) — The nasty little traps that the Lady of Pain creates for would-be dictators. It’s also come to mean any particularly well-deserved punishment. Canon
• Melt (verb) — Spend: “Let’s go and melt some serious jink!”
• Mephit (noun) — Pathetic, stupid, or worthless person (when not used to refer to a real mephit, of course). Just don’t use it in this way anywhere near a real mephit…they get cross.
• Mercykillers (noun) — A faction of Sigil that believes in absolute justice. Also called the Red Death. Canon
• Mert (noun) — Platinum coin (see Economy of the Planes for more details).
• Metal cup only (idiom) — Any bar or eatery that has enough regular violence that glass drinking cups are too difficult and expensive to keep in stock.
• Milk (noun) — Jink, money, cash, wealth. This comes from the rhyming slang: milk and honey = money.
• Mimir (noun) — Someone who mindlessly repeats whatever he is told. Typically used by Indeps and Anarchists to refer to anyone who is putting forward the “official” stand on any event.
• Minder (noun) — A bodyguard.
• Mindless (noun) — Derogatory term for the Transcendent Order, belittling their goals.
• Mindnick (noun) — Derogatory slang for a psionicist. Enchanters and others who use mind-altering magic may also be referred to as mindnicks.
• Modron headache (idiom) — The feeling of helplessness and frustration incurred by waiting for your turn in an official process — in queues for appointments, to fill out forms (in triplicate).
• Monitors (noun) — A collective name for the modrons, rilmani and slaad; planeborne creatures who are neither good nor evil in morals. It’s not a term that’s used often, because it’s rare that anyone needs to refer to these three races in the same sentence. See also, cordians.
• Mushrooming (verb) — A Blood War term for the sudden growth in size of a force when rampant gating begins to occur.
• Music, pay the (idiom) — A price a cutter doesn’t usually want to pay, but has to anyway. Canon
• Musties (noun) — Undead, primarily those that decay or appear decayed: this includes primarily zombies, revenants, and liches

N

• Namer (noun) — Someone who belongs to a faction in name only, paying lip service to its philosophy but not really dedicated to its principles. Canon
• Nark, narky (verb, adjective) — To become angry or annoyed, to direct anger at a person.
• Newt (noun) — Anything reptilian or amphibian in appearance, such as a lizard man, yuan-ti, or minion of Set.
• Nick (verb) — To attack, cut, strike, or steal from someone, often used in threats. Canon
• Ninny-chanter (noun) — An insulting reference to a mage.
• Not in a good shape (idiom) — Dead. A typical Sigilian understatement.

O

• Oasis (noun) — A common term for the rare tavern or inn in Sigil that can acquire pure water; usually such taverns are clustered around gates to Water or Oceanus.
• Old bone-head (noun) — A derogatory nickname for Factol Skall of the Dustmen.
• Old metal-head (noun) — A very unflattering (and frankly risky) way of referring to the Lady of Pain.
• Opium, the (noun) — An insult to the Order of the Planes-Militant, derived from the rapid pronunciation of the sect’s initials, OPM. Its brethren are called Opium Dreamers or Dreamers.
• Out-of-touch (adjective) — Outside of the Outer Planes. A body who’s on the Elemental Plane of Water is “out-of-touch.” This vernacular comes from Sigil, which is considered to be the centre of the Multiverse by those who adopted this phrase. Canon
• Out-of-town (adjective) — Like the phrase above, this one’s used by Cagers to describe a body who’s on the Outlands. Canon
• Outer Planes (noun) — The Abyss, Acheron, Arborea, Arcadia, Baator, the Beastlands, Bytopia, Carceri, Elysium, Gehenna, the Gray Waste, Limbo, Mechanus, Mount Celestia, the Outlands, Pandemonium and Ysgard. They’re planes of concept rather than element. Canon
• Outsiders (noun) — Clueless primes who don’t yet know how things work on the planes (and especially in Sigil). Ironically this is also the term that primes use to describe planar creatures. Canon

