Historical Dictionary of American Slang

A • B • C • D • E • F • G • H •  I  • J • K • L • M • N • O • P • Q • R • S • T • U • V • W • X • Y • Z

855 Results 1800-1930

• blessed
  
  ( adj ) Emphatic adjective. He didn't say a blessed word all night.
  1800s
• break down
  
  ( v ) To stop functioning. My car broke down and I had to walk home.
  1800s
• break down
  
  ( v ) To stop resisting. He broke down after 20 hours of grilling and confessed.
  1800s
• buff
  
  ( n ) Nude, nudity. To come to the door in the buff.
  1800s
• crack
  
  ( adj ) Expert. Jeremy was a crack reporter for the Chronicle for years.
  1800s
• mess
  
  ( n ) Bunch, group, a lot of. A mess of kids hang out at Taco's.
  1800s
• chisel
  
  ( v ) To swindle or cheat Les Cheatham chiseled me out of my lunch money!
  1800s
• The jig is up.
  
  ( phr ) It's all over; we/you are done in. The jig is up! You don't work here any more.
  1800s
• spark
  
  ( v ) Hug and kiss. I saw ma and pa out sparking on the front porch swing.
  1800s
• plunk
  
  ( v ) To strum, to pick a stringed instrument. Billy Joe was plunking away on his banjo when I came in.
  1800s
• wing
  
  ( v ) To wound superficially. The bank robber took a shot but only winged me.
  1800s
• chisler
  
  ( n ) A swindler, a cheat. Les Cheatham is the chisler who sold me this junker.
  1800s
• muttonhead
  
  ( n ) A stupid or foolish person. Muttonhead? If brains were dynamite, he couldn't blow the wax out of his ears.
  1800s
• great gun
  
  ( np ) Important person. Several of the city's great guns were at the party.
  1810s
• hit
  
  ( n ) A successful event. Your proposal was a hit with the boss.
  1810s
• hustle
  
  ( v ) Hurry. If you don't hustle, we will be late again.
  1810s
• rat hole
  
  ( np ) A nasty, dirty place. Mortimer lives in a rat hole.
  1810s
• skin
  
  ( v ) To swindle or cheat. Derwin got skinned in the land development deal.
  1810s
• yokel
  
  ( n ) A clumsy, unsophisticated person from the country. Who was that yokel I saw Leticia White out with last week?
  1810s
• bang-up
  
  ( adj ) Excellent, outstanding. We had a bang-up time at the party last night.
  1810s
• at sea
  
  ( pp ) Confused. I think Margaret is at sea on the math homework.
  1810s
• Drat!
  
  ( int ) Interjection of frustration. Drat! I think I lost my lucky cat's foot!
  1810s
• perky
  
  ( adj ) Lively in a cutesy way. Kay Largo is a perky as a cheerleader.
  1810s
• skin
  
  ( v ) Cheat out of something. Ben Dover got skinned by a con man who sold him some real estate in Utah.
  1810s
• shell out
  
  ( v ) To pay unwillingly. I had to shell out $220 for a new water pump on my car.
  1810s
• bean
  
  ( n ) Coin, a bit of money. Could you pick up the check; I don't have a bean on me.
  1810s
• break up
  
  ( v ) To make laugh; explode in laughter. Everything she says breaks me up.
  1820s
• clodhopper
  
  ( n ) A clumsy, unsophisticated person from the country. There are days when I think we have nothing but clodhoppers in the office.
  1820s
• crack up
  
  ( ap ) Praise, be reputed. Rhoda isn't all she is cracked up to be.
  1820s
• go
  
  ( adj ) A turn, a try. Let me have a go at solving the problem.
  1820s
• juice
  
  ( n ) Liquor or other alcoholic beverage. I hear Harry is on the juice again.
  1820s
• moll
  
  ( n ) A mob doll, mobster's girlfriend. They say she was Capone's moll for a month or two.
  1820s
• scrub
  
  ( v ) Cancel. We decided to scrub the trip when we saw the weather report.
  1820s
• send packing
  
  ( vp ) To fire. He fingered the boss's secretary and they sent him packing.
  1820s
• stuck up
  
  ( adj ) Conceited. She is so stuck-up that she wouldn't be caught dead in a MacDonald's.
  1820s
• clear off
  
  ( v ) To leave. Clear off and don't come back!
  1820s
• wind up
  
  ( v ) Bring to an end. Let's wind up the party and go to bed.
  1820s
• rattletrap
  
  ( n ) Old, broken-down car. Rudy will never make it to the beach in that old rattletrap of his.
  1820s
• rattletrap
  
  ( n ) Old, broken-down car. Rudy will never make it to the beach in that old rattletrap of his.
  1820s
• conk
  
  ( v ) To hit. He threw the brick straight up in the air and when it came down, it conked him on the noggin.
  1820s
• Drats!
  
  ( int ) Interjection of frustration. Drats! I just broke my watchband!
  1820s
• stretch
  
  ( n ) A term, especially in prison. My brudda did a stretch in Attica for kissing an on-duty police officer.
  1820s
• fling
  
  ( n ) A short affair or romance. Phil Anders and Constance Noring had a brief fling that ended on a sour note.
  1820s
• mob
  
  ( n ) An organized criminal syndicate. I heard the mob ordered a hit on Robin Banks.
  1820s
• stupe
  
  ( n ) A stupid or foolish person. Don't tell that stupe anything; he'll spill the beans to anyone who asks.
  1820s
• pony up
  
  ( v ) To pay up your share. Dad finally ponied up $500 so I could get the guitar.
  1820s
• hornswoggle
  
  ( v ) To cheat, deceive. I've been hornswoggled! This isn't an original Picasso!
  1820s
• lickspittle
  
  ( n ) A sycophant, toady. Mugsy is a lickspittle who will do anything the boss asks him.
  1820s
• bark up the wrong tree
  
  ( vp ) Make a mistake, error. If you think I'm going to help you, you're barking up the wrong tree.
  1830s
• big gun
  
  ( np ) An important person. The president brought two big guns to the meeting.
  1830s
• blamed
  
  ( int ) Emphatic adjective. Hey, get your blamed hand off me!
  1830s
• bogus
  
  ( adj ) False, fake. They caught him passing bogus money.
  1830s
• bouncer
  
  ( n ) A bully. That bouncer always tries to get his way.
  1830s
• bug
  
  ( n ) A passion, obsession. Ronald has the baseball bug and doesn't miss a game.
  1830s
• clodhoppers
  
  ( n ) Heavy, coarse work shoes. Malcolm! Get your muddy clodhoppers out of my kitchen!
  1830s
• flat
  
  ( adv ) To the limit. A month after losing his job, he found himself flat broke.
  1830s
• go
  
  ( v ) To say. I go, wasn't that great? And he goes, naw, I've done it all before.
  1830s
• goldarn
  
  ( int ) An interjection of emphasis (euphemism for G. D.). Now just wait a goldarn minute!
  1830s
• goober
  
  ( n ) A peanut. He sat there all night eating boiled goobers.
  1830s
• nipper
  
  ( n ) A pickpocket. Some nipper nabbed my wallet at the market today.
  1830s
• raft
  
  ( n ) A large number. He had a whole raft of chickens in the back yard.
  1830s
• redneck
  
  ( n ) A clumsy, unsophisticated person from the country. Some redneck in a pickup with a gun rack tried to run me off the road.
  1830s
• sap
  
  ( v ) To study. Renfrow saps all night; no wonder he makes such good grades.
  1830s
• sashay
  
  ( v ) To go. Why don't you sashay over to the store and get some bottled water?
  1830s
• shifty
  
  ( adj ) Deceitful, untrustworthy. The guy is too shifty for me; I don't like him.
  1830s
• slick
  
  ( adj ) Excellent, outstanding. Isn't his Vette slick?
  1830s
• smack
  
  ( v ) To hit or slap. She smacked him in the chops when he insulted her.
  1830s
• sucker
  
  ( n ) A person easily conned or deceived. Don't be a sucker; buy your car from someone you know.
  1830s
• tight-laced
  
  ( adj ) Priggish and tense. Oscar was too tight-laced to visit a hoochy-coochy club.
  1830s
• vamoose
  
  ( v ) To leave. Come on, partners. Let's vamoose.
  1830s
• chowderhead
  
  ( n ) A stupid or foolish person. Lorenz is such a chowderhead he calls his friends 'bra' not 'bro'.
  1830s
• plug
  
  ( v ) To shoot someone. The body had been plugged twice.
  1830s
• slew
  
  ( n ) A large number, many. We saw a slew of crappies at the west end of the lake this weekend.
  1830s
• paste
  
  ( v ) To hit. When he called me a 'wuss', I pasted him one on the kisser.
  1830s
• paste
  
  ( v ) To hit. When he called me a 'wuss', I pasted him one on the kisser.
  1830s
• crank
  
  ( n ) Irritable, short-tempered person; an eccentric person. That crank Josephine told me to buzz off when I asked her for a dollar.
  1830s
• drink
  
  ( n ) Large body of water: sea, ocean, lake, river. Gill and Fish were goofing off on the pier and fell in the drink.
  1830s
• skin
  
  ( v ) Cheat by copying on an exam. Marvin skinned the answers on the existentialism exam by looking into the soul of the girl sitting next to him.
  1830s
• belt
  
  ( v ) To hit hard. Say that again and I'll belt you one in the kisser!
  1830s
• fork out
  
  ( v ) Give, hand over. I have three daughters; do you know how much I will have to fork out for their weddings?
  1830s
• fork over
  
  ( v ) Give, hand over. Ok, fork over that twenty bucks you owe me before I lose my cool!
  1830s
• conniption
  
  ( n ) A fit, seizure. Now, Mabeleine, don't have a conniption, but I forgot the laundry.
  1830s
• butterfingers
  
  ( n ) Someone who drops things. You are such a butterfingers; you drop everything you pick up!
  1830s
• card
  
  ( n ) A witty showoff. He's quite a card. Which one? The joker.
  1830s
• ironclad
  
  ( adj ) Air-tight, unimpeachable. Max had an ironclad alibi for his whereabouts on the night in question.
  1830s
• bean
  
  ( n ) The least amount. He doesn't know beans about cars.
  1830s
• brick
  
  ( n ) A good person. Don't say anything bad about Percival; he's a brick if ever there was one.
  1840s
• bug
  
  ( n ) A fanatic. Milton is the greatest baseball bug I've ever known.
  1840s
• bust
  
  ( n ) A failure. The whole idea was a bust.
  1840s
• cook your goose
  
  ( vp ) Get you in trouble. As soon as he opened his mouth, he cooked his own goose.
  1840s
• copper
  
  ( n ) Policeman. Where are the coppers when you need one?
  1840s
• crappy
  
  ( adj ) Bad, of poor quality. That cafe has the crappiest food in town.
  1840s
• gas
  
  ( n ) Empty, boastful talk. Don't listen to Tommy; he's full of gas.
  1840s
• gourd
  
  ( n ) Head. Use your gourd to figure out what is happening.
  1840s
• grubby
  
  ( adj ) Dirty, grimy. Those clothes are too grubby to wear to the party.
  1840s
• hold on
  
  ( v ) Wait a minute. Don't go now; hold on a second.
  1840s
• Hold your horses!
  
