Here are some I have accumulated. --Long List --
A hog-killin' time - a real good time
A lick and a promise - to do haphazardly
Absquatulate - to take leave, to disappear
According to Hoyle - Correct, by the book
Ace in the hole - a hideout, a hidden gun
Ace-high - first class, respected
Acknowledge the Corn - to admit the truth, to confess a lie, or acknowledge an obvious personal shortcoming
Acorn Calf - a weak runty calf
Air in Lungs - cussin'
All down but nine - missed the point, not understood
All Hands & the Cook - phrase used when there is danger & every man is needed
All Horns and Rattles - fit of temper
Among the willows - dodging the law
Apple - saddle horn
Arbuckle's - slang for coffee, taken from a popular brand of the time
Arkansas toothpick - a large knife
At sea - at a loss, not comprehending
Auger - the big boss
Axle grease – butter
Back down - yield, retract
Bad Egg - bad person, good for nothing
Bad medicine - bad news
Bait – food
Bake - to overheat a horse
Balderdash - nonsense
Baldface Dishes - china dishes
Balled up - confused
Band Wagon - peddlers wagon
Bangtail - a mustang
Bang-up - first rate
Banjo - miners term for a short-handled shovel
Bar Dog - a bartender
Barefoot - an unshod horse
Bark - to scalp
Bark Juice, Red Eye, O Be Joyful - liquor
Barking at a Knot - trying the impossible
Base Burner - a drink of whiskey
Bay - a horse of light red color
Bazoo - mouth
Bean Master - a camp cook
Bear sign - donuts
Beat the devil around the stump - to evade responsibility or a difficult task
Beat the Dutch - if that don't beat all
Bed Him Down - to kill a man
Bed Ground - where cattle are held at night
Beef - to kill
Beef Head – Texan
Beef Tea - shallow water where cows have stood
Been Through the Mill - been through a lot, seen it all
Belly Cheater - a cook
Belly Robber - a cook
Belly Through the Brush - dodge the law
Belly Wash - weak coffee
Bending at the Elbow - drinking whiskey
Bellyache - complain
Bend an elbow - have a drink
Bender – drunken spree
Best bib and tucker - your best clothes
Between hay and grass - neither man nor boy, half-grown
Bible - cigarette papers
Big bug - important person, official, boss
Big Jump - death
Big Pasture - the penitentiary
Big sugar - ranch owner
Bilk - cheat
Bill Show - Wild West show
Biscuit - saddle horn
Biscuit Shooter - a cook or waitress
Biscuit Roller - a cook
Bite the Ground - to be killed
Bivouac - to camp without formal shelter or in temporary circumstances
Black Snake - a long whip
Black Spot - shade
Black Water – coffee
Black-Eyed Susan - a cowboy's six-gun
Blind as a snubbing post – undiscerning
Blow - boast, brag
Blowhard - braggart, bully
Blow-up - fit of anger
Blue Belly - a Yankee
Blue Lightnin' - a six-gun
Blue Mass - refers to men on sick call; named after blue pill
Blue Whistler – bullet
Bluff - trick or deceive
Boggy Top - a pie with no top crust
Boil Over - a horse that starts bucking
Bone orchard - cemetery
Boogered Up - crippled
Boo-Hag – witch
Bosh - Nonsense
Boss - the best, top
Boston Dollar - a penny
Bragg's Body Guard - lice
Brain Tablet - a cigarette
Bread Bag - haversack
Bread Basket - stomach
Breaking the medicine - overcoming enemy's efforts to harm you
Broken Wind - a lung infection in horses
Brown Gargle - coffee
Bucket of Blood - a tough saloon
Buffaloed - confused
Buffer - traders name for buffalo
Bug juice - whiskey
Bull Nurse - a cowboy
Bulldoze - to bully, threaten, coerce
Bully - Exceptionally good, outstanding
Bully for you - good for you
Bumblebee Whiskey - whiskey with a sting
Bummer – malingerer, someone who deliberately lags behind to forage or steal on his own shrift
Bummer's Cap - regulation army cap with a high/deep crown, so-called because it could be filled with gathered foodstuffs
Bunko artist - con man
Burg - town
Burn the Breeze - ride at full speed
Burro Milk - nonsense
Buscadero - a gunman
Bust Head / Pop Skull - cheap whiskey
By hook or crook - to do any way possible
Caboodle - the whole thing
Cahoots - partnership
