Historical Dictionary of American Slang

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74 Results in L (You are getting Clean results. Get Full Results for "L")

• l's
  
  ( n ) Driver's license. Hey Alethia, did you get your l's yet?
  1990s
• la-di-da
  
  ( adj, int ) Pretentious, snobbish. Vernon is engaged to some la-di-da upscale trophy girl.
  1880s
• la-di-dah
  
  ( adj, int ) Pretentious, snobbish. Susan Liddy-Gates is a la-di-dah high society lawyer.
  1880s
• lackey
  
  ( adj ) Bad, lazy, worthless. Her attitude is so lackey.
  1990s
• laid-back
  
  ( adj ) Calm and relaxed. You need to be more laid-back.
  1960s
• lame
  
  ( adj ) Weak, inadequate. That is really a lame excuse.
  1960s
• lame
  
  ( adj ) Bad, of poor quality. What a lame excuse!
  1950s
• 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
• later
  
  ( int ) Good-bye. Later, dude; I have to go.
  1960s
• lay a patch
  
  ( vp ) To screech your tires pulling out. Hilda just left; I heard her lay a patch pulling out.
  1950s
• lay a strip
  
  ( vp ) To screech your tires pulling out. Heidi just went home; I heard her lay a strip pulling out.
  1950s
• lay off
  
  ( v ) To fire (temporarily). The company laid off 100 people this week.
  1910s
• lay off
  
  ( v ) To quit. Hey, lay off bothering me!
  1900s
• lay on
  
  ( v ) To tell. OK, lay the bad news on me; I'm ready.
  1950s
• lay rubber
  
  ( vp ) To screech your tires pulling out. Let's get out of here; lay some rubber, man!
  1950s
• lay some scratch
  
  ( vp ) To screech your tires pulling out. He lays some scratch every time he pulls away in that car of his.
  1980s
• lead sled
  
  ( np ) A car with extensive body work. That lead sled of his can't drag for the weight.
  1960s
• 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.
  1950s
• 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
• left
  
  ( adj ) Angry, mad. When Maria walked in and caught her parents reading her diary, she got left.
  1990s
• legit
  
  ( adj ) Excellent, outstanding. That party last night was totally legit!
  1990s
• Let her rip!
  
  ( vp ) Start it up, release it. OK, put her in gear and let her rip!
  1850s
• Let it all hang out.
  
  ( phr ) To lose your inhibitions. We're going to have a party this weekend where you can let it all hang out.
  1960s
• Let someone have it
  
  ( vp ) To shoot someone. If you don't stop grabbing for my gun, I'm going to let you have it.
  1940s
• level
  
  ( n ) Honest, truthful. Level with me: did you really take Jeanette MacDonald out?
  1920s
• libes
  
  ( n ) The library. He really gives off good vibes.
  1980s
• lick
  
  ( n ) A bit, the smallest amount. He doesn't have lick of sense.
  1900s
• lick
  
  ( n ) A criticism, insult. Lorraine took her share of licks in the papers as she made her way up to stardom.
  1970s
• lick
  
  ( n ) A short musical improvisation. He isn't that creative a trumpeter; he gets most of his licks from others.
  1930s
• lickspittle
  
  ( n ) A sycophant, toady. Mugsy is a lickspittle who will do anything the boss asks him.
  1820s
• lift
  
  ( v ) To steal. He was picked up for lifting hubcaps.
  1950s
• lifted
  
  ( adj ) Drunk, intoxicated. Darlene got a little lifted on the rum and fell off the bench.
  1980s
• light
  
  ( v ) To ignore. I was so lighted by my boyfriend yesterday.
  1990s
• light out
  
  ( v ) Move quickly, leave suddenly. When Mel heard Lance was there, he lit out for Megan's place.
  1860s
• lightweight
  
  ( n ) Someone who cannot get things done. You don't want to give a job this important to a lightweight.
  1930s
• like
  
  ( int ) Speech punctuation. Hey, man, why are you, like, trying to, like, get me, like, to do something, like, I don't like.
  1960s
• like crazy
  