  ( np ) Wait a minute. Hold your horses! We have plenty of time.
  1840s
• Joe
  
  ( n ) Form of address to an unknown male. Hey Joe, what's up.
  1840s
• sack
  
  ( v ) To fire. Jake got sacked for smoking in his office.
  1840s
• scrap
  
  ( n ) A fight. He got into a scrap with a motorcycle gang and had his nose bitten off.
  1840s
• sharp
  
  ( n ) An expert. He was taken in by a couple of card sharps who drifted into town.
  1840s
• spud
  
  ( n ) Potato. Do you want rice or spuds for dinner?
  1840s
• squeal
  
  ( v ) To inform or tattle. He squealed on his buddies and got them in trouble.
  1840s
• squirt
  
  ( n ) Petty, immature brat. That little squirt still doesn't know his right hand from his left.
  1840s
• stool pigeon
  
  ( np ) A squealer, tattletale. Jeremiah works for the police as a stool pigeon for years.
  1840s
• sucker
  
  ( v ) To swindle or cheat by deceit. He suckered me into dating his sister.
  1840s
• grub
  
  ( n ) A studious, unsociable person. Well, it is the grubs who end up running the world.
  1840s
• bone (up)
  
  ( v ) To study or work hard. I can't go anywhere tonight; I have to bone (up) for my chemistry test.
  1840s
• mug (up)
  
  ( v ) To study hard. Did you mug up on your physics over the weekend?
  1840s
• hot potato
  
  ( np ) Something potentially exposive, dangerous. The assistant district attorney was given all the hot potatoes that no one else woud touch with a ten-foot pole.
  1840s
• dodge water under the bridge
  
  ( n ) Ruse, deceptive maneuver. He didn't use that old dodge about his old war wound preventing him from mowing the lawn, did he?
  1840s
• bulky
  
  ( n ) A policeman. Keep the noise down or you'll bring the bulkies down on you.
  1840s
• barnburner
  
  ( n ) A person or organization that overreacts, throws the baby out with the bathwater. That Congress was a barnburner that tried to reduce oppressive regulations by removing them all.
  1840s
• barnstorm
  
  ( v ) To make a tour of rural areas. President Clinton was barnstorming for his wife's presidential campaign.
  1840s
• duffer
  
  ( n ) An incompetent person. Les Fairway is just a duffer when it comes to golf.
  1840s
• hang
  
  ( n ) Knack, understanding. Hang! I just can't get the hang of tying my shoes.
  1840s
• hookey
  
  ( n ) Truancy. Maynard played hookey from school today and missed the quiz.
  1840s
• hooky
  
  ( n ) Truancy. Maynard played hooky from school today and missed the quiz.
  1840s
• fishy
  
  ( adj ) Suspicious, There is something fishy about his offer to trade me his Mercedes for my Chevy Malibu.
  1840s
• greaser
  
  ( n ) (Offensive) A dark-haired, olive-skinned person. Who was that greaser I saw you with yesterday?
  1840s
• gasbag
  
  ( n ) A pompous person. That old gasbag never stops tallking.
  1840s
• beans
  
  ( n ) Crap, nonsense. That's just a lot of beans!
  1840s
• ankle-biter
  
  ( n ) A child. Yes, Sam got married, settled down, and now has a playroom full of ankle-biters.
  1850s
• betty
  
  ( n ) A man who does a woman's work. Aw, you don't want to take a betty like him to the fights.
  1850s
• blowhard
  
  ( n ) A talkative braggart. That old blowhard thinks he won the Korean War single-handedly.
  1850s
• boondoggle
  
  ( n ) A gadget, especially something braided from leather. Cowboys often spent their free time making boondoggles for their saddles.
  1850s
• boy
  
  ( int ) Form of address to a male in the South. How are you doing, boy? I haven't seen you in a 'coon's age.
  1850s
• buck
  
  ( n ) A dollar. He only got 50 bucks for that old heap of his.
  1850s
• bull
  
  ( n ) A policeman. Everyone was having fun until the bulls broke it up.
  1850s
• bum
  
  ( adj ) Bad, no good. What a bum trip that project was.
  1850s
• chow
  
  ( n ) Food. The chow in that restaurant is crappola.
  1850s
• clothes horse
  
  ( n ) Someone obsessed with clothing. Maureen is a clothes horse who spends most of her life shopping.
  1850s
• dike
  
  ( n ) A prissy, well-dressed male. He is something of a dike, which puts many of the boys off.
  1850s
• dog-gone
  
  ( adj ) Emphatic adjective. I don't know a dog-gone thing about the girl.
  1850s
• dope
  
  ( n ) A stupid or foolish person. That dope doesn't know if he is coming or going.
  1850s
• dough
  
  ( n ) Money. Horace has a lot of dough, let's ask him to lend us some.
  1850s
• drag
  
  ( n ) A squelcher. Sunny is such a drag I would never invite her to my parties.
  1850s
• dry up
  
  ( v ) To stop talking. Why don't you dry up? Nobody cares what you think.
  1850s
• dyke
  
  ( n ) A prissy, well-dressed male. He is something of a dyke, which puts many of the boys off.
  1850s
• kick-off
  
  ( n ) The beginning. The kick-off of his political campaign is tonight.
  1850s
• Let her rip!
  
  ( vp ) Start it up, release it. OK, put her in gear and let her rip!
  1850s
• mess
  
  ( v ) Bother, annoy. Don't mess with me right now, I'm in a bad mood.
  1850s
• nark
  
  ( n ) An informer, a tattle-tale. I saw the little nark coming out of police headquarters.
  1850s
• nickel
  
  ( n ) A 5-cent piece. Do you have a nickel for the parking meter?
  1850s
• nipper
  
  ( n ) A little boy. He has to stay home and take care of the little nipper today.
  1850s
• ornery
  
  ( adj ) Mean. Arnold had an ornery bull that no one could approach.
  1850s
• play hooky
  
  ( vp ) To miss, to not attend. Are you going to school today or playing hooky?
  1850s
• sawbuck
  
  ( n ) 10-dollar bill. Give me a sawbuck til Friday, Lionel, I'm flat broke.
  1850s
• spiffy
  
  ( adj ) Dressed up. What a spiffy pair of shoes you have on, Roland.
  1850s
• spunk up
  
  ( v ) To stand up to, assert oneself. Don't be afraid of him; spunk up to him.
  1850s
• stink
  
  ( np ) A scandal, uproar. The citizens made a big stink about the new nuclear power station.
  1850s
• suck in
  
  ( v ) To con. Don't let yourself be sucked in by her lies.
  1850s
• tear
  
  ( v ) Move fast. She tore up the street when she heard her boyfriend was there.
  1850s
• skunk
  
  ( v ) To fail to meet an obligation. He skunked the restaurant after complaining about the meal.
  1850s
• townie
  
  ( n ) Permanent resident of a college town. Some townies threw eggs on the rods parked down town last night.
  1850s
• wet blanket
  
  ( np ) A squelcher. I hate to go to parties with Shamus Allgood. He's such a wet blanket.
  1850s
• clear out
  
  ( v ) To leave. I don't like it here; I'm going to clear out
  1850s
• hayseed
  
  ( n ) A clumsy, unsophisticated person from the country. That hayseed thinks a fox is some kind of forest animal.
  1850s
• grind
  
  ( n ) A boring, repetitive routine. I need a break from the daily grind.
  1850s
• nobby
  
  ( adj ) Fashionable. What a nobby hat you have there!
  1850s
• canoodle
  
  ( v ) To hug and kiss. Their parents caught them canoodling in the living room.
  1850s
• comeuppance
  
  ( n ) Just reward. I hope Wimplesnatch gets his comeuppance for cheating all those people.
  1850s
• doggone
  
  ( int ) Emphatic adjective. I don't know a doggone thing about that.
  1850s
• cranky
  
  ( adj ) Irritable, short-tempered. Don't ask Marvin for a raise today: he got out of bed cranky and has remained that way.
  1850s
• catch
  
  ( n ) A hidden condition on an offer. You'll sell me your car for $200? What is the catch?
  1850s
• blue-blood
  
  ( n ) Rich, upper class. Portia Carr is such a blue-blood herself she only talks to other blue-bloods.
  1850s
• poppycock
  
  ( n ) Nonsense. All that talk about me and George Clooney is pure poppycock!
  1850s
• lily-livered
  
  ( adj ) Cowardly. That lily-livered scoundrel never served a day in the army.
  1850s
• mooch
  
  ( v ) To freeload, sponge, cadge. He's like a puppy: feed him once and he'll return to mooch off you all the time.
  1850s
• moocher
  
  ( n ) A freeloader, sponger, cadger. Lester is a moocher who mooches meals off his sister.
  1850s
• cow
  
  ( n ) An obnoxious or misfortunate woman. Poor cow, having to live with that man.
  1860s
• deadbeat
  
  ( n ) Someone who doesn't pay his or her bills. I wouldn't go out with that deadbeat; he will stick you with the bill every time.
  1860s
• dig
  
  ( v ) To study hard. He spent the night digging and still failed the exam.
  1860s
• down
  
  ( v ) To drink quickly, to gulp down. Let's go to a bar and down a few beers.
  1860s
• fix-up
  
  ( n ) Dose of narcotics. He is an addict that needs 2 fix-ups a day.
  1860s
• flummox
  
  ( n ) A failure. Foster is the greatest flummox the world has every known.
  1860s
• leave holding the bag
  
  ( vp ) To be made a scapegoat. When the hand grenade exploded beneath the cow, Beulah was left holding the bag.
  1860s
• nifty
  
  ( adj ) OK, alright, suitable. What a nifty gadget Prunella's electric fork is!
  1860s
• on the make
  
  ( pp ) Looking for profit or advantage. His words with me suggested that he is on the make for a promotion.
  1860s
• pull
  
  ( n ) A draw on a pipe, cigarette, etc. Hey, dude, give me a pull on that coffin nail; I'm having a nicotine fit.
  1860s
• ratty
  
  ( adj ) In bad condition. She was in an old pair of jeans and a ratty sweater.
  1860s
• salty
  
  ( adj ) Risqué, bawdy. He likes to sing salty songs.
  1860s
• shady
  
  ( adj ) Suspicious, not quite honest. He got in trouble hanging out with some shady characters in the pool hall.
  1860s
• stiff
  
  ( n ) A corpse. They took the stiff to the morgue.
  1860s
• chump
  
  ( n ) A foolish or gullible person. The poor chump can't get a date for the big dance.
  1860s
• swot (up)
  
  ( v ) To study hard. I have to swot all night for my Russian test tomorrow.
  1860s
• Whoopee!
  
  ( int ) An interjection of enjoyment. Whoopee! I won the game!
  1860s
• mama's boy
  
  ( np ) A sissy who is overly attached to his mother. Ben Dover is such a mother's boy he won't go to the movies without calling home first.
  1860s
• on the make
  
  ( pp ) Ambitious, out to succeed. Elroy dressed like a man on the make in the financial world.
  1860s
• plug
  
  ( n ) A worn-out horse. I would be ashamed to put a plug like yours in a horse show.
  1860s
• high-strung
  
  ( adj ) Tense, nervous. Amanda Lynn has been a little high-strung since her instrument cracked when she left it in the car.
  1860s
• scadoodle
  
  ( n ) Heap, large amount. See if you can't get some marbles from Enrico; he has scadoodles of them.
  1860s
• gumshoe
  
  ( n ) Detective. Some gumshoe has been tailing me all afternoon.
  1860s
• light out
  
  ( v ) Move quickly, leave suddenly. When Mel heard Lance was there, he lit out for Megan's place.
  1860s
• galoot
  
  ( n ) A strong, soft-hearted man. The big galoot brought me flowers after chasing away that wolf Hans from next door.
  1860s
• scads
  
  ( n ) Heap, large amount. I heard LaVerne has scads of money.
  1860s
• perk
  
  ( n ) Perquisite, benefit on a job. The only perk that comes with this job is a key to the bathroom.
  1860s
• hunky-dory
  
  ( adj ) OK, alright. Is everything here hunky-dory?
  1860s
• shebang
  
  ( n ) A set of facts or things. Baldwin sold the store, the stock, the grounds--the whole shebang.
  1860s
• hock
  
  ( v ) (1) Being pawned. (2) Debt. Hardy Spender went into hock to buy that new car of his.
  1860s
• cockamamie
  
  ( n ) Nonsensical, crazy. Cars that drive themselves? I've never heard such a cockamamie idea!
  1860s
• meathead
  
  ( n ) A stupid or foolish person. Henry is such a meathead he thinks Paris is the capital of Germany.
  1860s
• skeedaddle
  
  ( v ) Leave, go way quickly. I'd better skeedaddle, if I want to make it to work on time.
  1860s
• tart
  
  ( n ) Woman of loose morals. Maude Lynn Dresser came to the party in clothes that made her look like a right tart.
  1860s
• mollycoddle
  
  ( v ) To coddle, spoil. He's the boss's son, so you'd better mollycoddle him.
  1860s
• cop
  
  ( v ) To steal. How did you get the road sign? I copped it.
  1870s
• dive
  
  ( n ) A disreputable eating or drinking establishment. Prudence avoided the kind of low dives Curly liked to frequent.
  1870s
• gouge
  
  ( v ) To cheat by overcharging. He was gouging his customers on a regular basis until they caught on.
  1870s
• hole up
  
  ( v ) Hide. I had to hole up for three days because the police were looking for me.
  1870s
• monkey
  
  ( v ) To play carelessly. Don't monkey with the switch; you might start it up.
  1870s
• nose
  
  ( n ) An ability to detect. Lucy Lastik has a nose for good night spots.
  1870s
• piker
  
  ( n ) Cheapskate. That piker wouldn't pay more than $5 for a meal.
  1870s
• roll
  
