square a Cp DAE bender (1846-); OED square a 14 b ~ flipper (1883), DC Nfld (1774-).
Comb square beam: perfect balance of scales when a quantity of dried cod-fish is weighed.
1966 Evening Telegram 20 May, p. 5 The scales were so far even. Would the balance hold? 'Square beam' thought Ned wryly, his mind fastening on a local phrase that the fishermen used when weighing off their salt cod in the merchant's storage shed.
square bender: drinking spree (1925 Dial Notes v, 343).
1924 ENGLAND 31 To-day's de proper day fer de whiskey. Dough I don't go on no t'ree-days' squarebenders [drunks], I belang to de breed to drink everlastin', sir.
square-body: horse-drawn carriage with front and back seat.
T 25-64 There'd be buggies, just a one-seat affair, and the other ones they called them square-bodies. There had to be two seats in the carriage.
square flipper, ~ fipper, ~ phipper, ~ phripper: large migratory seal of northern waters, 'flippers' blunt at the tip; bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus). Also attrib. See FLIPPER.
[1766] 1971 BANKS 145 The Fishermen ... divide them into five sorts which they Call Square Phipper Hooded Seal [etc]. Square Phipper they say is the Largest sometimes weighing 500 weight as they tell you rough like an English Water Dog. [1774] 1792 CARTWRIGHT ii, 38 A squarephripper was caught in a net to-day, but got away as one of the people was clearing him out. 1846 TOCQUE 194 The square fipper, which is perhaps the great seal of Greenland ... is now seldom seen. 1891 PACKARD 444 It is probably the species which is called by the sealers the 'Square Flipper.' It is very rare, and much the largest species known. The young weigh 140-150 pounds, while the adult will weigh 500-600 pounds. [1918-19] GORDON 76 Bobbie Williams of North River has killed a square-fripper seal, which means a chance to get some fat for our dogs and a meal of meat for ourselves. 1924 ENGLAND 103 Perhaps twice in a blue moon a 'square fipper' also heaves in view. T 191-65 The ol' harp skin they'd have most generally for the bottom [of a sealskin boot], but when they get the square fipper bottom. . that's what they'd always wear them times. 1967 Bk of Nfld iii, 328 Other common seals found in Newfoundland and Labrador waters are the Harbour Seal or 'ranger,' the Ringed Seal or 'jar,' the Bearded Seal or 'square flipper,' and the Grey Seal. 1977 Inuit Land Use 173 Square-flipper seals are found primarily along the floe edge from November until May.