P

• Park your ears (idiom) — To eavesdrop, spy upon, or just simply listen intently.
• Parochial god (noun) — A power with worshippers on only one world.
• Parrot (noun) — A derogatory term for an individual who mindlessly and thoughtlessly “parrots” their faction’s or homeplane’s viewpoint.
• Path (noun) — A means of planar travel that requires actual physical movement. Commonly known paths include the rivers Styx and Oceanus, Mount Olympus, the World Ash Yggdrasil, and the Infinite Staircase of Ysgard. See the Planar Pathways section for more chant. Canon
• Peel (verb) — To swindle, con or trick. Peeling a tanar’ri is usually a bad idea. Canon
• Peery (adjective) — Suspicious and on one’s guard. What a basher should be if she thinks she’s going to get peeled. Canon
• Penny-gush (noun) — Exaggerated stories or tales, especially if written: “That piece in SIGIS about the Anarchists was just  penny-gush.”
• Petitioner (noun) — A mortal who has died and reformed on the plane of his alignment and/or deity without memory of his former life. A petitioner’s ultimate goal is to become one with the plane he’s occupying, although no one (not even the petitioner) knows the whole dark of this. Canon
• Philosophisle (noun) — A Cager term for a dead power.
• Pike it (phrasal verb) — A useful, all-purpose rude phrase, as in, “Take a short stick and pike it, bubber.” Canon
• Pike off (phrasal verb) — To anger someone, as in, “Once he discovers he’s been peeled, he’s going to be really piked off.”
• Pincher (noun) — Hardhead or some other overzealous scragger of sods.
• Pit fiend promise (idiom) — A promise, begrudgingly made, and likely to be twisted.
• Planar (noun, adjective) — Noun. Any being native to a plane other than the Prime Material Plane. These are living beings, not petitioners. Adj. Of the planes. Canon
• Planar conduit (noun) — A wormhole-like connection that links two layers of the same plane, or (rarely) two layers of two different planes. Canon
• Plane-touched (adjective) — A planar crossbreed. Any offspring of a planar native and a human. Tieflings are plane-touched, as are aasimar and genasi. Alu-fiends and cambions are also considered plane-touched. Canon
• Planeborne (noun) — A member of one the native races of the Outer Planes. Canon
• Planewalker (noun) — A cutter who travels the planes looking for adventure, jink, or glory — a plane-travelling adventurer. Usually, to refer to someone as a planewalker carries a tone of respect, for such individuals are considered capable, knowledgeable, and experienced. Canon
• Playing mimir (idiom) — An informant or plant within an organisation. “I was followed here, but I managed to lose ’em. I think someone’s playing mimir in our cell.” Usually used by Anarchists.
• Portal (noun) — A doorway allowing passage to (and possibly from) another plane. These are always found in bounded spaces like archways, and always require a key. Also called gates. Canon
• Post-monger (noun) — A cutter who’s well-lanned when it comes to the cross-trade, specifically fences, knights of the post, fraudsters and other shady cony-catchers. Also post-mongering, to possess these ‘qualities’.
• Powder (noun) — Any narcotic or drug sold on the streets of Sigil.
• Power (noun) — A being of incredible might, drawing energy from those who worship it and able to grant spells to priests. Also called a deity or god. Somebody a body shouldn’t ever mess with. Canon
• Prime (noun) — The Prime Material Plane or someone from that plane. Also a single prime-material world. Canon
• Prod (noun) — Troublemaker; a real pain in the neck.
• Proxy (noun) — A mighty servant of a power — usually a former mortal servant of that power. Canon
• Puppet (noun) — A derogatory term for a proxy, high priest, or any blood who works for a Power, probably coined by the Athar.
• Puppeteer (noun) — An enchanter, a mentalist, or a telepathic psionicist. Often times, puppeteer is also used for faction high-ups. The tools of puppeteers are, naturally, puppets.
• Purgatories (noun) — The Cordant Planes of Mechanus, the Outlands and Limbo.

Q

• Quipper (noun) — Slang for a beggar. Quippers are one of the best sources of information in the Cage. Why? No one thinks to shut their bone box them, and no one’s poor enough not to be able to afford to garnish ’em.