Calaboose - jail
Calf slobbers - meringue
California Collar - a hangman's noose
California Prayer Book - a deck of cards
California widow - woman separated from her husband, but not divorced
Callin' - courtin'
Camp canard - tall tale circulating around camp as gossip
Can Openers - spurs
Cash in - to die
Cashier - to dismiss from the army dishonorably
Cat Wagon - wagon carrying women of less than honorable intentions
Catalog Woman - mail order bride
Catgut - a rope
Chew Gravel - thrown from a horse
Chicken Guts - gold braid used to denote officer ranks
Chief Cook and Bottle Washer - person in charge, or someone who can do anything
Chisel, chiseler - to cheat or swindle, a cheater
Choke Strap - a necktie
Chuck - food
Chuck Wagon Chicken - bacon
Clean his Plow - beat up in a fight
Clean his/your plow - to get or give a thorough whippin'
Coffee boiler - shirker, lazy person
Cold Meat Wagon - a hearse
Come a cropper - come to ruin, fail, or fall heavily
Company Q - fictitious unit designation for the sick list
Conniption Fit - hysterics, temper tantrum
Consumption - pulminary tuberculosis
Contraband - escaped slaves who sought refuge behind Union lines
Cookie - camp cook
Copper a bet - betting to lose, or prepare against loss
Copperhead - Northern person with anti-Union sympathies
Corral Dust - Lies and tall tales
Cottonwood Blossom - a man lynched from the limb of a tree
Cow Salve - butter
Cowboy Cocktail - straight whiskey
Cracker Line - supply line for troops on the move
Crawl his Hump - to start a fight
Croaker - pessimist, doomsayer
Crowbait - a poor-quality horse
Crumb Castle - chuck wagon
Crumb Incubator - a cowboy's bed
Curly wolf - real tough guy, dangerous man
Curry the Kinks Out - break a horse
Cut a Rusty - to go a courtin'
Cut a swell - present a fine figure
Cut his Suspenders - a departed cowboy
Deadbeat - bum, layabout, useless person
Desecrated Vegetables - Union, dehydrated (desiccated) vegetables formed into yellowish squares
Desert Canary - a burro
Dice House - bunkhouse
Dicker - barter, trade
Didn't Have a Tail Feather Left - broke
Difficulty - euphamism for trouble, often the shootin' or otherwise violent kind
Diggers - spurs
Dinero - money
Directly - soon
Ditty - a-whicha-ma-call-it
Dive - bunkhouse
Dog Collar - cravat issued with uniforms, usually discarded
Dog Robber - soldier detailed from the ranks to act as cook
Don't care a continental - Don't give a damn
Dough-Belly - cook
Doughgods - biscuits
Down on - opposed to
Down to the Blanket - almost broke
Doxology works - a church
Dragged out - fatigued, worn out
Dragging her rope - woman trying to catch a husband
Dreadful - very
Dream Book - cigarette papers
Dream Sack - sleeping bag
Dry gulch - to ambush Reference from abandoning a body where it fell
Dude - an Easterner or anyone in up-scale town clothes, rather than plain range-riding or work clothes
Duds - clothing
Dusted - thrown from a horse
Eatin' Irons - knives, forks, spoons
Embalmed Beef - canned meat
Equalizer - a pistol
Essence of Coffee - early instant coffee, found in paste form
Eucher, euchered - to out-smart someone, to be outwitted or suckered into something
Excuse me ma'am - a bump in the road
Fan Tail - wild horse
Fandango - a big party with lots of dancing and excitement
Feather-headed - light-headed
Fetch - bring, give
Fiddle - a horses head
Fight like Kilkenny cats - fight like hell
Fill a Blanket - roll a cigarette
Fine as cream gravy - very good, top notch
Fish - a cowboy's rain slicker, from a rain gear manufacturer whose trademark was a fish logo
Fit as a fiddle - in good shape
Fit to be tied - angry
Flannel mouth - an overly smooth or fancy talker, especially politicians or salesmen
Flea Trap - bedroll
Fluff-Duff - anything fancy
Flush - prosperous, rich
Forage - to hunt for food, live off the land; also came to mean plundering enemy property for sustenance
Fork over - pay out
Forty Dead Men - a full cartridge box, which usually held forty rounds