  ( v ) To rob someone drunk or sleeping. He got plastered last night and some woman he met in the bar rolled him.
  1870s
• scrap
  
  ( v ) To fight. He's a well-intended boy but he scraps with the neighborhood kids too much.
  1870s
• snap
  
  ( n ) Something easy. Mowing our lawn in an hour is a snap.
  1870s
• eye to eye
  
  ( adv ) In agreement. Goober and I see eye to eye on everything political.
  1870s
• masher
  
  ( n ) A man who makes improper advances to women. Mike Hunt is a masher who doesn't develop lasting relationships with girls.
  1870s
• masher
  
  ( n ) A young man who makes improper advances to women. Mike Harden is a masher always on the make.
  1870s
• close call
  
  ( np ) Near catastrophe, very dangerous situation. Buffy had a close call with the police when she ran a stoplight.
  1870s
• scoop
  
  ( n ) An alert on a good news story. Rhoda Book always gets scoops on the honeymoon of the Hollywood stars.
  1870s
• slush fund
  
  ( np ) Money for questionable activities. Robin Banks has a slush fund for his private parties on the company yacht.
  1870s
• loony
  
  ( adj ) Crazy, insane, lunatic. Mike Hunt is so loony he thinks Turkey is the capital of Greece.
  1870s
• classy
  
  ( n ) High-class, tasteful. Portia Radclyffe is too classy to take out to a diner.
  1870s
• goody-goody (two shoes)
  
  ( n ) A prude. Charity Ball is such a goody-goody she would never do that.
  1870s
• goody-goody
  
  ( adj ) Sanctimonious. Sheryl never attended church because she disliked the goody-goody sermonizing.
  1870s
• hogwash
  
  ( n ) Nonsense. All that bragging about how much money he has is pure hogwash.
  1870s
• big mouth
  
  ( np ) A talkative person. Shut up! You really have a big mouth.
  1880s
• boot
  
  ( n ) Dismissal from work. I hear Ken got the boot at work today.
  1880s
• boot
  
  ( v ) To fire. They booted Ken today; he is out of a job.
  1880s
• bounce
  
  ( v ) To fire. She was bounced after she refused to work overtime.
  1880s
• bounce
  
  ( v ) To force to leave. Malcolm got so boisterous in the bar they bounced him.
  1880s
• bouncer
  
  ( n ) Someone who forces obnoxious people out of public places. Marvin had a few too many at the bar last night and the bouncer ejected him.
  1880s
• bug
  
  ( n ) A fault or defect. There is a bug somewhere in my software that no one can find.
  1880s
• chew the rag
  
  ( vp ) To spend time talking. Let's just spend the evening at home and chew the rag.
  1880s
• con
  
  ( v ) To swindle or cheat. Don't try to con me.
  1880s
• dope
  
  ( n ) A narcotic. There are a lot of dope dealers around here.
  1880s
• Gee whiz!
  
  ( int ) An interjection of surprise (euphemism for 'Jesus'). Gee whiz! I didn't know George was that rich!
  1880s
• goldang
  
  ( int ) An interjection of emphasis (euphemism for G. D.). I'll be goldang if he didn't wreck his new car!
  1880s
• gyp
  
  ( v ) To swindle or cheat. He gypped me out of five dollars.
  1880s
• hold up
  
  ( v ) To rob. He ended up in the hoosegow for holding up a stage coach.
  1880s
• kill
  
  ( v ) To turn off, switch off. Kill the lights and let's look at the Christmas tree in the dark.
  1880s
• nope
  
  ( adv ) No, a negative answer. Nope, I don't use dope.
  1880s
• Rats!
  
  ( int ) An interjection of disappointment. Rats! We're out of gas.
  1880s
• razzle-dazzle
  
  ( n ) Something fancy. She's all razzle-dazzle but without substance.
  1880s
• root
  
  ( v ) To cheer for. He always roots for the home tema.
  1880s
• run around
  
  ( v ) To associate with. Rodney runs around with a shady crowd.
  1880s
• scrooch
  
  ( v ) To shrink or tighten up. Scrootch up, everyone, we have to fit one more person in the car.
  1880s
• smoke
  
  ( n ) Cigarette. Do you have some smokes?
  1880s
• spanking
  
  ( adv ) Very. He was in some spanking fine kicks!
  1880s
• spoon
  
  ( v ) To hug and kiss. They love to spoon by the moonlight.
  1880s
• stick up
  
  ( v ) To rob at gun point. He stuck up a grocery store and got caught.
  1880s
• stick-up
  
  ( n ) An armed robbery. I was in the liquor store when the stick-up took place.
  1880s
• take
  
  ( n ) Stolen goods or money. The take from the robbery was 35 cents and an expired credit card.
  1880s
• tickle
  
  ( n ) Something funny. That story about his brother is a hella tickle.
  1880s
• uppity
  
  ( adj ) Arrogant, condescending. She's so uppity that she only drinks champagne with her hotdogs.
  1880s
• corker
  
  ( n ) Something excellent, outstanding. Boy, that storm last night was a real corker, wasn't it?
  1880s
• in the soup
  
  ( pp ) In trouble. Will I get you in the soup if I bring you home after midnight?
  1880s
• squeeze
  
  ( v ) To pressure, blackmail. How can we squeeze some money out of your 'rents?
  1880s
• druthers
  
  ( n ) Preference, choice. If I had my druthers, I would stay home tonight.
  1880s
• plunk
  
  ( v ) To shoot or hit with a flying object. As soon as I saw that big fat turkey, I plunked him!
  1880s
• boot
  
  ( n ) Dismissal, firing. I heard Lester got the boot and is looking for a new job.
  1880s
• 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?
  1880s
• 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.
  1880s
• guff
  
  ( n ) Bluster, threats. Do what you want to do; don't take any guff from Frankie.
  1880s
• tube
  
  ( n ) The telephone. I'll give you a ring on the tube when I'm ready.
  1880s
• dotty
  
  ( adj ) Silly, crazy. Wearing a polka dot dress to a funeral is not surprising for someone as dotty as Maude Lynn Dresser.
  1880s
• oyster
  
  ( n ) A jolly good fellow. Horace set me up with a beautiful blind date. Quite an oyster, that Horace.
  1880s
• southpaw
  
  ( n ) A left-hander. Johnny Batts can't hit a southpaw pitcher.
  1880s
• turf
  
  ( v ) To force someone out of something. Stedman was turfed out of the club for wearing too much bling.
  1880s
• bellyache
  
  ( v ) Complain. Stop bellyaching and get to work!
  1880s
• cinch
  
  ( n ) Something very easy to do. Changing tires on a car is a cinch.
  1880s
• lunkhead
  
  ( n ) A stupid or foolish person. Watch out, lunkhead! You'll spill it!
  1880s
• scream
  
  ( n ) A very, very good time Hardy Pardy's reception was a scream.
  1880s
• la-di-dah
  
  ( adj, int ) Pretentious, snobbish. Susan Liddy-Gates is a la-di-dah high society lawyer.
  1880s
• la-di-da
  
  ( adj, int ) Pretentious, snobbish. Vernon is engaged to some la-di-da upscale trophy girl.
  1880s
• booster
  
  ( n ) A strong supporter. She is a big booster of the high school football team.
  1890s
• brass
  
  ( n ) High ranking officials. When the brass hears about this, they aren't going to like it.
  1890s
• chew the fat
  
  ( vp ) To spend time talking. We were just chilling, chewing the fat.
  1890s
• crap
  
  ( n ) Nonsense. Cut the crap and let's get to work.
  1890s
• ducky
  
  ( adj ) OK, alright. Everything was just ducky between them.
  1890s
• eat
  
  ( v ) To annoy, bother. I have a problem that is really eating (at) me.
  1890s
• Gee!
  
  ( int ) An interjection of surprise (euphemism for 'Jesus'). Gee! I didn't know George was that rich!
  1890s
• hang-out
  
  ( n ) A gathering place. The soda shop was our old hang-out.
  1890s
• hooch
  
  ( n ) Liquor, bootleg liquor. Where did you get this rotgut hooch?
  1890s
• Hooray!
  
  ( int ) An interjection of celebration. Hooray! I just won the lottery!
  1890s
• jiggy
  
  ( adj ) Jittery, fidgety. Sit still and don't be so jiggy.
  1890s
• juice
  
  ( n ) Electricity. There is a plug here but it doesn't have any juice.
  1890s
• knockout
  
  ( n ) A very beautiful female. Who was that knockout I saw you with last Friday?
  1890s
• loaded
  
  ( adj ) Drunk; intoxicated. He partied all night and came home loaded.
  1890s
• lush
  
  ( n ) An alcoholic. Ferdie's dad was a lush but he turned out alright.
  1890s
• nippy
  
  ( adj ) Chilly. Better put on a coat; it is a little nippy outside today.
  1890s
• nutty
  
  ( adj ) Crazy, insane. You must be nutty to think I would join the choir.
  1890s
• pantywaist
  
  ( n ) A weak, indecisive person. Gordon is such a pantywaist he does everything his girlfriend tells him.
  1890s
• raggedy
  
  ( adj ) In bad condition. Get your raggedy ride out a here poser!
  1890s
• raspberry
  
  ( n ) Blowing air through the closed lips to make a disgusting sound. I guess the date didn't go very well; she gave me a raspberry rather than a kiss when I took her home.
  1890s
• razzmatazz
  
  ( n ) Something fancy. There is too much razzmatazz in his church services for my taste.
  1890s
• schmuck
  
  ( n ) A jerk. What a stupid schmuck.
  1890s
• spit and image
  
  ( np ) An identical copy. Rodney is the spit and image of his father.
  1890s
• tanked up
  
  ( adj ) Drunk, intoxicated. Guy was so tanked up last night that he couldn't find his way home.
  1890s
• thin ice
  
  ( np ) A precarious situation. The company is not bankrupt but it is (skating) on thin ice.
  1890s
• skunk
  
  ( v ) To swindle or cheat. Mortimer skunked Phil out of $5.
  1890s
• two bits
  
  ( n ) A 25-cent piece. I wouldn't give him two bits for that tin can he drives.
  1890s
• up the river
  
  ( ap ) In prison or jail. They sent him up the river for 20 years for his part in the heist.
  1890s
• windbag
  
  ( n ) Someone who talks too much. That old windbag never stops talking about himself.
  1890s
• yep
  
  ( adv ) Yes, a positive answer. Yep, I really like okra.
  1890s
• four-flusher
  
  ( n ) A person who bluffs and deceives others. That no-good four-flusher tried told me that old tin can of his once belong to Mario Andretti.
  1890s
• grind
  
  ( n ) A studious, unsociable person. Flynn isn't coming; that grind has to do his homework.
  1890s
• mug
  
  ( v ) To hug and kiss. I caught them mugging in the living room.
  1890s
• willies
  
  ( n ) Nervousness from fear, heebie-jeebies Just thinking of how close I came to hitting that other car gives me the willies.
  1890s
• simoleon
  
  ( n ) A dollar. I don't have a simoleon to my name.
  1890s
• bell-bottomed
  
  ( adj ) Flared at the end (pants). In those days all sailors wore bell-bottomed trousers.
  1890s
• hotfoot (it)
  
  ( v ) Move quickly. When Mel heard Lance was visiting his Mel's girlfriend, he hotfooted it over to her place.
  1890s
• juice
  
  ( n ) Electricity. Plug the mixer in and give it the juice.
  1890s
• plunk down
  
  ( vp ) To pay. I plunked down two hundred bucks for this car; it had better be good.
  1890s
• also-ran
  
  ( n ) A horse that loses races or an unsuccessful human competitor. Dealer's Choice is another also-ran that never won a race.
  1890s
• digs
  
  ( n ) Home or apartment. Let's go over to my digs and have a nightcap.
  1890s
• 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?
  1890s
• cough up
  
  ( v ) To give up, stop holding back. I know you have my glove; now, come on, cough it up.
  1890s
• port-sider
  
  ( n ) A left-hander. Lefty is a port-sider that right-handed batters can't hit.
  1890s
• battle-ax
  
  ( n ) (Offensive) Mean old woman. That old battle-ax will never be cool!
  1890s
• bumbershoot
  
  ( n ) Umbrella. Don't forget your bumbershoot; it looks like rain.
  1890s
• cheapskate
  
  ( n ) A stingy person, tightwad. Prudence Pender is a cheapskate who keeps a combination lock on her purse.
  1890s
• pinhead
  
  ( n ) A stupid or foolish person. That pinhead paid $50 for a pair of pliers.
  1890s
• jiggery-pokery
  
