"A Dictionary of Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words" by John Camden Hotten is a dictionary published in 1859. This groundbreaking lexicon captures the vivid street language of Victorian London, from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge to the dens of St. Giles. Hotten documents criminal slang, back slang, and rhyming slang, arguing that slang represents "that evanescent, vulgar language, ever changing with fashion and taste." The work stands as the most important study of informal language since Francis Grose's 1785 dictionary.