New Slang at alphaDictionary®
New Words Added to the Dictionary
The Latest Words • August 2009
AlphaDictionary is constantly adding to its Historical Dictionary of American Slang. We now have over 2500 carefully selected, carefully researched words from English slang going back to 16th century England, slang brought to the America by our ancestors. Our Historical Dictionary of American Slang will tell you the meaning of a slang word, its grammatical category, give an example and the approximate decade in which it was introduced. You can search for a word, a meaning (look at all the ways we have said "leave" over the centuries), or a decade. Just type in the decade you are interested in (e.g. 1950) and the dictionary will tell you all the slang terms introduced during the 50s! You can also test your slang to see which decade it places you in with our Slinging Slang quiz.
AlphaDictionary is constantly adding to its Historical Dictionary of American Slang. We now have over 2500 carefully selected, carefully researched words from English slang going back to 16th century England, slang brought to the America by our ancestors. Our Historical Dictionary of American Slang will tell you the meaning of a slang word, its grammatical category, give an example and the approximate decade in which it was introduced. You can search for a word, a meaning (look at all the ways we have said "leave" over the centuries), or a decade. Just type in the decade you are interested in (e.g. 1950) and the dictionary will tell you all the slang terms introduced during the 50s! You can also test your slang to see which decade it places you in with our Slinging Slang quiz.
| Word | PoS | Definition | Example | Year |
| also-ran | n | A horse that loses races or an unsuccessful human competitor. | Dealer's Choice is another also-ran who never won a race. | 1890 |
| belt | v | To hit hard. | Say that again and I'll belt you one in the kisser! | 1830 |
| belt | v | To sing out loudly. | No one could belt 'God Bless America' like Kate Smith. | 1950 |
| belt | n | A drink of hard liquor. | After a day like today, I need a belt before going to bed. | 1930 |
| bigwig | n | An important person. | Imogene Ettasis is a bigwig in the human genome project. | 1700 |
| blackball | v | To exclude from contact; to ostracize. | They blackballed Harry Krashner from the Heaven's Devils motorcycle gang when someone saw him riding a ten-speed. | 1770 |
| blowback | n | Negative reaction to something said or done. | I got very little blowback from suggesting we skip bonuses this year if the company goes into bankruptcy. | 1960 |
| boob tube | n | Television, TV. | Ronald, if you can pull yourself away from the boob tube for a minute, clean up your room. | 1960 |
| boot | n | Dismissal, firing. | I heard Lester got the boot and is looking for a new job. | |
| bop | v | To hit. | Frannie bopped me on the head, mommy! | 1930 |
| catch | n | A hidden condition on an offer. | You'll sell me your car for $200? What is the catch? | 1850 |
| catch on | v | To understand a tricky concept. | Sam calls the ranch he gave his sons the 'Focus' Ranch because it is where the son's raise meat. Catch on? | 1880 |
| catch on | v | To be picked up by a lot of people. | My record was played on several radio station but it didn't catch on. | 1880 |
| digs | n | Home or apartment. | Let's go over to my digs and have a nightcap. | 1890 |
| dragnet | n | A widespread search. | The police put out a dragnet for the guy who beat you up. | 1900 |
| fork out | v | Give, hand over. | I have three daughters; do you know how much I will have to fork out for their weddings? | 1830 |
| fork over | v | Give, hand over. | Ok, fork over that twenty bucks you owe me before I lose my cool! | 1830 |
| get lost | int | To leave, go away. | Stop bothering me! Get lost! | 1940 |
| ghost | adj | Gone, disappeared. | As soon as Guido got his money, he was ghost. | 2000 |
| guff | n | Bluster, threats. | Do what you want to do; don't take any guff from Frankie. | 1880 |
| gunsel | n | A stupid thug or bodyguard who carries a gun. | You never see Robin Banks without a couple of gunsels with him. | 1940 |