  ( n ) Deceitful trickery. Robin Banks did some jiggery-pokery to make his books show a profit.
  1890s
• bash
  
  ( n ) A drunken spree. He went out on a bash last night and is pretty sick today.
  1900s
• bonehead
  
  ( n ) A stupid or foolish person. That bonehead let the air out of his own tires!.
  1900s
• bunk
  
  ( n ) Nonsense. He said he aced the chem exam. That's bunk!
  1900s
• butterflies in the stomach
  
  ( n ) Fearfulness, stage fright. Every time I talk to her I have butterflies in my stomach.
  1900s
• call on the carpet
  
  ( vp ) To scold, chastise. The third time Winfred was late for work the boss called him out on the carpet.
  1900s
• can
  
  ( v ) To fire. She talked back to the boss and got canned.
  1900s
• cold
  
  ( adv ) Completely, immediately. Marguerite stopped Paul cold with her question.
  1900s
• pan
  
  ( v ) To criticize severely. Lucy Lastik's ice-skating routine was panned by the judges.
  1900s
• do in
  
  ( v ) To kill or destroy. His business was doing well until the hurricane destroyed his store and did him in.
  1900s
• doll up
  
  ( v ) Dress up, dress stylishly. So where are you going, all dolled up?
  1900s
• double-cross
  
  ( v ) To betray. He promised to pay me for painting his room but double-crossed me and didn't.
  1900s
• frog
  
  ( n ) Hoarseness. I can't make a toast tonight; I have a frog in my throat.
  1900s
• goop
  
  ( n ) A stupid person. He is such a goop he eats his peas with his fingers.
  1900s
• goopy
  
  ( adj ) Stupid or foolish. Don't be so goopy; go along with the others.
  1900s
• grouser
  
  ( n ) A complainer, a whiner. Doolittle is a constant grouser that everybody hates.
  1900s
• hanging
  
  ( adj ) Excellent, outstanding. That is a hanging new sweater Brenda bought her sister.
  1900s
• hep
  
  ( adj ) A part of the current musical culture. That cat is hep to all the dives with cool jazz.
  1900s
• ice
  
  ( n ) Diamonds, jewelry. She came dripping with ice.
  1900s
• in the bag
  
  ( pp ) Assured, guaranteed. Everything is in the bag. There is nothing to worry about.
  1900s
• jitney
  
  ( n ) A nickel, a 5-cent piece. He didn't have a jitney on him at the time.
  1900s
• just off the boat
  
  ( pp ) Naive. He acts like he is just off the boat.
  1900s
• killer
  
  ( n ) Something or someone excellent, outstanding. That new book by her mother is a real killer.
  1900s
• lay off
  
  ( v ) To quit. Hey, lay off bothering me!
  1900s
• lick
  
  ( n ) A bit, the smallest amount. He doesn't have lick of sense.
  1900s
• live-wire
  
  ( np ) An exciting person. Maisy is a live-wire everyone wants at his or her party.
  1900s
• loaded
  
  ( adj ) Rich, wealthy. I hear Leroy's parents are loaded.
  1900s
• machine
  
  ( n ) A car (hot-rodders). You should see that boss machine of his.
  1900s
• nut
  
  ( n ) A crazy person. I think that he is a nut.
  1900s
• rap
  
  ( n ) An accusation. Eustace has a rap sheet as long as your arm.
  1900s
• rat
  
  ( n ) A contemptible person. The little rat won't do anything I tell him.
  1900s
• rat
  
  ( n ) An informer, a tattle-tale. The little rat told the principal!
  1900s
• ratty
  
  ( adj ) Unfair. He got a ratty assignment in Java.
  1900s
• read the riot act
  
  ( vp ) To scold, chastise severely. When mom saw the condition of my room, she read me the riot act.
  1900s
• scrap
  
  ( v ) Cancel. We had to scrap plans to go to the beach when we saw the weather report.
  1900s
• screw
  
  ( v ) To harm greatly. He got screwed by a used-car dealer.
  1900s
• side-kick
  
  ( n ) Someone who always accompanies someone else. You never see Pedro without his side-kick, Manuel.
  1900s
• snarky
  
  ( adj ) Irritable, short-tempered. Don't be so snarky; I only asked a question.
  1900s
• stand up
  
  ( v ) To not show up for a date. Hortense said that she would meet me for dinner but she stood me up.
  1900s
• tail
  
  ( v ) To follow. Quentin tailed his sister to the boy's house.
  1900s
• thick
  
  ( adj ) Close, tight. They are as thick as thieves.
  1900s
• word
  
  ( n ) News, latest gossip. So, what's the word, man?
  1900s
• yeah
  
  ( adv ) Yes, a positive answer. Yeah, I'm going to the football game.
  1900s
• hillbilly
  
  ( n ) A clumsy, unsophisticated person from the country. Willy Earl tells everyone he is in computing but he is just a hillbilly who works in the stockroom of a computer warehouse.
  1900s
• lollapalooza
  
  ( n ) Something excellent, outstanding. Boy, that storm last night was a real lollapalooza, wasn't it?
  1900s
• skidoo
  
  ( v ) To leave. Come on, kiddo, time for us to skidoo.
  1900s
• skiddoo
  
  ( v ) To leave. Come on, kiddo, time for us to skiddoo.
  1900s
• fall for
  
  ( v ) To be deceived, tricked. I told him that my dad was the President of the United States and he fell for it.
  1900s
• mutt
  
  ( n ) A dog. Hey, Fritz, what is your mutt barking at now?
  1900s
• plug for
  
  ( v ) To promote, advance. Maudie brought the boss presents every day when she was plugging for a promotion.
  1900s
• hawkshaw
  
  ( n ) Detective. Mildred hired some two-bit hawkshaw to follow me around and make sure I'm not seeing someone else.
  1900s
• louse
  
  ( n ) A mean, despicable person. I won't have anything to do with that louse Ivan Oder.
  1900s
• humdinger
  
  ( n ) Something excellent, outstanding. That new baseball bat of Glen Gary's is a humdinger!
  1900s
• movie
  
  ( n ) A motion picture. I do enjoy a good movie after dinner.
  1900s
• doodad
  
  ( n ) Decorative article. Maybelle's house is full of fancy doodads she brought back from her world travels.
  1900s
• wisenheimer
  
  ( n ) Someone who thinks he or she is smarter than others. Buzz is a wisenheimer who thinks he knows everything.
  1900s
• yegg
  
  ( n ) Safe-cracker, a crook. Marvin hired some yegg to do his dirty work for him.
  1900s
• dragnet
  
  ( n ) A widespread seach. The police put out a dragnet for the guy who beat you up.
  1900s
• hock
  
  ( v ) To pawn. Billy hocked his guitar to get his watch out of hock.
  1900s
• batty
  
  ( adj ) Crazy, insane. If you think I'm going to get me to date your sister, you're batty.
  1900s
• stir-crazy
  
  ( adj ) Crazy for being cooped up. I'm getting stir-crazy lying in bed all day .
  1900s
• kiddo
  
  ( int ) Extended form of "kid". Look, kiddo, I ain't doing anything illegal.
  1900s
• bean
  
  ( n ) The head. The picher threw a bean ball and knocked the batter out.
  1900s
• beat it
  
  ( v ) To leave. When the cops drove up, we had to beat it.
  1910s
• bimbo
  
  ( n ) A tough guy. Max is just another bimbo who goes around trying to pick fights in bars.
  1910s
• Boy!
  
  ( int ) An emphatic interjection. Boy, was he surprised when I showed him my new erector set!
  1910s
• break
  
  ( n ) Opportunity. A lucky break helped him get the job.
  1910s
• bug
  
  ( v ) To equip with a burglar alarm. The coppers caught him when he entered a bugged house.
  1910s
• bull
  
  ( n ) Nonsense. Everything you've said is just a load of bull and you know it.
  1910s
• cootie
  
  ( n ) A body louse. I wouldn't go out with him; they say he has cooties.
  1910s
• creep
  
  ( n ) A sneak thief. He was making a marginal living as a creep until the cops caught him at his trade.
  1910s
• cushy
  
  ( adj ) Easy, simple. He has a really cushy job with a septic tank cleaner.
  1910s
• date
  
  ( n ) A stupid or foolish person. He is such a soppy date, he should do well in politics.
  1910s
• ding-bat
  
  ( n ) A stupid or foolish person. Archie Bunker always called his wife a ding-bat.
  1910s
• drag
  
  ( n ) A draw (on cigarette, cigar, pipe, etc.). Hey, man, give me a drag on that pipe so I can see if that tobacco is any good.
  1910s
• duck soup
  
  ( np ) Something easy. All her courses are duck soup.
  1910s
• earful
  
  ( n ) A lot of gossip. My grandmother gave me an earful about the neighborhood.
  1910s
• eat one's heart out
  
  ( vp ) To gnaw at, disturb, vex. It is best to talk about your problems than let them eat your heart out.
  1910s
• fed
  
  ( n ) FBI investigator. His dad made moonshine until the feds caught up with him.
  1910s
• gander
  
  ( n ) A look. Take a gander at that beefcake over there.
  1910s
• gas
  
  ( n ) A joke. They played some kind of gas on her and made her mad.
  1910s
• get on your nerves
  
  ( n ) To annoy, bother. Go play in another room; you are getting on my nerves.
  1910s
• goldbrick
  
  ( n ) Someone who does not do his or her share of the work. That goldbrick sits in his office all day and doesn't do a lick of work.
  1910s
• goof
  
  ( n ) Someone stupid or foolish. I am really a goof at times.
  1910s
• grift
  
  ( v ) To run a con. I don't have any cash so we'll have to grift tonight.
  1910s
• grifter
  
  ( n ) A con artist. John is such a grifter he runs cons on his mother.
  1910s
• heel
  
  ( n ) A loser, a jerk. What a heel! He left is wife and kids for the circus.
  1910s
• hoosegow
  
  ( n ) Jail or prison. You had better be careful that you don't end up in the hoosegow.
  1910s
• jake
  
  ( adj ) Alright, OK. Who made all that noise? Is everything jake out here?
  1910s
• jazz
  
  ( adj ) To excite, enthuse. This is going to be a great reunion. I'm really jazzed about going.
  1910s
• jinx
  
  ( n ) Something or someone that brings bad luck. For a long time sailors thought that a woman on board ship was a jinx.
  1910s
• joint
  
  ( n ) A questionable establishment. He took her to a joint he wouldn't want his mother to even know about.
  1910s
• keen
  
  ( adj ) Attractive or appealing. She was a keen girl, with nice gams and figure.
  1910s
• lay off
  
  ( v ) To fire (temporarily). The company laid off 100 people this week.
  1910s
• mush
  
  ( n ) Sentimentality. The movie was full of romantic mush.
  1910s
• nickel-and-dime
  
  ( v ) To niggle away, eat a way bit by bit. These telephone bills are nickel-and-diming me something awful.
  1910s
• noodle
  
  ( n ) The head. Ow! I just bumped my noodle on that pipe up there.
  1910s
• Nuts!
  
  ( int ) An interjection of disappointment. Nuts! I dropped my glasses down the sewer drain.
  1910s
• pokey
  
  ( n ) Jail or prison. When his brother got out of the pokey, he went right back to making book.
  1910s
• punch-drunk
  
  ( adj ) Brain-damaged from boxing. He had to quit the ring when he became to punch-drunk to focus his eyes.
  1910s
• Reach for the ceiling!
  
  ( phr ) Raise your hands. Drop that gun and reach for the ceiling!
  1910s
• Reach for the roof!
  
