"slant" and "stiff"

[George Thompson]

In this little tidbit, the editor of the Frontier Journal, of Weston, Maine, explains why he will issue no paper next week; the editor of the Globe wishes him well.

        Just by way of "slant," we have treated ourselves to a pair of bran-new breeches, the first new ones for a year, a pair of cow-hide boots, a pair of leather mittens, and we intend taking a stiff in them during the holidays.
        New York Daily Globe, January 19, 1849, p. 2, col. 4

I have only vols. 1 & 2 of DARE, so I don't know whetehr there are likely senses of these words there.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

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