A
- Alderman: A man’s pot belly
- Ameche: Telephone
- Ankle:
- (n) Woman
- (v) To walk
B
- Babe: Woman
- Baby: A person, can be said to either a man or a woman
- Bangtails: Racehorses
- Barber: Talk
- Baumes rush: Senator Caleb H. Baumes sponsored a New York law (the Baumes Law) which called for automatic life imprisonment of any criminal convicted more than three times. Some criminals would move to a state that didn’t have this law in order to avoid its penalty should they be caught again, and this was known as a “Baumes rush,” because of the similarity to “bum’s rush.”
- Be on the nut, To: To be broke
- Bean-shooter: Gun
- Beezer: Nose
- Behind the eight-ball: In a difficult position, in a tight spot
- Bent cars: Stolen cars
- Berries: Dollars
- Big house: Jail
- Big one, The: Death
- Big sleep, The: Death (coined by Chandler)
- Bim: Woman
- Bindle
- of heroin: Little folded-up piece of paper (with heroin inside)
- the bundle (or “brindle”) in which a hobo carries all his worldy possessions
- Bindle punk, bindle stiff: Chronic wanderers; itinerant misfits, criminals, migratory harvest workers, and lumber jacks. Called so because they carried a “bindle.” George and Lenny in Of Mice and Men are bindle stiffs.
- Bing: Jailhouse talk for solitary confinement, hence “crazy”
- Bird: Man
- Bit: Prison sentence
- Blip off: To kill
- Blow: Leave
- Blow one down: Kill someone
- Blower: Telephone
- Bo: Pal, buster, fellow, as in “Hey, bo”
- Boiler: Car
- Boob: Dumb guy
- Boozehound: Drunkard
- Bop: To kill
- Box:
- A safe
- A bar
- Box job: A safecracking
- Brace (somebody): Grab, shake up
- Bracelets: Handcuffs
- Break it up: Stop that, quit the nonsense
- Breeze: To leave, go; also breeze off: get lost
- Broad: Woman
- Broderick, The: A thorough beating
- Bruno: Tough guy, enforcer
- Bucket: Car
- Bulge, as in “The kid had the bulge there”: The advantage
- Bulls: Plainclothes railroad cops; uniformed police; prison guards
- Bum’s rush, To get the: To be kicked out
- Bump: Kill
- Bump gums: To talk about nothing worthwhile
- Bump off: Kill; also, bump-off: a killing
- Buncoing some (people): Defrauding people
- Bunk:
- “Take a bunk” – leave, disappear
- “That’s the bunk” – that’s false, untrue
- “to bunk” – to sleep
- Bunny, as in “Don’t be a bunny”: Don’t be stupid
- Burn powder: Fire a gun
- Bus: Big car
- Butter and egg man: The money man, the man with the bankroll, a yokel who comes to town to blow a big wad in nightclubs (see reference)
- Button: Face, nose, end of jaw
- Button man: Professional killer
- Buttons: Police
- Butts: Cigarettes
- Buy a drink: To pour a drink
- Buzz, as in “I’m in the dump an hour and the house copper gives me the buzz”: Looks me up, comes to my door
- Buzzer: Policeman’s badge
C
- C: $100, a pair of Cs = $200
- Cabbage: Money
- Caboose: Jail (from “calaboose,” which derives from calabozo, the Spanish word for “jail”)
- Call copper: Inform the police
- Can:
- Jail
- Car
- Can house: Bordello
- Can-opener: Safecracker who opens cheap safes
- Canary: Woman singer
- Case dough: “Nest egg … the theoretically untouchable reserve for emergencies” (Speaking)
- Cat: Man
- Century: $100
- Cheaters: Sunglasses
- Cheese it: Put things away, hide
- Chew: Eat
- Chicago lightning: gunfire
- Chicago overcoat: Coffin
- Chick: Woman
- Chilled off: Killed
- Chin: Conversation; chinning: talking
- Chin music: Punch on the jaw
- Chinese angle, as in “You’re not trying to find a Chinese angle on it, are you?”: A strange or unusual twist or aspect to something
- Chinese squeeze: Grafting by skimming profits off the top
- Chippy: Woman of easy virtue
- Chisel: To swindle or cheat
- Chiv, chive: Knife, “a stabbing or cutting weapon” (Speaking)
- Chopper squad: Men with machine guns
- Clammed: Close-mouthed (clammed up)
- Clean sneak: An escape with no clues left behind
- Clip joint: In some cases, a night-club where the prices are high and the patrons are fleeced (Partridge’s), but in Pick-Up a casino where the tables are fixed
- Clipped: Shot
- Close your head: Shut up
- Clout: Shoplifter
- Clubhouse: Police station
- Coffee-and-doughnut, as in “These coffee-and-doughnut guns are …”: Could come from “coffee and cakes,” which refers to something cheap or of little value.