  ( phr ) Raise your hands. Drop that gun and reach for the roof!
  1910s
• boner
  
  ( n ) A mistake, an error I must have pulled a real boner on the test; I flunked it.
  1910s
• rinky-dink
  
  ( adj ) Run-down, old, old fashioned. The circus was really rinky-dink.
  1910s
• scratch
  
  ( n ) Money. I need a burger; does anyone have any scratch?
  1910s
• short
  
  ( n ) A street car. He used to ride the shorts to work.
  1910s
• snookums
  
  ( n ) Female term of endearment. Hello, snookums, how did your day go?
  1910s
• steam up
  
  ( v ) To excite, agitate. They tried without success to steam up his courage.
  1910s
• straight
  
  ( adj ) Without ice. He was surprised to see her drink her whiskey straight.
  1910s
• vigorish
  
  ( n ) High interest on a loan. He got the money from a loan shark who charged him 10% a day in vigorish.
  1910s
• welcher
  
  ( n ) Someone who doesn't pay what is owed. You loaned him $10? The welcher will never pay you back.
  1910s
• whacked
  
  ( adj ) Tired, exhausted. I'm whacked; I can't go anywhere tonight.
  1910s
• wino
  
  ( n ) A homeless alcoholic. He always gives change to the winos downtown.
  1910s
• yessir
  
  ( adv ) Yes, a positive answer. Yessir, that lady is my wife.
  1910s
• blues
  
  ( n ) Depression, melancholy. Her boyfriend left her singing the blues
  1910s
• loony bin
  
  ( np ) Insane asylum. Loan you $5? You should be locked up in a loony bin!
  1910s
• curtains
  
  ( n ) The end. If we don't win this game, it's curtains for the coach.
  1910s
• spruce off
  
  ( v ) To avoid a duty by deception. Mike Hunt will tell you he is going to do something then spruce off just when you need it done.
  1910s
• crackpot
  
  ( n ) A crazy person with unworkable ideas. Thor Pearson has some crackpot idea about making powdered water.
  1910s
• fall for
  
  ( v ) Fall in love with. The moment Moine saw Phillippe she fell for him like a ton of bricks.
  1910s
• posh
  
  ( adj ) Luxurious. Larry, Harry, Barry, and Mary stayed in the poshest hotel in Paris.
  1910s
• on the make
  
  ( pp ) Flirting, making advances on people of the opposite sex. Clara Belle was down at the bar last night on the make.
  1910s
• floozy
  
  ( n ) A woman of loose morals Juan Carlos came to the party with some floozy he picked up at a bar.
  1910s
• floozie
  
  ( n ) A woman of loose morals Juan Carlos came to the party with some floozie he picked up at a bar.
  1910s
• gussy
  
  ( v ) To dress up. Well, look at Maud Lynn Dresser! Isn't she all gussied up?
  1910s
• crumb
  
  ( n ) A mean, despicable person. The dirty crumb walked out and stuck me with the tab.
  1910s
• simp
  
  ( n ) A stupid or foolish person. That simp doesn't know how to tie his shoes!
  1910s
• beat
  
  ( v ) Stump, be incomprehensible. It beats me how Snerdley pays for the gas for that car of his.
  1910s
• do-hickey
  
  ( n ) An object for which a name is unavailable. Gert, do you know what this do-hickey on my tricycle is for?
  1910s
• doohickey
  
  ( n ) An object for which a name is unavailable. There is something wrong with some little doohickey on my car engine.
  1910s
• dilly
  
  ( n ) Something excellent, outstanding. Lester Workwithe just bought a dilly of a car from
  1910s
• pug-ugly
  
  ( adj ) Very ugly. Luella and her pug-ugly friend came to the party late.
  1910s
• roscoe
  
  ( n ) A handgun. Gimme yer roscoe, Roscoe; I can't crack this walnut with my teeth."
  1910s
• meathook
  
  ( n ) A hand. Get your meathooks off me!
  1910s
• clam up
  
  ( v ) To refuse to speak When I asked Joe Bones where he got the money for the car, he clammed up.
  1910s
• beezer
  
  ( n ) A nose. Stan took one on the beezer when he told his wife to get him a beer.
  1910s
• cabin-fever
  
  ( n ) Irritability from being cooped up indoors. I'm getting cabin-fever; I'm going fishing.
  1910s
• blotto
  
  ( adj ) Drunk. Smedley came home blotto so often, it was a month before he realized his wife had left him.
  1910s
• buzz off
  
  ( v ) Leave, say good-bye. Why don't you just buzz off and stop bothering me?
  1910s
• dingbat
  
  ( n ) A stupid or foolish person. Archie Bunker always called his wife a ding-bat.
  1910s
• ace
  
  ( n ) One dollar bill. Let's eat out tonight; I have a couple of aces burning a hole in my pocket.
  1920s
• all wet
  
  ( ap ) Wrong. You're all wet. The New York Giants didn't win the 1937 World Series.
  1920s
• And how!
  
  ( int ) An interjection of strong agreement. Did I have a good time? And how!.
  1920s
• Applesauce!
  
  ( int ) Nonsense! Applesauce! The New York Yankees won the 1937 World Series.
  1920s
• attaboy
  
  ( int ) Well done! Attaboy, Greg. You show them!
  1920s
• attagirl
  
  ( int ) Well done! Attagirl, Gwen. You show them!
  1920s
• ax
  
  ( n ) Dismissal from work. The fourth time they caught her sleeping on the job, Constance Noring was given the ax.
  1920s
• ax
  
  ( v ) To fire. He just got axed from his third job this week.
  1920s
• baby
  
  ( n ) Sweetheart. She's my baby and I'd do anything for her.
  1920s
• balled up
  
  ( adj ) Confused. Rodney's all balled up; he doesn't know if he is coming or going.
  1920s
• baloney
  
  ( n ) Nonsense! That's a lot of baloney and you know it! None of it is true.
  1920s
• bearcat
  
  ( n ) A sexy or seductive woman. Man, that Cindy Lou is a lot of fun! What a bearcat that woman is!
  1920s
• beat one's gums
  
  ( vp ) To talk. We were just sitting around, beating our gums about nothing.
  1920s
• beef
  
  ( n ) A complaint. Why are you complaining? What's your beef?
  1920s
• beef
  
  ( v ) To complain. Stop beefing about the curfew; you can't do anything about it.
  1920s
• bee's knees
  
  ( np ) Something excellent, outstanding. Mavis, that new perfume you got is the bee's knees!
  1920s
• beeswax
  
  ( n ) Business. What's my name? None of your beeswax.
  1920s
• bell-bottom
  
  ( n ) A sailor. She has dated every bell-bottom in San Diego.
  1920s
• big cheese
  
  ( np ) An important person. He thinks that he is a big cheese just because he has a new Oldsmobile.
  1920s
• big shot
  
  ( np ) An important person. He thinks that he is a big shot just because he drives around in a Caddie.
  1920s
• big six
  
  ( np ) A strong man. He's a big six in my book any day.
  1920s
• bird
  
  ( n ) An eccentric. You never know what that old bird is going to do next.
  1920s
• blind date
  
  ( np ) A date you have never met before. The bonehead never went out on blind dates because he thought they were with girls who couldn't see.
  1920s
• bluenose
  
  ( n ) A puritanical person, a prude. The party was filled with so many prudes and bluenoses nobody had any fun.
  1920s
• boocoo
  
  ( adj ) Much, a lot. I don't have boocoo time to help you with that.
  1920s
• boocoos
  
  ( n ) A large amount. I had boocoos of money before the market crashed.
  1920s
• booger
  
  ( n ) A bit of dried nasal mucus. Hey, Jeremiah, you have a booger hanging from your nose.
  1920s
• bootleg
  
  ( adj ) Illegal, smuggled. His dad made enough money running bootleg liquor to open a bank before Prohibition ended.
  1920s
• bozo
  
  ( n ) A stupid or foolish person. That bozo doesn't know ham from a hammer.
  1920s
• breezer
  
  ( n ) A convertible car. Let's put the top down on the breezer and let the wind blow through our hair.
  1920s
• Bronx cheer
  
  ( np ) Blowing air through the closed lips to make a disgusting sound. When he cut in front of the taxi, he received a Bronx cheer from the cabbie.
  1920s
• Buddy Roe
  
  ( int ) A threatening form of address for a male in the South. Look out, Buddy Roe, or you'll get into trouble!
  1920s
• bug
  
  ( n ) A burglar alarm system. He was caught when he broke into a house that was bugged.
  1920s
• bull session
  
  ( np ) An informal conversation. The boys got together at Raphael's for an all-night bull-session.
  1920s
• bump off
  
  ( v ) To kill. The boss thought we ought to bump off the informer.
  1920s
• bum's rush
  
  ( np ) Ejection by force. Stanley became so obnoxious, we had to give him the bum's rush to get him out.
  1920s
• canned
  
  ( adj ) Drunk, intoxicated. The woman is canned; have her husband take her home.
  1920s
• caper
  
  ( n ) A crime. Sturgeon thought he was a master mind but the cops caught up with him after 4 or 5 capers.
  1920s
• carry a torch
  
  ( vp ) To love someone. Maxwell's carrying a torch for Madeleine.
  1920s
• cat's meow
  
  ( np ) Something excellent, outstanding. Wow, Kathleen! That new hat is the cat's meow.
  1920s
• cat's pajamas
  
  ( np ) Something excellent, outstanding. I hear LaVern's new Duisenberg is the cat's pajamas.
  1920s
• chassis
  
  ( n ) The female figure. She is a lovely lady with a classy chassis.
  1920s
• cheaters
  
  ( n ) Eyeglasses. He can't see past the end of his nose without his cheaters.
  1920s
• clam
  
  ( n ) A dollar. Hey, this suit cost me 20 clams!
  1920s
• clip
  
  ( v ) To steal. He clips something every time he goes into a store.
  1920s
• copacetic
  
  ( adj ) OK, alright. Everything between me and my baby is copacetic.
  1920s
• corked
  
  ( adj ) Drunk, intoxicated. Lorimar is too corked to go home alone.
  1920s
• crackers
  
  ( adj ) Crazy, insane. He offered me $250 for my Stutz-Bearcat. He must be crackers!
  1920s
• crush
  
  ( n ) An infatuation. She has a crush on her teacher and spends all day studying biology.
  1920s
• daddy
  
  ( n ) A rich male protector who usually expects favors from his female charge. Tillie has a (sugar) daddy who takes care of all her bills.
  1920s
• dame
  
  ( n ) A female (offensive). She's a swell dame; I like her a lot.
  1920s
• date
  
  ( n ) A person of the opposite sex you go out with. I have a hot date tonight, so I won't be able to go out with you guys.
  1920s
• dead soldier
  
  ( n ) An empty beer bottle. They were in the living room surrounded by a case of dead soldiers.
  1920s
• dick
  
  ( n ) A private investigator. Sally hired a private dick to tail her husband.
  1920s
• dive
  
  ( n ) A cheap bar. I wouldn't drink any of the hooch they serve in that dive.
  1920s
• dog
  
  ( n ) A foot. Boy, are my dogs tired!
  1920s
• doll
  
  ( n ) An attractive female. Maria was quite a doll when she dressed up.
  1920s
• Don't take any wooden nickels
  
  ( phr ) Don't do anything stupid. When you go to the big city, Luke, don't take any wooden nickels.
  1920s
• doozy
  
  ( n ) Something excellent, outstanding. He came home with a doozy of a knot on his head.
  1920s
• dumb Dora
  
  ( np ) A stupid female. What a dumb Dora she is: when her husband asked if she like the new China, she replied, 'No, I hate the communists.'.
  1920s
• dynamite
  
  ( n ) Heroine. He is a lovely man but they say he is addicted to dynamite.
  1920s
• earful
  
  ( n ) A significant statement. When Russell came home plastered, his wife gave him an earful that he will never forget.
  1920s
• edge
  
  ( n ) State of drunkenness, intoxication. Let's go; I'm getting an edge.
  1920s
• egg
  
  ( n ) A person who lives well. Oh, you never want to miss Lucien's parties; he's a very good egg.
  1920s
• embalmed
  
  ( adj ) Drunk, intoxicated. Lance was so embalmed that he didn't come to as they rolled him down the hill to the car.
  1920s
• fall guy
  
  ( np ) A scapegoat. They dumped all the evidence in Preston's locker, deciding to let him be the fall guy.
  1920s
• fin
  
  ( n ) 5-dollar bill. Hey, Wayland, loan me a fin until payday.
  1920s
• fire extinguisher
  
  ( np ) A chaperone. Priscilla was so hot, she could never go out without a fire extinguisher.
  1920s
• fish
  
  ( n ) A college freshman. Hey, guys, the freshman looks like a fish out of water; let's make him water the shrubbery in the rain.
  1920s
• fix
  
  ( n ) A bribe, bribery. The cops never pick up Joey because the fix is in.
  1920s
• fix
  
  ( v ) To bribe. Barney fixed the judge in his case, so he got off Scot free.
  1920s
• flapper
  
  ( n ) An exciting woman in short, stylish skirts and short hair. In her youth Purity was one of the best known flappers in town.
  1920s
• flat
  
  ( adj ) Out of air. The cause of the jostling was a flat tire.
  1920s
• flat tire
  
  ( np ) A stupid female. I took that flat tire out once--never again!
  1920s
• flivver
  
  ( n ) A Model T Ford. Sure, he's hot: he took me out in his dad's flivver.
  1920s
• fly boy
  
