lust

(See also PROMISCUOUSNESS.)

cast a sheep’s eye To look at amorously, longingly, covetously, or lustfully; to look at with bedroom eyes; to flirt. This expression alludes to the large, innocent, friendly eyes of a sheep.

dance the antic hay SeeREVELRY.

get one’s ashes hauled To have sexual intercourse; to be sexually gratified; to experience sexual release. This expression appears in many blues lyrics, and may be of Black origin. In the Black community the term is used for both males and females; Whites relate ashes with semen and thus limit the expression’s application to the male. No explanation of the term is entirely satisfactory. Blues lyrics also contain similar phrases with the same sexual implications: empty my trash and my garbage can is overflowing, giving rise to the ashes/semen equation. However, the many references to the use of ashes in casting voodoo spells has led to the conjecture that getting one’s ashes hauled may originally have meant escaping the hex that had been put on one’s sex life. Increasing cross-cultural interaction among Blacks and Whites has made the expression more familiar; and an increasing openness in speaking about sex in general has made the term, though not quite parlor talk, something less than taboo.

horny Sexually aroused; lustful; craving carnal pleasures. This American saying, derived from horn ‘erect penis,’ was formerly used only in reference to male libido.

In contemporary usage, however, horny is extended to include female lasciviousness or desire.

hot to trot Sexually aroused, horny; lustful, lascivious. This currently popular slang expression was apparently coined by adding to the conventional hot ‘desirous, eager’ the rhyming trot as a pun on the slang meaning of ride ‘to have sexual intercourse.’

proud below the navel Amorous; sexually excited. This uncommon expression is derived from the conspicuous manifestation of sexual arousal in males.

roll in the hay To make love, to go to bed, to have sex; hence the noun a roll in the hay ’love-making.’ This colloquial expression perhaps stems from bygone days when lovers often used hay for a bed.