Boodle is a slang term for money derived from the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

word 'boedel' meaning property or estate.

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

inherited the word and its meaning from the Dutch, which probably accounts for its widespread use for money amongst English-speaking South Africans. In a different context, "boodle jails" were jails in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, predominantly during the nineteenth century, in which a

tramp A tramp is a long-term homeless person who travels from place to place as a vagrant, traditionally walking all year round. Etymology Tramp is derived from a Middle English verb meaning to "walk with heavy footsteps" (''cf.'' modern English ''t ...

hobo A hobo is a migrant worker in the United States. Hoboes, tramps and bums are generally regarded as related, but distinct: a hobo travels and is willing to work; a tramp travels, but avoids work if possible; and a bum neither travels nor works. E ...

could make an illicit arrangement with a law enforcement officer to stay in the jail without being an actual prisoner. For example, between 1893 and 1899, the Welsh tramp-poet

W. H. Davies William Henry Davies (3 July 1871 – 26 September 1940) was a Welsh poet and writer, who spent much of his life as a tramp or hobo in the United Kingdom and the United States, yet became one of the most popular poets of his time. His themes inc ...

took advantage of this in order to pass the winter in

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, staying in a series of different jails. Here, with his fellow tramps, Davies would enjoy the relative comfort of "card-playing, singing, smoking, reading, relating experiences and occasionally taking exercise or going out for a walk."Hockey, L. (1971), ''W. H. Davies'',

University of Wales Press The University of Wales Press ( cy, Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru) was founded in 1922 as a central service of the University of Wales. The press publishes academic journals and around seventy books a year in the English and Welsh languages on six general ...

(on behalf of the

Welsh Arts Council The Arts Council of Wales (ACW; cy, Cyngor Celfyddydau Cymru) is a Welsh Government-sponsored body, responsible for funding and developing the arts in Wales. Established within the Arts Council of Great Britain in 1946, as the Welsh Arts C ...

), p.16

References

{{wiktionary, boodle Property