  ( np ) An aviator, someone in the Air Force. Prunella is going with some fly boy out at the base.
  1920s
• frame
  
  ( n ) To give false evidence. My best friend tried to frame me for flushing the cherry bomb down the john by putting the rest of them in my locker.
  1920s
• fried
  
  ( adj ) Drunk, intoxicated. He was so fried we rolled him to the car and he never came to.
  1920s
• gam
  
  ( n ) A woman's leg. She has a great figure and even greater gams.
  1920s
• get a wiggle on
  
  ( vp ) Speed up. We're going to be late for the ballet--get a wiggle on!
  1920s
• giggle-water
  
  ( np ) Liquor or other alcoholic beverage. He poured me a glass of some kind of giggle water and that's the last thing I remember.
  1920s
• gigolo
  
  ( n ) A kept man who lives off women. His mother has a gigolo that she spends a lot of time with.
  1920s
• gin mill
  
  ( np ) A bar. She dragged me down to some gin mill where her sister sang and hoofed.
  1920s
• glad rags
  
  ( np ) Dressy clothes. Hey, Daisy, put on some glad rags and I'll take you to a ritzy night club.
  1920s
• gold digger
  
  ( n ) A female after a man's money. She doesn't love him; she is just a gold-digger after his money.
  1920s
• gold-digger
  
  ( n ) A woman trying to marry a wealthy man. Do you really love me or are you just another gold-digger after my money?
  1920s
• goofy
  
  ( adj ) Crazy, insane. He gone goofy over Alice.
  1920s
• grand
  
  ( n ) A thousand dollars. His salary is twenty grand a month.
  1920s
• guy
  
  ( n ) A fellow. That guy's been in a lot of trouble, (bloke).
  1920s
• handcuff
  
  ( n ) An engagement ring. I love the woman but she'll never get the handcuff on me.
  1920s
• hard-boiled
  
  ( adj ) Tough and cold. Harry's a hard-boiled cop who doesn't take anything from anybody.
  1920s
• hayburner
  
  ( n ) A gas-guzzling car. He has a cool set of wheels but his dad drives a hayburner.
  1920s
• hayburner
  
  ( n ) A horse that never wins a race. Don't talk to me; I just lost a week's salary on a hayburner at the track.
  1920s
• heat
  
  ( n ) A gun. Watch out for John, he's strapped with heat.
  1920s
• heater
  
  ( n ) A gun. The mobster had a lump in his coat that suggested a heater.
  1920s
• heebie-jeebies
  
  ( n ) Nervousness. Just thinking about the dentist gives me the heebie-jeebies.
  1920s
• heist
  
  ( n ) An armed robbery. There was a heist at the bank today.
  1920s
• hick
  
  ( n ) A clumsy, unsophisticated person from the country. Patsy is dating some hick who wears a straw hat.
  1920s
• high-hat
  
  ( v ) To snub someone. When I asked her out, she high-hatted me and walked away.
  1920s
• hit on all sixes
  
  ( vp ) To perform perfectly. We lost last night because our star player was not hitting on all sixes.
  1920s
• hit the road
  
  ( vp ) To leave. Man, it's 11 o'clock; time for us to hit the road.
  1920s
• hood
  
  ( n ) A hoodlum, gangster. It is a nice neighborhood except for a couple of hoods who live down the block.
  1920s
• hoofer
  
  ( n ) A dancer. He's dating some hoofer at Radio City Hall.
  1920s
• hook
  
  ( v ) To addict. They say Zelda is hooked on heroine.
  1920s
• Hoopty-doo!
  
  ( int ) An interjection of celebration. Hoopty-doo! Fred got a promotion and a big raise!
  1920s
• horse
  
  ( v ) To play with carelessly. I don't have time to horse around; let's get down to business.
  1920s
• horse feathers
  
  ( int ) Nonsense. Horse feathers! You never dated Clara Bow!
  1920s
• hot
  
  ( adj ) Fast (music). I like my jazz hot, not cool.
  1920s
• hot
  
  ( adj ) Electrically charged or radioactive. He accidentally picked up a hot wire and got a shock.
  1920s
• hot seat
  
  ( np ) The electric chair. Marcus got the hot seat for murder.
  1920s
• hotsy-totsy
  
  ( adj ) Seemingly excellent, outstanding. He thinks that just because he drives some hotsy-totsy Stutz Bearcar, he's the cat's meow.
  1920s
• hype
  
  ( n ) Hypodermic needle. If you aren't on drugs, why are all these hypes in your room?
  1920s
• hype
  
  ( v ) To swindle by overcharging or short-changing. I think they hyped me back there at the store.
  1920s
• it
  
  ( n ) Sex appeal. Whatever it is, she has it.
  1920s
• jack
  
  ( n ) Money. He's a nice-looking guy but he doesn't have enough jack for me.
  1920s
• jalopy
  
  ( n ) An old, beat-up car. Where did you get that old jalopy?
  1920s
• jane
  
  ( n ) Any female. He picked up some jane at the bar last night.
  1920s
• java
  
  ( n ) Coffee. Give me a cup of java and one of your week-old doughnuts.
  1920s
• jazz
  
  ( v ) To enhance, make more decorative. He
  1920s
• jazzed
  
  ( adj ) Drunk, intoxicated. Get him out of here; he's totally jazzed.
  1920s
• jive
  
  ( n ) Fast jazz of the 20s-30s. I know a little club where they play jive until 2 in the morning.
  1920s
• jive
  
  ( v ) To mislead, deceive. Don't try to jive me, man. I know what's what.
  1920s
• jive
  
  ( v ) To play fast jazz of the 20s-30s. He had a group that would jive all night.
  1920s
• jive
  
  ( n ) Worthless, crazy, or unpleasant talk. Don't talk that jive to me, turkey; I don't believe a word you say.
  1920s
• joe
  
  ( n ) Coffee. Give me a cup of joe, Joe, and a piece of Mabel's crabapple pie or whatever it is.
  1920s
• john
  
  ( n ) A toilet or the toilet. When he flushed the john, he was surprised to see his cap disappearing down the hole.
  1920s
• juice joint
  
  ( n ) A speakeasy. For five years Myrtle ran a juice-joint until they caught her for selling bootleg hootch.
  1920s
• killjoy
  
  ( n ) A squelcher. My parents are killjoys who don't want me to wear so many beads.
  1920s
• kisser
  
  ( n ) Mouth. Watch what you say, Bub, or I'll pop you one in the kisser.
  1920s
• kosher
  
  ( adj ) Fair. Well, the deal to trade your car for his motorcycle doesn't sound kosher to me.
  1920s
• level
  
  ( n ) Honest, truthful. Level with me: did you really take Jeanette MacDonald out?
  1920s
• line
  
  ( n ) Flirtatious talk designed to pick up a date. He fed me this line about how many banks he owned which didn't work when I saw the jalopy he was driving.
  1920s
• lit
  
  ( adj ) Drunk, intoxicated. He came home lit and fell into bed like a rock.
  1920s
• make whoopee
  
  ( v ) To hug and kiss. They were making whoopee in his Model-T Ford.
  1920s
• Mrs. Grundy
  
  ( np ) A priggish or prudish person. She is such a Mrs. Grundy that she refuses to go into the water.
  1920s
• night owl
  
  ( np ) A person who stays out late. Bertram is a night owl who seldom gets up before noon.
  1920s
• Now you're on the trolley!
  
  ( phr ) Now you have caught on. Yeah, Yeah! Monday comes BEFORE Tuesday. Now you're on the trolley!
  1920s
• nudnik
  
  ( n ) An irritating person. Get that nudnik out of here; I can't stand her.
  1920s
• off the deep end
  
  ( pp ) To lose control of yourself, go crazy. Billy Ray went off the deep end when his wife left him.
  1920s
• oil can
  
  ( n ) A stupid female. I took that oil can out once--never again!
  1920s
• old man
  
  ( n ) Father. His old man won't let him drive the car.
  1920s
• on the lam
  
  ( pp ) Fleeing from the law. Morgan was on the lam for five years, then spent five more in the joint.
  1920s
• on the level
  
  ( pp ) Honest, truthful. On the level, now, did you take Mary Pickford out to supper?
  1920s
• on the make
  
  ( pp ) Flirting, looking for someone to seduce. The way she is talking to all the men looks like she is on the make.
  1920s
• on the up and up
  
  ( pp ) Honest, truthful. I think he is on the up and up when he says he owns 27 banks.
  1920s
• ossified
  
  ( adj ) Drunk, intoxicated. He was so ossified we had to drag him to the car.
  1920s
• over the edge
  
  ( pp ) Crazy, insane. I think another bit of bad news would push Billy Ray over the edge.
  1920s
• owled
  
  ( adj ) Drunk, intoxicated. He was so owled we had to drag him to the car.
  1920s
• palooka
  
  ( n ) A strong male. I'm just waiting for the right palooka to come along and sweep me off my feet.
  1920s
• pet
  
  ( v ) To hug and kiss. They must be in love; I saw them petting at the drive-in last night.
  1920s
• pig
  
  ( n ) Glutton. He is a pig at parties.
  1920s
• piker
  
  ( n ) A cheapskate. The piker always makes me pay for the gas.
  1920s
• pill
  
  ( n ) An unlikable person. She is a bitter pill to take with her uppity attitude and all.
  1920s
• pinch
  
  ( v ) To capture or arrest. I heard Sedgewick got pinched for shoplifting.
  1920s
• pip
  
  ( n ) Something excellent, outstanding. Gwendolyn always pays the bill; she's a pip.
  1920s
• pipe down
  
  ( v ) Be quiet. Pipe down! I want to hear what the president is saying.
  1920s
• plastered
  
  ( adj ) Drunk, intoxicated. He was so plastered we had to roll him down the embankment to the car.
  1920s
• pop
  
  ( v ) To hit. Shut up or I will pop you.
  1920s
• potted
  
  ( adj ) Drunk, intoxicated. He was so potted we had to drag him to the car.
  1920s
• primed
  
  ( adj ) Drunk, intoxicated. He was so primed we had to pull him to the car in my kid brother's wagon.
  1920s
• pull rank
  
  ( vp ) To force someone to do something because you have the authority to do so. I didn't want to go but the boss pulled rank on me and made me.
  1920s
• punk
  
  ( n ) A young hooligan. All the punks in the neighborhood hang out at the pool hall.
  1920s
• punk out
  
  ( v ) To back out from cowardice. We were going over Niagara Falls in a barrel but Jason punked out.
  1920s
• pushover
  
  ( n ) A person easily convinced. Ask Zelda for 5 bucks: she's such a pushover, she'll give it to you.
  1920s
• put on the Ritz
  
  ( vp ) To do something in high style. I just got my bonus--tonight we're putting on the Ritz.
  1920s
• queen
  
  ( n ) A male homosexual. He is a lovely old queen who would do anything for you.
  1920s
• rag
  
  ( n ) Newspaper. We get very little international news in our local rag.
  1920s
• razz
  
  ( v ) To tease, make fun of. The baseball fans started to razz the umpire.
  1920s
• red hot
  
  ( ap ) Exciting. Your idea is really red hot.
  1920s
• ritzy
  
  ( adj ) Luxurious. She expected to be taken to a ritzy uptown club, not to a dive in the Bronx.
  1920s
• rube
  
  ( n ) A clumsy, unsophisticated person from the country. I must have looked like some rube when I signed the contract to buy the Brooklyn Bridge.
  1920s
• rubes
  
  ( n ) Money. I have to stay home tonight: no rubes.
  1920s
• sap
  
  ( v ) To hit, to club. The police sapped all the strikers and chased them away.
  1920s
• sap
  
  ( n ) A stupid person. Don't be a sap! If it looks too good to be true, it isn't.
  1920s
• Says you!
  
  ( int ) An interjection of disbelief. It's going to rain tomorrow? Says you!
  1920s
• scram
  
  ( v ) To leave. You're getting on my nerves, so. scram!
  1920s
• scrooched
  
  ( adj ) Drunk, intoxicated. You came home totally scrooched last night; don't ever talk to me again.
  1920s
• shack up
  
  ( v ) To sleep with someone at a hotel or motel. Claudia shacked up with her husband's business partner.
  1920s
• Sheba
  
  ( n ) A sexy or seductive woman. She is just the Sheba I've been waiting for.
  1920s
• sheik
  
  ( n ) A sexy man. Who is the sheik I saw her with last Friday?
  1920s
• shiv
  
  ( n ) A knife. If you are popular, why do you think you have to keep a shiv in your pocket all the time?
  1920s
• sinker
  
  ( n ) A doughnut. Hey, Joe! Give me a cup of joe and a couple of those week-old sinkers over there.
  1920s
• slay
  
  ( phr ) Be very funny. What a story! You just slay me, Ferdie!
  1920s
• slum
  
  ( v ) To go to a bad side of town. So what brings you to this side of town? Are you slumming?
  1920s
• smoke
  
  ( v ) To kill. The mob didn't like him muscling in on their territory, so they smoked him.
  1920s
• speakeasy
  
  ( n ) An illicit bar selling bootleg liquor. Ebenezer ran a speakeasy until the cops discovered it and broke it up.
  1920s
• spifflicated
  
  ( adj ) Drunk, intoxicated. You're so spifflicated you can barely walk; you certainly can't drive.
  1920s
• steady
  
  ( n ) Boyfriend or girlfriend. Natalie's steady is a hunk who works as a lifeguard at the beach.
  1920s
• steam up
  
  ( v ) To make angry, mad. Don't get so steamed up over the issue.
  1920s
• stick
  
  ( v ) Keep (contemptuous rejection). You can take your job and stick it.
  1920s
• Stick 'em up!
  
  ( phr ) Raise your hands. Drop that gun and stick 'em up!
  1920s
• struggle buggy
  
  ( np ) The backseat of a car. The struggle buggy is a parent's worst nightmare.
  1920s
• stuck on
  
  ( adj ) To be in love with. I think Arnold is stuck on his secretary.
  1920s
• swanky
  
  ( adj ) Luxurious. They spent the night in a swanky hotel with a ritzy restaurant on the top floor.
  1920s
• sweetie
  
  ( n ) A term of affection for a female. Check out the sweetie by the bar.
  1920s
• swell
  
  ( adj ) Excellent, outstanding. Thanks for helping out, Eula, you're really swell.
  1920s
• take
  
  ( v ) To swindle or cheat. He was taken for all his money at the casino.
  1920s
• take for a ride
  
  ( vp ) To drive someone away to kill. The capo ordered that the informer be taken for a ride.
  1920s
• The bank is closed
  
  ( phr ) No kissing or hugging. I like you, Mac, but tonight the bank's closed.
  1920s
• the berries
  
  ( n ) Something excellent, outstanding. You have to see the new exhibit at the art museum; it's the berries.
  1920s
• the hair of the dog
  
  ( np ) A shot of an alcoholic drink to relieve a hangover. Wow, my head hurts! Give me a little hair of the dog that bit me and see if that helps.
  1920s
• the real McCoy
  
  ( np ) Something genuine. That girl of his is not just good-looking; she's the real McCoy.
  1920s
• torpedo
  
  ( n ) A hired killer. The torpedo she hired to off her husband turned out to be an undercover cop.
  1920s
• twerp
  
  ( n ) Petty, immature brat. The little twerp told her mommie!
  1920s
• twisted
  
  ( adj ) Perverted. I wouldn't go out with him; everyone says he is twisted.
  1920s
• washed up
  
  ( adj ) Finished, done in. When the cops caught him, his criminal life was done in.
  1920s
• wet blanket
  
  ( np ) A squelcher. Ralph is such a wet blanket, I doubt you can get him to go a party.
  1920s
• wet rag
  
  ( np ) A squelcher. Arnold is such a wet rag he won't even dance.
  1920s
• What's eating you?
  
  ( phr ) What is wrong with you? You don't want to see the Dodgers play? What's eating you?.
  1920s
• Whoop-de-doo!
  
  ( int ) An Interjection of happy surprise. Our final has been cancelled? Whoopty-doo!
  1920s
• whoopee
  
  ( n ) A good time. I've had a tough week. Let's go out and make some whoopee this weekend.
  1920s
• whoopee
  
  ( n ) Hugging and kissing. They were in the living room making whoopee.
  1920s
• whoopie!
  
  ( int ) An Interjection of happy surprise. Whoopie! Mama hit the jackpot!
  1920s
• yahoo
  
  ( n ) A clumsy, unsophisticated person. Reba is going out with some yahoo from the sticks.
  1920s
• zozzled
  
  ( adj ) Drunk, intoxicated. You're so zozzled you can't stand up.
  1920s
• dumps
  
  ( n ) Depression, melancholy. His girl left him and now he is in the dumps.
  1920s
• hot
  
  ( adj ) Electrically charged or radioactive. He accidentally picked up a hot wire and got a shock
  1920s
• Jump in the lake!
  
  ( phr ) Don't bother me; you're crazy. You want me to loan you $5? Go jump in the lake!
  1920s
• gravy train
  
  ( np ) A source of easy money. Boy, I wish I were a computer geek and could ride that gravy train.
  1920s
• garden path, the
  
  ( np ) Misleading direction, deception. I'm afraid Grady has led you down the garden path, baby. You'll never get your money back.
  1920s
• pooch
  
  ( n ) A dog. Hey, man! Where'd you get the cool pooch?
  1920s
• conk
  
  ( v ) To hit. I think a brick must have fallen and conked Fuzzy on the noggin.
  1920s
• hairy
  
  ( adj ) Crude, clumsy. Franklin made a hairy gesture and skiddooed.
  1920s
• pick up
  
  ( v ) To try to get a stranger of the opposite sex to go home with you. Hey, let's go to the football game tonight and pick up a couple of girls.
  1920s
• pick-up
  
  ( n ) You can always find pick-ups at a Hot 101 concert. You can always find pick-ups at a Hot 101 concert.
  1920s
• hooey
  
  ( n ) Nonsense. All that stuff about inheriting a million dollars is just a lot of hooey.
  1920s
• in hot water
  
  ( pp ) In trouble. As his wife had predicted months earlier, Bradley's gambling finally got him in hot water.
  1920s
• hook
  
  ( n ) To get someone addicted to. I think Melvin is hooked on Gwendolyn; I saw her wearing his Yankees cap this morning.
  1920s
• nerts
  
  ( adj ) Crazy, insane. You are completely nerts if you think I will go with you.
  1920s
• bug-eyed
  
  ( adj ) Wide-eyed with astonishment. I've never seen anyone so bug-eyed as Turnips when I showed him the $100 bill.
  1920s
• peg
  
  ( v ) Figure out, come to understand. I've got Randolph pegged: he's a dirty, rotten rat!
  1920s
• lug
  
  ( n ) Coercion, pressure. He wouldn't pay until we put the lug on him.
  1920s
• tearjerker
  
  ( n ) Sentimental story or movie. The TV series "Touched by an Angel" was a real tearjerker.
  1920s
• booboisie
  
  ( n ) All boobs (knuckleheads) taken as a class. I'm never invited to Riley's parties: he only invites the cream of the local booboisie.
  1920s
• potty
  
  ( adj ) Slightly crazy, insane. You must be potty to go out with that geek
  1920s
• mojo
  
  ( n ) Voodoo magic power, personal power, inner strength. The president used his mojo to guarantee sunny weather for commencement.
  1920s
• shot
  
  ( n ) A swallow or single portion. Hey, give me a shot of that stuff you're drinking.
  1920s
• wheel
  
  ( n ) A leg. Letticia was convinced that her wheels were as good as anybody's.
  1920s
• breeze
  
  ( n ) Something easy to do. Cutting your own hair is a breeze!
  1920s
• G
  
  ( n ) A grand, $1000. Purvis left town owing me a "G."
  1920s
• grease-monkey
  
  ( n ) (Offensive) An automobile mechanic. Do you want be a grease-monkey all your life
  1920s
• dimwit
  
  ( n ) A stupid or foolish person. That dimwit thinks the Gettysburg Address is where Robert E. Lee lived.
  1920s
• malarkey
  
  ( n ) Nonsense. All that malarkey about Paris Hilton and me isn't true.
  1920s
• all nerves
  
  ( np ) Tense, nervous. By the time I got my convertible out of the car wash, I was all nerves.
  1930s
• all-nighter
  
  ( n ) A restaurant that stays open all night. It was 3 AM but they found a little all-nighter on the corner where they could get a cup of java.
  1930s
• bananas
  
  ( adj ) Crazy, insane. The guy went bananas when I asked him to leave.
  1930s
• bang
  
  ( n ) Fun, pleasure. I get a bang out of bungee jumping.
  1930s
• bash
  
  ( n ) A try, an attempt. Move back and let me have a bash at it.
  1930s
• beat all
  
  ( vp ) Be outrageous. Doesn't that beat all?
  1930s
• behind the 8 ball
  
  ( pp ) In trouble; disliked by someone. I forgot Mavis's birthday and now I'm behind the 8 ball.
  1930s
• bent
  
  ( adj ) Upset, angry. After being bent for so many years, Barry is now a broken man.
  1930s
• bill and coo
  
  ( v ) To hug and kiss. Don't you just love to bill and coo with your girl on the beach?
  1930s
• blabbermouth
  
  ( n ) Someone who talks too much. That blabbermouth told my girlfriend that he saw me with another girl.
  1930s
• blimp
  
  ( n ) A very fat person. I hate to have a blimp sitting next to me when I fly.
  1930s
• boff
  
  ( v ) To hit. He gets into trouble at home when he boffs his brother.
  1930s
• boogie-woogie
  
  ( n ) Jazz of the 30s and 40s. Boogie-woogie is really cutting the rug!
  1930s
• boondoggle
  
  ( n ) A con game, a deceitful transaction. Government contracts are often thinly veiled boondoggles.
  1930s
• boondoggle
  
  ( v ) To swindle or cheat. Heathcliff was boondoggled into selling his car for half of its value.
  1930s
• broke
  
  ( adj ) Without money. I'm broke man; don't ask me for money.
  1930s
• buck
  
  ( np ) Money. I need to make a quick buck.
  1930s
• buddy
  
  ( int ) Form of address for a male in the South. Hey, buddy, can you spare a dime?
  1930s
• burn up
  
  ( v ) Make angry, mad. That really burns me up!
  1930s
• bust out
  
  ( v ) To escape. His mother and three of her buddies busted out of prison but was caught 3 days later.
  1930s
• certifiable
  
  ( adj ) Crazy, insane. Stay away from that woman; she's 100 percent certifiable.
  1930s
• chintzy
  
  ( adj ) Cheap. That really was a chintzy present you got him.
  1930s
• cool
  
  ( v ) To kill. The mob cooled him a year or so ago.
  1930s
• cracker
  
  ( n ) A white person (offensive). That cracker just doesn't get jive.
  1930s
• cram
  
  ( v ) To study hard. He didn't study all semester and had to cram before exams.
  1930s
• cuddle
  
  ( v ) To hug and kiss. Let's go over to my front porch and cuddle some.
  1930s
• cut
  
  ( v ) To dilute. They cut the whiskey with water at that bar.
  1930s
• dead
  
  ( adj ) Quiet. This disco is really dead tonight.
  1930s
• deep pockets
  
  ( np ) Much money. Her boyfriend has deep pockets.
  1930s
• dibs
  
  ( n ) A claim. I have dibs on the shotgun seat.
  1930s
• dip
  
  ( n ) A stupid or foolish person. The guy who flunked four out of five classes is really a dip.
  1930s
• drop
  
  ( v ) To knock down. Say another word and I'll drop you.
  1930s
• Drop dead!
  