R

• Raising the flag (idiom) — To draw attention, desired or not.
• Ravens (noun) — Derogatory term for the Harmonium, derived from the fact that the harmony of ravens is a very poor sort of harmony indeed.
• Razorwine (noun) — Any extremely potent alcoholic beverage, no less than 100 proof. “Hey cutter, you’ve got to go try the taps at Mudder MacRee’s! She only serves razorwine!” Canon
• Realm (noun) — Property that belongs strictly to one person, group or power.
• Red Death (noun) — Another name for the Mercykillers. Canon
• Revolutionary League (noun) — A faction in Sigil that wants to see all the factions (including themselves) destroyed. Also called the Anarchists or Hands of Havoc. Canon
• Ride (noun) — An adventure, task or undertaking. As in, “What’s the ride today, boss?”
• Rig (noun) — A plan; “Here’s the rig”.
• Ringwalker (noun) — Beyond Clueless. Call a planar a “ringwalker” and you could start a blood feud, but a clueless prime’ll likely take it as a compliment.
• Roosters (noun) — Vrocks – Cager rhyming slang: Roosters and cocks.
• Rorty (adjective) — Strong, vigorous, though the meaning changes according to the context: thus a rorty bloke is a real blood, a rorty toff is a basher pretending to be a blood, and a rorty cube is a rogue modron.
• Rotters (noun) — Derogatory name for the Doomguard. Some wear the name proudly, though. Like the Xaosmen, it’s hard to insult these berks.
• Rounder (noun) — Someone who knows his way around the planes. It ain’t as good as being called a blood, but it’s a compliment nonetheless.
• Rube (noun) — A naive or clueless person, but not necessarily a prime. Sometimes this term’s used to describe any non-Cager. Canon
• Rule of sevens (noun) — Nonsense idea. Used by the detractors of Guvner philosophy, and also annoys archons. What more could one ask?
• Rule of threes (noun) — One of the fundamental rules of the Multiverse: Things tend to happen in threes. Canon
• Rum (adjective) — Excellent, great: “Rum news about the tax on bub being cut!”