Four-flusher - a cheat, swindler, liar
French Leave - to go absent without leave
Fresh Fish - new recruits
Full as a tick - very drunk
Fuss - disturbance
Gambler's Ghost - a white mule
Game - to have courage, guts, gumption
Gelding Smacker - a saddle
Get a wiggle on - hurry
Get it in the neck - get cheated, misled, bamboozled
Get my/your back up - to get angry
Get the mitten - to be rejected by a lover
Getting Long in the Tooth - getting old
Give in - yield
Go Boil Your Shirt - take a hike, get lost, bug off
Go through the mill - gain experience
Gone up the flume - same as goner
Goner - lost, dead
Goobers - peanuts
Gospel mill - a church
Gospel sharp - a preacher
Got the bulge - have the advantage
Grab a Root - eat a meal, especially a potato
Grand - excellent, beautiful
Granger - a farmer
Grass widow - divorcee
Greenbacks - money
Grey Backs - lice, term for Confederate soldiers
Grit - courage, toughness
Grubworm - cook
Hair in the Butter - a delicate situation
Half seas over - drunk
Hang around - loiter
Hang fire - delay
Hanker - a strong wish or want
Hard case - worthless person, bad man
Hard Knocks - hard times, ill use
Hardtack - unleavened bread in the form of quarter inch thick crackers issued by the army
Haversack - canvas bag about one foot square, which was slung over the shoulder
Heap - a lot, many, a great deal
Heeled - to be armed with a gun
High-falutin - highbrow, fancy
Hobble your lip - shut up
Hog leg - Colt SAA
Hold a candle to - measure up, compare to
Hoosegow - jail
Horse Sense - common sense, good judgement
Hospital Rat - someone who fakes illness to get out of duty
Hot as a whorehouse on nickel night - damned hot
Hot Rock - a biscuit
Housewife - sewing kit
Huffy, In a Huff - angry, irritated
Humbug - nonsense, a sham, a hoax
Hunkey Dorey - very good, all is well
In apple pie order - in top shape
Jailbird - criminal
Jawing - talking
Jig is up - scheme/game is over, exposed
John Barleycorn - beer
Jonah - someone who is or brings bad luck
Kick up a row - create a disturbance
Knock galley west - beat senseless
Knock into a Cocked Hat - to knock someone senseless or thoroughly shock him
Lead Plumb - a bullet
Let Drive - go ahead do it
Let 'er Rip - let it happen, bring it on
Let slide/ let drive/ let fly - go ahead, let go
Light (or lighting) a shuck - to get the hell out of here in a hurry
Light Out - leave in haste
Like a thoroughbred - like a gentleman
Likely - serviceable, able-bodied
Lincoln Skins - greenbacks
Lizzy - a saddle horn
Long Sweetening - molasses
Look See - investigate
Lookin' for a dog to kick - expression of disgust
Lookin'at the mule's tail - plowing
Lucifers - matches
Lunger - someone with tuberculosis
Lynching Bee - a hanging
Mail-Order Cowboy - a tenderfoot
Make a mash - make a hit, impress someone
Mexican Strawberries - dried beans
Monkey Ward Cowboy - a tenderfoot
Mudsill - low-life, thoroughly disreputable person
Muggins - a scoundrel
Mule – meat of dubious quality
Mule's Breakfast - a straw bed
Mustered Out – wry term meaning killed in action
Nailed to the counter - proven a lie
Namby-pamby - sickly, sentimental, saccharin
Neck Oil - Whiskey
No Account - worthless
Not By a Jug Full - not by any means, no way
Odd stick - eccentric person
Of the first water - first class
Offish - distant, reserved, aloof
Oh-be-joyful - Liquor, beer, intoxicating spirits
On His Own Hook - on one's own shrift, without orders
On the shoot - looking for trouble
Open the Ball - starting the battle
Opine - be of the opinion
Paintin' his Nose - getting drunk
Pair of Overalls - two drinks of whiskey
Pass the buck - evade responsibility
Pay through the nose - to over-pay, or pay consequences
Peacemaker - Colt SAA
Peacock About - strut around
Peaked - pronounced peak-ed; weak or sickly
Peter out - dwindle away
Picket - sentries posted around a camp or bivouac to guard approaches
Pie Eater - country boy, a rustic
Pig Sticker - knife or bayonet
Play a Lone Hand - do something alone
Play Old Soldier - pretend sickness to avoid combat
