General
occabot
What does occabot mean?
Tobacco. From 'tobacco' reversed and reshaped to 'occabot', a back-slang term for the leaf, whether for a pipe, a roll-up, or stock to be sold or bartered.
"Got any occabot to spare? My pouch is empty and the day's long."
Origin
Cockney costermonger back-slang of the 1840s ('tobacco' reversed and adapted), among the everyday goods-terms recorded in the Mayhew (1851) and Hotten (1859) surveys of London street language.
Frequently asked questions
What does occabot mean?
It means tobacco — 'tobacco' reversed and softened in Cockney back-slang.
Why isn't it a neat reversal?
A strict reversal of 'tobacco' is clumsy to say, so back-slang reshaped it into 'occabot', a sayable form, as it often did with longer words.
Where did occabot come from?
From 1840s London costermonger back-slang, the coded trade language documented by Mayhew and Hotten.
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