S

• Scan (verb) — Look, listen or learn. “Scanning the chant” is learning the latest news.
• Scar (noun) — Slang expression used widely, with no particular meaning, making it useful as a catchall obscenity. For example: “Get your sodding scar over here, berk!”; “What an addled old scar!”; or simply “Shut yer scar!”
• Scragged (verb) — Arrested or caught. Canon
• Scragged, dragged and bellied or scragged, dragged and swallowed (verb) — To be arrested, tried and convicted of something. It is often used as a threat as in “If you don’t shut your sodding bone-box, I’ll have you scragged, dragged and swallowed before you can tumble to it.”
• Scrape (noun) — Damning information that can be used to bribe or blackmail, especially a high up.
• Screamer (noun) — Alarmist, especially in the factions. One who is prone to exaggerating news, hence scream: “Have you heard the scream that the Blood War’s on Sigil’s doorstep?”
• Screed (noun) — A monotonous tirade, or someone who gives one. If used to refer to a person, it means someone who speaks at length without any real knowledge, or simply an argumentative person. As in “Don’t listen to him, he’s just a screed.” Canon
• Scribblers (noun) — Clerks and Civil Servants. Also a mildly derogatory term for Guvners or Mathematicians.
• Scribe of the dead book (noun) — An assassin or hired killer — somebody who makes a living killing others for profit.
• Scriber (noun) — See Scribe of the dead book
• Scrub (verb) — To beat or torture mercilessly. “That berk’s gonna get a serious scrubbin’ if the Hardheads catch ’em.” Furthermore, a torturer can be called a scrubber, and conversely, the one who is the victim is called a scrub.
• Second turns (noun) — Former Chameleons who decided they liked a faction or sect so much they stuck with it and quit the Chameleons. Derives from “turncoats.”
• Sensates (noun) — Nickname for the Society of Sensation. Canon
• Senseless (noun) — Sensate insult for a Dustman. Related to numbness, it is more commonly used for those Dustmen closer to True Death. As such, a small number of Dustmen who still have lingering emotion consider the term an ironic compliment.
• Sent to Windglum (idiom) — To ostracise a person or ignore them.
• Serenade (noun, verb) — Noun: a confession obtained through torture or intimidation which directs blame to an innocent individual. Verb: to testify under torture or intimidation of the guilt that an innocent man is guilty.
• Shamblers (noun) — A term used to describe the Undead.
• Shed (verb) — To tell or inform.
• Shifty (adjective) — Illusionary, hard to mark, dark, not on the up-and-up. “Soddin’ Powers, feedin’ the crows and eatin’ each other just to swallow dark whispers, shifty they are.” A Cager’s lament.
• Shout (verb) — The casting of high-combat spells, particularly area affect spells like fireball or meteor swarm: “Watch out for the spellslinger, if he shouts we’ll all be put in the dead book!”
• Sickness, also To have the sickness, to be sick (adjective) — Someone who is sick is rich to have the sickness is to be rich. This comes from rhyming slang: Sickness and health = wealth.
• Sigilians (noun) — Sigilians are residents of Sigil. They can be born on the prime, the Outlands, the Abyss – anywhere. As long as they live in Sigil, they’re Sigilians.
• Sigilite (noun) — Sigilites are Sigilians who are the third generation of their family in Sigil – at the least. Sigilites are thus somewhat pompous, and they speak the cant fluently.
• SIGIS (noun) — An infamous newsrag in Sigil. Standing for “Sigil’s Independently Gathered Information Service”, the news sheet is not without its critics, but remains very popular with the planewalker community in particular.
• Sign of None (noun) — A nickname for the Doomguard.
• Sign of One, Signer (noun) — A former faction whose members figure that everybody is the centre of his own universe, formally now called the Mind’s Eye. Canon
• Singing in Bedlam (idiom) — Being completely barmy, but being happy with it.
• Sinkers (noun) — Another name for the Doomguard. Canon
• Sixes (noun) — The Upper Planes. Cager Rhyming Slang: Sixes and Sevens = Heavens. The term often causes Upper Planars offence, since it implies only six of the seven Upper Planes are worth talking about. But it ain’t hard to offend an Upper Planar!
• Skag (noun) — A cutter that gives or sells information, usually under pressure. “We squeezed some skag for the dark on the Fated.”
• Skeg, catch a (idiom) — Get a look: “If you catch a skeg at the portal key, be sure to let me know.”
• Skiff (noun) — A really ratty kip. A crappy living place or establishment — in other words, most of the Hive’s buildings are skiffs.
• Skilter (noun) — A derogatory term used by members of factions to denote bodies who don’t belong to one.
• Skin (noun) — A debt owed, usually to the Fated or a fiend (Cager Rhyming Slang: Skin and Bone = Loan). “You’ve got a skin here that’s built up a lot of interest, cutter.”
• Skin a razor (idiom) — Drive a hard bargain: “That sodding merchant really skinned my razor!”