- Con: Confidence game, swindle
- Conk: Head
- Cool: To knock out
- Cooler: Jail
- Cop
- Detective, even a private one
- To win, as in a bet
- Copped, To be: Grabbed by the cops
- Copper
- Policeman
- Time off for good behaviour
- Corn: Bourbon (“corn liquor”)
- Crab: Figure out
- Crate: Car
- Creep joint: ?? Can mean a whorehouse where the girls are pickpockets, but that doesn’t fit in Pick-Up
- Croak: To kill
- Croaker: Doctor
- Crushed out: Escaped (from jail)
- Cush: Money (a cushion, something to fall back on)
- Cut down: Killed (esp. shot?)
D
- Daisy: None too masculine
- Dame: Woman
- Dance: To be hanged
- Dangle: Leave, get lost
- Darb: Something remarkable or superior
- Dark meat: Black person
- Daylight, as in “let the daylight in” or “fill him with daylight”: Put a hole in, by shooting or stabbing
- Deck, as in “deck of Luckies”: Pack of cigarettes
- Derrick: Shoplifter
- Diapers, as in “Pin your diapers on”: Clothes, get dressed
- Dib: Share (of the proceeds)
- Dick: Detective (usually qualified with “private” if not a policeman)
- Dinge: Black person
- Dingus: Thing
- Dip: Pickpocket
- Dip the bill: Have a drink
- Dish: Pretty woman
- Dive: A low-down, cheap sort of place
- Dizzy with a dame, To be: To be deeply iin love with a woman
- Do the dance: To be hanged
- Dogs: Feet
- Doll, dolly: Woman
- Dope
- Drugs, of any sort
- Information
- As a verb, as in “I had him doped as” – to have figured for
- Dope fiend: Drug addict
- Dope peddler: Drug dealer
- Dormy: Dormant, quiet, as in “Why didn’t you lie dormy in the place you climbed to?”
- Dough: Money
- Drift: Go, leave
- Drill: Shoot
- Drink out of the same bottle, as in “We used to drink out of the same bottle”: We were close friends
- Drop a dime: Make a phone call, sometimes meaning to the police to inform on someone
- Droppers: Hired killers
- Drum: Speakeasy
- Dry-gulch: Knock out, hit on head after ambushing
- Ducat
- Ticket
- For hobos, a union card or card asking for alms
- Duck soup: Easy, a piece of cake
- Dummerer: Somebody who pretends to be (deaf and?) dum b in order to appear a more deserving beggar
- Dump: Roadhouse, club; or, more generally, any place
- Dust
- Nothing, as in “Tinhorns are dust to me”
- Leave, depart, as in “Let’s dust”
- A look, as in “Let’s give it the dust”
- Dust out: Leave, depart
- Dutch
- As in “in dutch” – trouble
- As in “A girl pulled the Dutch act” – committed suicide
- As in “They don’t make me happy neither. I get a bump once’n a while. Mostly a Dutch.” – ?? relates to the police (Art)
E
- Eel juice: liquor
- Egg: Man
- Eggs in the coffee: Easy, a piece of cake, okay, all right
- Elbow:
- Policeman
- A collar or an arrest. Someone being arrested will “have their elbows checked.”