  ( int ) Absolutely not! Drop dead! I'll never go out with you.
  1930s
• duds
  
  ( n ) Clothes. I see you got some new duds for the dance.
  1930s
• dust off
  
  ( v ) To kill. The mob dusted him off when he ratted on them.
  1930s
• fade
  
  ( v ) To leave. I have homework to do, man, let's fade.
  1930s
• flivver
  
  ( n ) A broken down car. Stewart will never get me into that old flivver his father drives.
  1930s
• gasser
  
  ( n ) A great time, something hilarious. The new comedy on TV is a real gasser.
  1930s
• get first base
  
  ( vp ) Have initial success trying to seduce someone. He couldn't get to first base with her, let alone score.
  1930s
• ginchy
  
  ( adj ) Sexy. She is the ginchiest girl I've ever seen.
  1930s
• go bananas
  
  ( vp ) To lose control of yourself, go crazy. I am going to go bananas if I don't have a vacation soon.
  1930s
• go steady
  
  ( vp ) To date only one person. They went steady for a year, then broke up.
  1930s
• goof
  
  ( v ) Loaf, waste time. They used to goof on their way home from work.
  1930s
• goon
  
  ( n ) A stupid thug or bodyguard. The mob boss was accompanied by a couple of his goons.
  1930s
• guts
  
  ( n ) Courage. It takes a lot of guts to give the boss your true opinion.
  1930s
• hep cat
  
  ( np ) A cool jazz-lover. Nathan is the hep cat who took me to Birdland for the first time.
  1930s
• on the take
  
  ( pp ) Taking bribes. You'll have to find a judge on the take to get out of this one.
  1930s
• history
  
  ( adj ) Over, done with. I don't have any idea where my old boyfriend is. He's history.
  1930s
• hot
  
  ( adj ) Stolen. The police stopped them because they thought the car was hot.
  1930s
• hot seat
  
  ( np ) A critical position with great pressure for success. Dwayne is in the hot seat now: if he doesn't make his quota, he is history.
  1930s
• hotshot
  
  ( n ) A person who thinks he is very important. Look at Bud with his collar up; he thinks he is such a hotshot.
  1930s
• jerk
  
  ( n ) A stupid or foolish person. The jerk left his date at the party.
  1930s
• keen
  
  ( adj ) Wanting to, excited about {British}. I'm keen to go to the motion pictures.
  1930s
• keister
  
  ( n ) The buttocks. Llewelyn slipped on the wet floor and fell on his keister.
  1930s
• lick
  
  ( n ) A short musical improvisation. He isn't that creative a trumpeter; he gets most of his licks from others.
  1930s
• lightweight
  
  ( n ) Someone who cannot get things done. You don't want to give a job this important to a lightweight.
  1930s
• Mack
  
  ( int ) Form of address for a male. Hey, Mack, where is the nearest truck stop?
  1930s
• malarkey
  
  ( n ) Nonsense. He said he aced the chem exam. What malarkey!
  1930s
• Mickey-Mouse
  
  ( adj ) Minor, unimportant. Boswell ran some Mickey-Mouse radio station in Florida for a few years.
  1930s
• minxy
  
  ( adj ) Alluring, seductive. She is a totally minxy fox.
  1930s
• Monday morning quarterback
  
  ( np ) Someone who offers advice when it is too late. Fritz is a Monday morning quarterback who is never there when you need him.
  1930s
• mule
  
  ( n ) A carrier of illegal drugs. The cartel uses her as a mule to get their drugs into the country.
  1930s
• nogoodnik
  
  ( n ) A bad or worthless person. So then the nogoodnik tramped across my clean kitchen floor in his muddy boots.
  1930s
• odd ball
  
  ( np ) An eccentric. Freddie is a sort of odd ball who likes to take walks in the park.
  1930s
• on edge
  
  ( pp ) Nervous. All this waiting to hear from the doctor has me on edge.
  1930s
• P. I.
  
  ( abb ) A private investigator. Serena hired a P. I. to tail her husband.
  1930s
• piece of cake
  
  ( n ) Something easy. Working on a computer for me is a piece of cake.
  1930s
• pill
  
  ( n ) Anything difficult. Paying $1200 in taxes is a tough pill to take.
  1930s
• puke
  
  ( v, n ) To vomit. I feel like I am going to puke.
  1930s
• punch-drunk
  
  ( adj ) Crazy, insane. Don't listen to that punch-drunk bum; he's crazy.
  1930s
• put a bee in your bonnet
  
  ( vp ) Tell something interesting. Why are you grinning? You look like somebody's put a bee in your bonnet.
  1930s
• Put 'em up!
  
  ( vp ) To raise your hands. Drop that gun and put 'em up!
  1930s
• put-on
  
  ( n ) A deception. It was an elaborate put-on which I almost believed.
  1930s
• queer
  
  ( adj ) Counterfeit. Watch him; he's known for passing queer money.
  1930s
• raunchy
  
  ( adj ) Dirty, grimy. Get out of those raunchy clothes and take bath.
  1930s
• riot
  
  ( n ) A great time, something hilarious. The comedy program was a real riot.
  1930s
• rip-snorter
  
  ( n ) Something excellent, outstanding. His party last night was a rip-snorter.
  1930s
• rip-snorting
  
  ( adj ) Excellent, outstanding. Let me tell you, it was a rip-snorting party.
  1930s
• scag
  
  ( n ) An ugly female (offensive). He was seen last night in a sketchy part of town with a scag.
  1930s
• Shoot!
  
  ( int ) An interjection of disappointment (euphemism for s - - -). Shoot! I just ripped my pants.
  1930s
• short
  
  ( n ) A car. He was trying to sell a hot short to a salesman on a car lot.
  1930s
• shotgun wedding
  
  ( np ) A wedding forced by pregnancy. The marriage didn't last because it started out in a shotgun wedding.
  1930s
• skip
  
  ( v ) To miss, to not attend. Let's skip chemistry today and go to the library.
  1930s
• slap-happy
  
  ( adj ) Crazy, insane. Roland has been slap-happy ever since he left the ring.
  1930s
• snoot
  
  ( n ) Nose. She popped him on the snoot.
  1930s
• So what?
  
  ( int ) I don't care. So, Nellie got into Smith. So what?.
  1930s
• solid
  
  ( adj ) Excellent, outstanding. That bash at her house was solid!
  1930s
• soup up
  
  ( v ) Increase the power and speed of a car. Sure, he wins the drag races: his car is souped up.
  1930s
• soused
  
  ( adj ) Drunk, intoxicated. He came home soused and his wife locked him out.
  1930s
• speedo
  
  ( n ) Speedometer. The speedo was showing 35 mph but we seemed to be going much faster.
  1930s
• spook
  
  ( v ) To scare, frighten. A snake spooked the horse and he threw his rider.
  1930s
• spot
  
  ( v ) To loan. Could you spot me $10 until payday?
  1930s
• squad car
  
  ( np ) Police car. There is no way out; the house is surrounded by squad cars.
  1930s
• stick
  
  ( v ) Force someone to do something unpleasant. He left early and stuck me with cleaning up the house.
  1930s
• tag along
  
  ( vp ) Come with. Mind if I tag along for the ride?
  1930s
• take a hike
  
  ( v ) To leave. I am tired of all your complaining. Take a hike!
  1930s
• the word
  
  ( n ) The latest news or gossip. Say, what's the word on Jenny?
  1930s
• throw a bone
  
  ( vp ) Help out with something small. Look, if you make a lot of money, throw your old friend a bone.
  1930s
• tied to an apron string
  
  ( vp ) Dominated by the wife or a woman. Fred can't go fishing on the weekend; he's tied to his wife's apron string.
  1930s
• tomato
  
  ( n ) A female. That Shelly's one red hot tomato.
  1930s
• torch
  
  ( n ) An arsonist, someone who starts fires illegally for money. Burnham Goode was a torch for the mob until the police collared him on the job.
  1930s
• torch
  
  ( v ) To commit arson, to burn down illegally. I hear Burnham Goode torched his own restaurant for the insurance money.
  1930s
• twit
  
  ( n ) Petty, immature brat. The little twit barfed all over her date at the pizza parlor.
  1930s
• twit
  
  ( n ) Superficial person. She is such a twit who spends most of her time shopping.
  1930s
• welch
  
  ( v ) To fail to meet an obligation. He welched on his promise to help paint my house.
  1930s
• What's with you?
  
  ( phr ) What is wrong with you? Hey, what's with you, man. You're really bent.
  1930s
• whiz
  
  ( n ) Talented person. He is a whiz at the computer.
  1930s
• doodly-squat
  
  ( n ) A small, worthless amount The president doesn't know doodly-squat about running a country.
  1930s
• lame-brain
  
  ( n ) A stupid or foolish person. This lame-brain thinks it is the Umpire State Building in New York.
  1930s
• lame-brained
  
  ( adj ) Stupid or foolish. I've never heard such a lame-brained idea in my life.
  1930s
• thingamajig
  
  ( n ) An object for which a name is unavailable. What was that thingamajig he was holding?
  1930s
• fly
  
  ( v ) Be workable Your idea doesn't have legs; it won't fly.
  1930s
• fly the coop
  
  ( vp ) To leave, elope, or escape. When he saw you coming up the walk, he flew the coop.
  1930s
• drip
  
  ( n ) A weak, indecisive person. That drip doesn't know how to tie his shoes.
  1930s
• spiv
  
  ( n ) Slick con man. Some worthless spiv married Myrtle, took her money, and left her.
  1930s
• dish
  
  ( n ) Something you like. Playing quoits on a Sunday afternoon is not quite my cup of tea.
  1930s
• dish (out)
  
  ( v ) To serve, to do something hard or harsh. Tommy isn't afraid of flamers; he can dish it out with the best of them.
  1930s
• cup of tea
  
  ( np ) Something you like. Playing quoits on a Sunday afternoon is not quite my cup of tea.
  1930s
• jitterbug
  
  ( n ) A nervous person. Calm down, Donny, don't be such a jitterbug.
  1930s
• crunch
  
  ( n ) Climax, critical point. Bertie is someone you can count on in a crunch.
  1930s
• pooch out
  
  ( v ) Stick out, protrude. Millie, why is your stomach pooching out like that?
  1930s
• cheesecake
  
  ( n ) Photography of well-proportioned women. Betty Grable was a popular piece of cheesecake during World War II.
  1930s
• gun
  
  ( v ) To accelerate something suddenly. When Pedro saw Maria down the road, he gunned his old jalopy.
  1930s
• wrap up
  
  ( v ) To finalize, bring to an end. Merlyn wrapped up his presentation with a chorus of "Happy Days" played on the piano.
  1930s
• plugged nickel
  
  ( np ) Something worthless. That car of his isn't worth a plugged nickel.
  1930s
• payola
  
  ( n ) A bribe to promote a song on radio or TV. It is hard to believe that most of the songs we sing are popular only because disc jockeys received payola.
  1930s
• savvy
  
  ( n ) Brains, intelligence Ask Jean-Phillippe; he has a lot of savvy when it comes to car engines.
  1930s
• Yikes!
  
  ( int ) Interjection of surprise. Yikes! That was a close call!
  1930s
• shot
  
  ( adj ) Tired, exhausted; worn out, broken down. I can't go anywhere tonight: me and my car are shot.
  1930s
• out of this world
  
  ( pp ) Excellent, outstanding. Maggie's gown for the prom is out of this world.
  1930s
• nelly
  
  ( n ) Male homosexual That sweet old nelly wouldn't hurt a fly.
  1930s
• bats
  
  ( adj ) Crazy, insane. You're completely bats if you think I'll lend you $5.
  1930s
• crate
  
  ( n ) An old car or plane. You can always find some schnook to sell that old crate of yours to.
  1930s
• lug
  
  ( n ) A thug; a dumb but nice guy. The big lug never forgets my birthday.
  1930s
• snazzy
  
  ( adj ) Smart, stylish, nice looking. Did you see that snazzy new car Sue Barew is driving around in?
  1930s
• corny
  
  ( adj ) Simple-minded, trite. I get so tired of Hugh Jeego's corny jokes I don't know what to do.
  1930s
• boob
  
  ( n ) A stupid or foolish person That boob O'Reilly picked his nose three times at the dinner table.
  1930s
• plonk
  
  ( n ) Cheap wine, wine of poor quality. Mable, we can't serve plonk with these bugers; they deserve better.
  1930s
• groove
  
  ( n ) A situation in which you feel comfortable, competent. I just can do this, man; I'm not in my groove.
  1930s
• hoo-ha
  
  ( n ) An uproar, commotion. Why all the hoo-ha over calling my secretary "Sweetie-pie"?
  1930s
• scrag
  
  ( v ) To kill. Maxi got scragged in a car accident
  1930s
• belt
  
  ( n ) A drink of hard liquor. After a day like today, I need a belt before going to bed.
  1930s
• bop
  
  ( v ) To hit. Frannie bopped me on the head, mommy!
  1930s
• wheel-horse
  
  ( n ) An important, visible, hard-working member of an organization. Correy Publican was a wheel-horse of the GOP before her arrest.
  1930s
• can
  
  ( n ) The buttocks. Frieda slipped on a banana peel and fell on her can.
  1930s
• umph
  
  ( n ) umph Couldn't you get a little more, I don't know, umph into this ad campaign?
  1930s
• oomph
  
  ( ) Spirit, strength, power. You need to sing that song with a little more oomph to get it across.
  1930s
• crooner
  
  ( n ) A man who croons. (Bing Crosby was the first crooner.) That raspy-voiced Rusty Horne thinks he's a crooner!
  1930s
• kiss off
  
  ( vp ) Leave, dismiss, kill. Why don't you just kiss off if you don't want to work.
  1930s