• Skinned (verb) — Someone who makes a contract with a fiend, a Baatezu in particular. It refers to the contract, which is often made from the flayed skin of a human or Baatorian petitioner. “Keep away from them fiends, you’ll only get yourself skinned.”
• Slaad-story (noun) — An unlikely tale: “Don’t try and bob me with one of your slaad-stories, berk!”
• Slippery (adjective) — Downright illegal stuff, like stolen goods or powder.
• Slipping the knot (idiom) — To avoided a planned ambush.
• Smooth (adjective, verb) — Adj. Semi-legal or questionable merchandise, such as unlabeled alcohol or ‘used goods’. Verb. Offloading such items. “You forged some jink? I’ll smooth them for ya for half of the profits.”
• Society of Sensation (noun) — A faction that believes life’s got to be experienced to be understood. Also called the Sensates. Canon
• Sod (noun) — An unfortunate or poor soul. Use it to show sympathy for an unlucky cutter or use it sarcastically for those who get into their own messes. Canon
• Sodding (adjective) — A derogatory term used to stress magnitude. A “sodding idiot” is an amazingly stupid berk. Canon
• Softhead (noun) — This is an insult rarely used against any ‘cept the Hardheads. Generally, it means that a person is unfit for their rank, or they are just plain stupid.
• Sold a void mephit (idiom) — Tricked, fooled. Void mephits don’t exist.
• Soul-bag (noun) — A lower planar term for the physical body.
• Soul-broker (noun) — Any fiendish merchant who engages in hiring mortals to perform tasks. The term is rarely used by the mortals bought or else the fiends themselves; usually a celestial uses the term to refer to the invariably spirit-corrupting and dangerous nature of such transactions.
• Soul-case (noun) — An upper planar term for the physical body.
• Soupward (noun) — A term used on the Outlands in a manner similar to cardinal directions on the Prime. Towards Limbo but not necessarily pointing directly towards that plane. Example: ‘Plague-Mort’s soupward of Hopeless.’
• Sour (adjective) — Sour lemons are primes who’ve seen the Multiverse in all its glory, and soured by the experience. They don’t like the place, especially not Sigil.
• Sparkle (noun) — Specifically a diamond, but any gem.
• Sparkle stick (noun) — A magical wand. Many sparkle-sticks sold in the Cage aren’t reliable (finding one enchanted with the cantrip spell is not uncommon).
• Spellslinger (noun) — A wizard. Canon
• Spike (noun) — A well-made or magical sword.
• Spire’s ward (exclamation) — Goodbye and take care! Often said to bring good luck on a cutter about to set out on a planehopping jaunt.
• Spireclimb (noun) — An impossible task; a task one can make begin and progress at but cannot finish.
• Spiv (noun) — An individual who lives by his wits (rather than by having regular employment).
• Spoonbender (noun) — A psionicist. So named for the popular parlour trick of pretending to bend spoons through telekinesis. Often used in a derogatory manner: “I thought he was a top-shelf mage, but he turned out to be a sodding spoonbender.”
• Sprout roots (idiom) — To get oneself a permanent case and stay there. Used often to describe a planewalker who wants to retire. “Have you heard the chant on Scriber Jones? They say he’s sprouted roots in Sigil.”
• Square (adjective) — Honest, good, or good enough. Frequently used to describe Celestials or the Harmonium, sometimes disparagingly. “I’ll slip you that chant if the jink’s square.”
• Squeezer (noun) — A tax collector (or anyone who takes money from generally unwilling people) given that nearly all tax collectors are members of the Fated, this term is also often used to refer to any member of that faction.
• Sticks (noun) — Rhyming slang – Sticks and Stones = Bones. Uses often by the Mercykillers about their punishment. “I snapped his sticks one by one.”
• Stinger (noun) — Silver coin (see Economy of the Planes for more details)
• Stitch (verb) — To shut someone up – e.g. stitching their mouth closed so they can’t spill the dark. Use it like this: “Whisper the dark and you’ll find yourself stitched, berk!”
• Stitch your lips (idiom) — A ruder way to tell someone to pike it. To say “stitch your lips”, means that not only is what their saying now either inappropriate or stupid, but chances are anything coming out of their mouths in the future will be equally so.
• Strange egg (noun) — This expression is believed to be derived from the bizarre planar travel effects of eating a Simpathetic’s egg. Planewalking spells, devices, and sometimes portals are often referred to as Strange Eggs. “Be careful going through that doorway, it’s a strange egg that one is…”
• Styx (verb) — Kill, eliminate, remove, forget. “Poor D’yart. He got himself styxed by the ‘loths.”
• Styx it (phrasal verb) — Forget about it. As in “I owe you one!” “Nah, just Styx it.” Or used as a warning to forget a dark. “That dark about the tanar’ri? I’d Styx it if I were you…”
• Styx swimmer (noun) — A basher with a short memory.
• Sure as Sigil (idiom) — Certainly, I promise.
• Swag, swagger (noun) — Someone with an inflated ego. “Boy, that berk sure is a swagger, I hope someone cuts his knees out.”
• Swob me bob! (exclamation) — An expression of surprise.

T

• Take A Deep Dip (idiom) — To be flung into a plane involuntarily, against which a basher isn’t adequately protected. “I fell through a portal and took a deep dip in Gehenna!”
• Take a Dip (idiom) — To go through a portal and find yourself submerged, such as travelling to Lunia, Thalasia, Ossa or Elemental Water.
• Takers (noun) — Another name for the Fated. Canon
• Talking book (noun, verb) — A document or book that is illegal in the Cage, e.g. the Factol’s Manifesto.
• Tanar’ri martyr (noun) — A hapless stooge, a cony who’s just been caught.
• Tanar’ri’s chance in Nessus, Got a (idiom) — A completely hopeless situation were the person taking the risk will definitely fail and probably end up in the dead book. As in, “you’ve got a tanar’ri’s chance in Nessus of putting that loth in the dead book before he opens yer brain box cutter”
• Thor’s tantrum (noun) — A thunderstorm, usually a big one.
• Thorn (verb) — To annoy or anger. “If that mephit doesn’t stop thorning me…”
• Thought guild (noun) — An unflattering reference to a faction, used by those who don’t believe in factions at all.
• Thrown to the clocks (idiom) — Overly harsh or unreasonable punishment: “Get caught plying the cross-trade in Mechanus and they’ll throw you to the clocks for sure.”
• Tick [of the Gears] (noun) — A short span of time; anywhere from a couple seconds to a few days. “It only took that lemon a tick or three to get used to the Cage!”
• Tickled (verb) — Charged with magic, particularly conjuring or summoning magic. “The air was ful tickled by the mages.” Inner Planar Cant.
• Tickler (noun) — Mage, particularly an Elementalist. Refers to the tingling sensation of being summoned.
• Ticklish (adjective) — Someone who is frequently summoned or is unusually susceptible to such magicks.
• Tief (noun) — Dubious information: “That’s a load of tief”. Warning: Never use this term within twenty feet of a tiefling!
• Time mephit (noun) — Something that’s possible in theory, though in all likelihood highly improbable. “The Ordial Plane? That’s gotta be the grandest Time mephit of ’em all!”
• Top-shelf (adjective) — Great or best, as in “The really top-shelf pubs are all in the Lady’s Ward.”
• Transcendent Order (noun) — A faction in Sigil. The formal name for the Ciphers, who believe that the truest responses occur when a body acts without thinking. Canon
• Trumps, put to your (idiom) — To be put to your trumps, to be in difficulties. To turn up trumps; to get lucky.
• Tumble to (phrasal verb) — To understand, figure out, or find out something. A body better tumble to the dark of Sigil before he bangs around the Cage on his own. Canon
• Tunneljacked (adjective) — Thrown, willing or not, through a random portal. Also, when a non-fixed portal jumps before a return trip is made, hipping travellers on a foreign plane.
• Turn or two, a (idiom) — A long, long time. This phrase refers to the very long turning-cycle of the Modron gears. “The githyanki have hated the githzerai for a turn or two.”
• Turn stag (phrasal verb) — To betray somebody or use treachery. Saying “he turned stag” is about the worst thing that can be said about a cutter. Canon
• Twixt the Lady and the ‘loths (idiom) — In a predicament. A really bad position to be in.

U

• Under the Lady’s shadow (idiom) — Bad, ill, evil-omened. “Ribcage has been under the Lady’s shadow since Lord Paracs became the high-up man.”
• Unhende (adjective) — An adjective meaning worse than addled, clueless and leatherheaded all put together. “He’s the unhendest screed-screaming bubber in the Hive.” Hende is conversely a real compliment to pay to any basher!
• Unity of Rings (noun) — The theory that everything forms a logical ring or circular pattern of some kind, as illustrated by the Outer Planes in particular. Canon
• Upper Planes (noun) — Arborea, Arcadia, the Beastlands, Bytopia, Elysium, Mount Celestia and Ysgard. The good-aligned planes. Canon

V

• Void (noun, adjective) — Something completely without worth or redeeming features. Example: “That so-called ‘magic wand’ is just a void.”
• Void mephit (noun) — A non-existent being. In the context of the Mephit Code, the expression “Got a void mephit” means ‘no response’.
• Vortex (noun) — A passage between an environmental extreme on the Prime Material and the corresponding Elemental Plane. Canon

W

• Wagger (noun) — Gossip or information broker. “We check with all the waggers we could find, but the leather-heads didn’t have anything on the cult of dead powers.”
• Walking into the Lady’s shadow (idiom) — To willingly or knowingly go to your death. Suicide.
• Waltzing with a whistler (idiom) — To flirt with death.
• Waster (noun) — A person, thing, or event that is boring, or wastes time. As in, “Usually I enjoy Ambar’s concerts, but that one was a real waster.”
• Wasteward (noun) — A term used on the Outlands in a manner similar to cardinal directions on the Prime. Towards the Gray Waste but not necessarily pointing directly towards the plane. Example: “Bedlam’s wasteward of aXos.”
• Watch the Spire (exclamation) — Goodbye: “Watch the Spire, blood.”
• Well-lanned (adjective) — Connected, in-touch, or otherwise blessed with numerous friends, allies, and informants. Canon
• Wet Cage (noun) — The City of Glass on the elemental plane of Water.
• When the Lady speaks (idiom) — Simply put, this means “never”. If a person is very dedicated to his job, you might say, “He’ll retire when the Lady speaks.”
• Where’s the War? (idiom) — What’s the hurry? What’s happening?
• Whipstitch (verb) — Murdering someone to keep them quiet. Based on of the slang, “stitch”, it’s given the connotation that whoever killed the victim was desperate but not too crafty, else the body wouldn’t have been found. “It must’ve gotten out that he was playing mimir to the Hardheads, cuz he was found whipstitched last night.”
• Whispers (noun) — Dark chant, normally uttered in hushed tones. “To stare at the whispers” means to eavesdrop.
• Whistler (noun) — A general term used to refer to one of the fiendish races of the Lower Planes.
• Whistles (noun) — The Lower Planes. Cager Rhyming Slang: Whistles and Bells = Hells.
• Wigwag (verb) — To chat or talk.
• Winded (adjective) — Derogatory term referring to the state of mind of one remaining too long in Pandemonium. Can loosely be used to mean crazy.
• Wonky (adjective) — To be perverse to the point of insanity as in “She’s got a bloodlust for gehreleths, for real? That’s not just barmy, that’s wonky!”.
• Word-monger (noun) — A basher especially prone to uttering screed, a tedious preacher or espouser or old-fashioned views.
• Worms (noun) — Brains, smarts, intelligence. To say someone’s got worms is to imply they’re quite clever. “That blood’s got more worms in his brain-box than the Mount has haloes!”
• Wyrm’s mile, the (idiom) — The walk of the condemned to the place of his execution.