| has-been | n | Someone whose career has ended. | Wiley Slider is a has-been who'll never play baseball again. | 1780 |
| lean on | v | To apply pressure, threaten. | Fritzy wouldn't pay Tommy Gunn the $100 he owed him, so Tommy brought a couple of his friends to lean on Fritzy a little. | 1950 |
| live wire | n | An exciting, energetic person. | Isn't that Merrill Lynch a live wire? Did you see him wearing that lampshade like a hat at the party? | 1890 |
| meathook | n | A hand. | Get your meathooks off me! | 1910 |
| Mo | n | Momentum, especially in a political campaign, favorable reaction. | Once the mo was flowing in Eugene's favor, the other candidates could not catch up. | 1980 |
| mojo | n | Voodoo magic power, personal power, inner strength. | The president used his mojo to guarantee sunny weather for commencement. | 1920 |
| pipes | n | The voice. | Bertha D. Blues had a gorgeous set of pipes. | 1560 |
| shebang | n | A set of facts or things. | Baldwin sold the store, the stock, the grounds--the whole shebang. | 1860 |
| shell out | v | To pay unwillingly. | I had to shell out $220 for a new water pump on my car. | 1810 |
| shot | n | A swallow or single portion. | Hey, give me a shot of that stuff you're drinking. | 1920 |
| shot | n | A chance, opportunity. | All I want is a fair shot at that job. | 1840 |
| spitball | v | To guess, estmate. | Can you spitball the crowd at the concert last night. | 2000 |
| swing | v | Exchange spouses with another couple for sex. | When they were younger, Millicent and her husband swung with their neighbors. | 1960 |
| swinger | v | Someone who exchanges his or her spouse for someone else's for sex. | Rodney is so uptight he thinks kissing someone else's wife is 'swinging'. | 1960 |
| terminate | v | To kill. | Rat on the mob? Are you crazy? I don't want to be terminated in my youth. | 1950 |
| there | adj | Liking or enjoying something. | Everyone loves Star Trek. I'm so there; I love Spock. | 2000 |
| tube | n | Television, TV. | I spent all day watching the tube yesterday. | 1950 |
| tube | n | The telephone. | I'll give you a ring on the tube when I'm ready. | 1880 |
| wannabe | n | Someone who aspires to be someone else. | Wanda Sue is a TV weather host wannabe. | 1980 |
| watering hole | n | Bar, drinking place | Hector knows all the watering holes in Belford. | 1970 |
| wheel | n | An important person. | Hardy Partier thinks he's a wheel because he's manager of the mailroom. | 1950 |
| wheeler-dealer | A person always involved in ambitious schemes. | Morty Skusting is a wheeler-dealer when it comes to used cars. | 1950 | |
| wuss | n | A sissy, a coward, a chicken. | Morley is such a wuss he won't do anything without first asking his wife. | 1970 |
| yutz | A foolish, disagreeable person. | The yutz threw up on the principal as he took his diploma at graduation. | 1990 | |
| wheel-horse | n | An important, visible, hard-working member of an organization. | Correy Publican was a wheel-horse of the GOP before her arrest. | 1930 |
| wheel | n | A leg. | Letticia was convinced that her wheels were as good as anybody's. | 1920 |
Other Resources You Might Enjoy
- Historical Dictionary of American Slang
You will certainly enjoy exploring the changes in US slang over the centuries in this alphaDictionary feature. - The 100 Funniest Words in English
- The 100 Most Beautiful Words in English
- Rebel-Yankee Test
If you liked the dictionary, you would probably enjoy taking Rebel-Yankee Test as much as the 3 million people who have already taken it. - Miss Spelling's Spelling Center
You will find the solutions to all your spelling woes here, including a host of fun and funny quizlets to check your progress. - Dr. Goodword's Language Blog
Here is where Dr. Goodword shares his ideas about words and language. He welcomes your questions and comments. - Discuss slang with others.
Now you can talk with others about your accent and theirs. You might want to talk about other topics, too, at our Alpha Agora. - So, What's the Good Word
While you are here, check out our daily word-of-the-day feature. We select an interesting word and tell you all about it—how to say it, what it means, where it comes from, and how to use it. You can have it delivered to your email inbox daily, for free!

