Can You Solve This Old-Timey Riddle? #19

In 1796, A Choice Collection of Riddles, Charades Rebusses was published in London by an author known only by the pseudonym “Peter Puzzlewell.” It was the third such collection within just five years, proving just how popular such puzzles were at the time.

The puzzles in this third volume were mainly those known as “charades”—punning, word-playing breakdowns of words into their individual syllables, alongside a hint at the meaning of the answer word as a whole. Some of the ones in this collection were quintessentially 18th-century puzzles (with answers like a “post coach,” spruce beer,” and “a pair of snuffers”), while others were quintessentially English. The puzzle below probably falls in the latter of those two categories, though you’ll have doubtless heard the word being hinted at here. Can you solve it?

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