XYZ

• Xaositects (noun) — A former faction in Sigil, now a part of the Hands of Havoc.
• Yark (noun, verb) — Yark can mean someone who howls a lot of screed and believes it. Noun. “That bloody yark is full of slaad stories”. Verb. The things a yark says, “That chant is nothing but yark”.
• Zip (verb) — Leave that for later. As in, “Zip the locked chest and help me stop this bleeding,” or “Zip the sodding orcs. We need to nick that mage.” Also can be used like “bar that” when Hardheads come knocking. “Zip it berk. You want to get us all scragged.”

Sources: Jon Winter-Holt and many, many contributors… Alex Roberts, Phil Smith, Roland Swingler, Center of All, Ruin deKaye, Alec Fleschner, John, Ryan Carlyle, Pierre Dubois, Autumn Skye Port, Ian Watson, David “Draegarius” Alexander, Brannon Hollingsworth, Tom Bubul, Emannuel Reichert, John Kastronis, Juan Pablo Zariquiey, Joshua Jarvis, Leonid Zamdborg, Daniel Clarke, Sean Miner, Karl Anders Rostrup, Jason Lewis, Vivre Draco, Jason Lewis, Burke Drew, David Joslyn, Kylo Cedarsmoke, Lionspaw, Wraith, Karen Anderson, Pol Jackson, Obsidian, Monica Bower, Sean Curtin, Seth, Ando, Kristjan Wegert, Moorcoff, Bal the Bleaknik , Aaron Infante-Levy, Bart van Riet, Belarius, David Joslyn, ‘Los, Vladimir P. Filipovic, Wes Schneider, Cognitive Dissidents13, Nicky Noordzij, Matt Maybray, Heiner de Wendt, Toshi, Paradox, Willaim D, Chris Crowe, DerekBW, John T. Wright, Jim Gonidakis, Chris Nichols, Klat’Chak, Troy Thompson, Puck, Christopher Record, Ken Lipka, Mike, Rule of Three’s, Quinn, Dan Dobbins, Jarkman, Jim Butler, The Groke, Katclaw, Scott Kelley, Greg Jensen, Darkstar, Jestin Lightner, Dustin Dean, Schonne, Jeff Meyer, Jeremy Owen, Bob bob bob, Paul Wolfe, Ehren, Sebastian Cerutti, C. Walsh, Richard Gant, Arne Fivelstad, Raishe, Jeremiah Golden, Nick Ring, Mat Maybray, Destrain, Gristan, Barry Burch, John Hanson, Jangriman, Eschlon, Rister, Lurxst, Chris Ojeda, Yakomo, Brace Cormaerlis, Howard, Winter Deathman, Joel Gilbert, Beleg, Joe Sullivan, Imberline Kher’khirai, Mike King, Belarius, Brian Corvello, Chimerasame, Captain Howdy, Geann’a’lisch, Will the Red-Eyed. The cant dictionary was getting unwieldy, so I’ve been through and pruned it to remove terms that were too obscure, out-dated or didn’t pass the vibe check. Thanks to Rayn Alberty for prompting that exercise. I’ve also added filters so you can restrict the list to just the ‘official’ cant if you prefer. Thanks also to Kevin Holbeche for the suggestion to add grammatical labels for words too.