- Electric cure: Electrocution
- Elephant ears: Police
F
- Fade: Go away, get lost
- Fakeloo artist: Con man
- Fin: $5 bill
- Finder: Finger man
- Finger, Put the finger on: Identify
- Flat
- Broke
- As in “That’s flat” – that’s for sure, undoubtedly
- Flattie: Flatfoot, cop
- Flimflam(m): Swindle
- Flippers: Hands
- Flivver: A Ford automobile
- Flogger: Overcoat
- Flop:
- Go to bed
- As in “The racket’s flopped” – fallen through, not worked out
- Flophouse: “A cheap transient hotel where a lot of men sleep in large rooms” (Speaking)
- Fog: To shoot
- Frail: Woman
- Frau: Wife
- Fry: To be electrocuted
- From nothing, as in “I know from nothing”: I don’t know anything
G
- Gams: Legs (especially a woman’s)
- Gashouse, as in “getting gashouse”: Rough
- Gasper: Cigarette
- Gat: Gun
- Gate, as in “Give her the gate”: The door, as in leave
- Gaycat: “A young punk who runs with an older tramp and there is always a connotation of homosexuality” (Speaking)
- Gee: Man
- Geetus: Money
- Getaway sticks: Legs (especially a woman’s)
- Giggle juice: Liquor
- Gin mill: Bar
- Gink: Man
- Girlie: Woman
- Give a/the third: Interrogate (third degree)
- Glad rags: Fancy clothes
- Glom
- To steal
- To see, to take a look
- Glaum: Steal
- Go climb up your thumb: Go away, get lost
- Go over the edge with the rams: To get far too drunk
- Go to read and write: Rhyming slang for take flight
- Gonif: Thief (Yiddish)
- Goofy: Crazy
- Goog: Black eye
- Goon: Thug
- Goose: Man
- Gooseberry lay: Stealing clothes from a clothesline (see reference)
- Gowed-up: On dope, high
- Grab (a little) air: Put your hands up
- Graft:
- Con jobs
- Cut of the take
- Grand: $1000
- Greasers:
- Mexicans or Italians
- A hoodlum, thief or punk
- Grift:
- As in “What’s the grift?”: What are you trying to pull?
- Confidence game, swindle
- Grifter: Con man
- Grilled: Questioned
- Gum:
- As in “Don’t … gum every play I make”: Gum up, interfere with
- Opium
- Gum-shoe: Detective; also gumshoeing = detective work
- Gun for: Look for, be after
- Guns:
- Pickpockets
- Hoodlums
- Gunsel:
- Gunman (Hammett is responsible for this use; see note
- Catamite
- “1. (p) A male oral sodomist, or passive pederast. 2. A brat. 3. (By extension) An informer; a weasel; an unscrupulous person.” (Underworld)
- Note Yiddish “ganzl” = Gosling
H
- Hack: Taxi
- Half, A:50 cents
- Hammer and saws: Police (rhyming slang for laws)
- Hard: Tough
- Harlem sunset: Some sort fatal injury caused by knife (Farewell, 14)
- Hash house: A cheap restaurant
- Hatchetmen: Killers, gunmen
- Have the bees: To be rich
- Have the curse on someone: Wanting to see someone killed
- Head doctors: Psychiatrists
- Heap: Car
- Heat: A gun, also heater
- Heeled: Carrying a gun
- High pillow: Person at the top, in charge
- Highbinders
- Corrupt politician or functionary
- Professional killer operating in the Chinese quarter of a city
- Hinky: Suspicious
- Hitting the pipe: Smoking opium
- Hitting on all eight: In good shape, going well (refers to eight cylinders in an engine)
- Hock shop: Pawnshop
- Hogs: Engines
- Hombre: Man, fellow
- Hooch: Liquor
- Hood: Criminal
- Hooker, as in “a stiff hooker of whiskey”: A drink of strong liquor
- Hoosegow: Jail
- Hop:
- Drugs, mostly morphine or derivatives like heroin
- Bell-hop
- Hop-head: Drug addict, esp. heroin
- Horn: Telephone
- Hot: Stolen
- House dic k: House/hotel detective
- House peeper: House/hotel detective
- Hype: Shortchange artist
I
- Ice : Diamonds
- In stir: In jail
- Ing-bing, as in to throw an: A fit
- Iron: A car
J
- Jack: Money
- Jake, Jakeloo: Okay
- Jam: Trouble, as in “in a jam”
- Jane: A woman
- Jasper: A man (perhaps a hick)
- