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.

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