  ( pp ) Really fast. We're studying like crazy for the exam tomorrow.
  1940s
• lily-livered
  
  ( adj ) Cowardly. That lily-livered scoundrel never served a day in the army.
  1850s
• line
  
  ( n ) An untrue story or statement. Cornelius shot me some line about being an Eskimo who wandered too far south.
  1940s
• 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
• lingo
  
  ( n ) Speech, language dialect. Cherokee sure is a strange lingo.
  1660s
• link card
  
  ( np ) Food stamps. Link cards are not accepted in this club.
  1980s
• lit
  
  ( adj ) Angry, mad. I was fully lit after he dissed me like that.
  1990s
• lit
  
  ( adj ) Drunk, intoxicated. He came home lit and fell into bed like a rock.
  1920s
• live
  
  ( adj ) Excellent, outstanding. That party was live last night!
  1990s
• 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
• live-park
  
  ( v ) To park with the motor running. Jump out. I'll live park while you get the sodas.
  1980s
• live-wire
  
  ( np ) An exciting person. Maisy is a live-wire everyone wants at his or her party.
  1900s
• loaded
  
  ( adj ) Drunk; intoxicated. He partied all night and came home loaded.
  1890s
• loaded
  
  ( adj ) Rich, wealthy. I hear Leroy's parents are loaded.
  1900s
• lock up
  
  ( v ) To fight. If you keep talking jive, we're going to lock up.
  1980s
• lockup
  
  ( n ) Jail or prison. He was picked up on a DUI and spent the night in the lockup.
  1950s
• lollapalooza
  
  ( n ) Something excellent, outstanding. Boy, that storm last night was a real lollapalooza, wasn't it?
  1900s
• loony
  
  ( adj ) Crazy, insane, lunatic. Mike Hunt is so loony he thinks Turkey is the capital of Greece.
  1870s
• loony bin
  
  ( np ) Insane asylum. Loan you $5? You should be locked up in a loony bin!
  1910s
• loopy
  
  ( adj ) Drunk; intoxicated. He partied all night and then came to the final loopy.
  1980s
• loot
  
  ( n ) Money. Yo man, I don't have any loot; hook me up.
  1990s
• loot
  
  ( n ) Stolen goods or money. The robbers were caught red-handed still holding the loot.
  1780s
• lop
  
  ( n ) A stupid or foolish person. You are such a lop; can't you even park a car?
  1990s
• loser
  
  ( n ) A person who cannot succeed. John is a loser who has never held a job for a year.
  1950s
• louse
  
  ( n ) A mean, despicable person. I won't have anything to do with that louse Ivan Oder.
  1900s
• love handles
  
  ( np ) Rolls of fat on the sides. I exercise every day, but I can't get rid of these love handles.
  1970s
• low
  
  ( adj ) Secret, confidential. I'll tell you who she's seeing but you have to keep this low.
  1990s
• low
  
  ( adj ) Sad, depressed. I just flunked chem and I'm feeling really low.
  1740s
• low-key
  
  ( adj ) Relaxed, quiet, inconspicuous. I prefer a low-key approach to negotiations.
  1970s
• low-keyed
  
  ( adj ) Relaxed, quiet, inconspicuous. I prefer a low-keyed approach to negotiations.
  1960s
• lug
  
  ( n ) A thug; a dumb but nice guy. The big lug never forgets my birthday.
  1930s
• lug
  
  ( n ) Coercion, pressure. He wouldn't pay until we put the lug on him.
  1920s
• lulu
  
  ( n ) Something excellent, outstanding. That shot he made outside the 3-point zone was a lulu!
  1940s
• lunachick
  
  ( n ) A crazy female. She's such a lunachick she went postal when he took her parking place.
  1990s
• lunch
  
  ( v ) To lose control of yourself, go crazy. She lunched when she found out she needed another math class.
  1990s
• lunkhead
  
  ( n ) A stupid or foolish person. Watch out, lunkhead! You'll spill it!
  1880s
• lush
  
  ( n ) An alcoholic. Ferdie's dad was a lush but he turned out alright.
  1890s