Play to the gallery - to show off
Played out – worn out, exhausted
Plunder - personal belongings
Pony up - hurry up
Pop Skull - whiskey
Porch Percher - a town loafer
Pot Rustler - cook
Powerful - very
Prairie Dew - whiskey
Prairie Tenor - coyote
Promiscuous - reckless, careless
Proud - glad
Puddin' Foot - an awkward horse
Pull in your horns - back off, quit looking for trouble
Pumpkin Rinds - gold lieutenant's bars
Put a spoke in the wheel - to foul up or sabotage something
Put on the Nose Bag - to eat
Quartermaster Hunter - shot or shell that goes long over the lines and into the rear
Quick Step, Flux - diarrhea
Quirley – roll your own cigarette
Rich - amusing, funny, improbable
Ride shank's mare - to walk or be set afoot
Ride the river – tough, respected person
Right as a trivet - right as rain, sound as a nut, stable
Rip - reprobate
Robber's Row - the place where sutlers set up to do business
Roostered - drunk
Round Browns - cow chips
Row - a fight
Sachet Kitten – skunk
Saddle Bum - a drifter
Sage Hen - a woman
Salt Horse - salted meat
Salt, salty – tough, gutsy
Sardine Box - cap box
Savvy - knowledge or understanding
Sawbones - surgeon
Scarce as Hen's Teeth - exceedingly rare or hard to find
Scoop in - trick, entice, inveigle
Scuttlebutt - rumors
Secesh - term for Confederates and Southerners: secessionists
See The Elephant - experience combat or other worldly events
Shakes - malaria
Shanks Mare - on foot
Shave tail - a green, inexperienced person
Sheet Iron Crackers - hard tack
Shin out - run away
Shindy - uproar, confusion
Shoddy – poor quality, an inferior weave of wool used to make uniforms early in the war
Shoot one's mouth off - talk nonsense, untruth
Shoot, Luke, or give up the gun - poop or get off the pot, do it or quit talking about it
Shove the queer - to pass counterfeit money
Simon pure - the real thing, a genuine fact
Sing Out - call out, yell
Singin' to Em' - standing night guard
Skedaddle - run like hell
Slouch Hat - a wide-brimmed felt hat
Smoke Wagon - a six-gun
Snuffy - a wild or spirited horse
Snug as a Bug - very comfortable
Soaked - drunk
Soft solder - flattery
Somebody's Darling - comment when observing a dead soldier
Someone to ride the river with - a person to be counted on; reliable; got it where it counts
Sound on the goose - true, staunch, reliable
Sparking - courting a girl
Spondulix - money
Squeezing the Biscuit - holding the saddle horn
Stand the gaff - take punishment in good spirit
Stop - stay
Stretching the blanket - telling a tall tale
Stringing a Whizzer - telling a tall tale
Stumped - confused
Sunday Soldiers / Parlor Soldiers - terms for unsuitable soldiers
Superintend - oversee, supervise
Swamp Seed - rice
Take an Image - have a photograph taken
Take French leave - to desert, sneak off without permission
Take on - grieve
Take the rag off - surpass, beat all
Talking Iron - a six-shooter
Tear Squeezer - a sad story
Techy as a Teased Snake - grumpy
Texas Cakewalk - a hanging
The Old States - back East
The whole kit and caboodle - the entire thing
Throw up the sponge - quit, give up, surrender
Tie to - rely on
Tight - drunk
To beat the Dutch - to beat the band
Too Much Mustard - a braggart
To the manner born - a natural
Toe the Mark - do as told, follow orders
Top Rail - first class, top quality
Traps - equipment, belongings
Tuckered Out - exhausted
Twig - understand
Uncorkin' a Bronc - breaking a horse
Unshucked - draw a gun
Up the spout - gone to waste/ruin
Uppity - arrogant
Valley Tan - Morman whiskey
Vidette - a sentry same as Picket but usually on horseback
Wake up/Woke up the wrong passenger - to trouble or anger the wrong person
Wallpapered - drunk
War Bonnet - a hat
Wasp Nest - light bread
Whipped - beaten
Whistle Berries - beans
Who hit John - Liquor, beer, intoxicating spirits
Wind / wound up – settle(d)
Wrathy - angry
Zu Zu - Zouaves, soldiers whose units wore colorful uniforms in a flamboyant French style with baggy trousers, known for bravery and valor