johnny

(jon’i), n.; pl. johnnies (-iz). [« Jolm- ny, a familiar dim. of John, a man’s name: see John.) 1. [eap.] A diminutive of the name John. Tt was applied as a nickname by the Federal soldiers to the Confederates during the war of the rebellion. There was pretty hot fighting in among those bushes for a while, and then the Johnnies began to fall back. It was just then that we were sent in. The Century, XXXVI. 460, 2. In ichth., a eottoid fish, Oligocottus maculosus, with a naked skin, slender head narrowed above, and pointed snout. It is a small species, very abundant along the western coast of the United States.—38. Among sailors, a kind of penguin, Pygoscelis teniata.—4, The fish Etheostoma nigrum, a kind of darter. [Local, U.S. johnny-cake (jon’i-kak),. 1. In the southern United States, a cake of Indian meal mixed with water or milk, seasoned with salt, and baked or toasted by being spread on a board set on edge before a fire. It is of negro origin. To make a faultle johnny-eake, you must be black, you must be fat, you must be a pampered slave and a doting despot; and even so your secret shall be buried with you. You can never teach the world how to make a johnny-cake, because you never learned; you were born so. J. W. Palmer, After his Kind, p. 198. 2. In other parts of the United States, any unsweetened flat cake of Indian meal, sometimes mixed with mashed pumpkin (especially in New England), and usually baked in a pan: incorrectly used at times for corn-bread, pone, ete. Some talk of hoe-cake, fair Virginia’s pride; Rich johnny-cake this mouth has often tried. Both please me well, their virtues much the same, Alike their fabric, as allied their fame; Except in dear New England, where the last Receives a dash of pumpkin in the paste. Joel Barlow, Hasty Pudding.