Someone was coming inch by inch towards the bed: someone who knew the disposition of the furniture so exactly he made no blunder. He heard a sudden scuffle as the Bow Street Runner engaged the stealthy figure.

“The glim! Light the glim!” he panted.

John lit the candle and tried to come to the Runner’s aid. After a seeming eon, they subdued none other than the landlord of the inn.

“Bide, and watch him!” commanded the Runner. “He’d’ve laid you open with his Tilley like he done the rest! Take my barker, and don’t stand no gammon! Hit him over the head with the butt, if he don't stay still. I don't want him shot: he's one for the Nubbing Cheat, he is!”

Georgia Heyer, “The Night at the Inn”

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Tilley (TILL ee), obs. n.: 18th century thieves’ cant for a long, wicked knife, or, (v.) to stealthily attack with one. Obs. (v): slang, to do well on an exam, to “murder” it: —How did you do on the maths final? —I Tilleyed it! later contracted to “Tilled.” Dwindled to obscurity due to similarity to the phrase “I killed it” and the more sensationalist “I murdered it.”