stab yourself and pass the dagger

stab yourself and pass the dagger

1. (slang) Help yourself to the alcoholic drink and then pass the bottle.
   • 1889, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Salt-cellars, page 275:

     This is what is done by strong drink; in fact, some drinkers, when they have wished the bottle passed, have cried, “Stab yourself, and pass the dagger!”

   • 1958, Robertson Davies, A Mixture of Frailties, page 217:

     “Here,” he said, passing it to her, “stab yourself and pass the dagger.” Monica had had only one glass of champagne at the party, and Revelstoke, who never drank much, had taken little more.

   • 1976, Forbes Bramble, The Strange Case of Deacon Brodie, page 96:

     'Stab yourself and pass the dagger!'
     In response to this dramatic cant, Smith poured himself a drink and passed the bottle.

• John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary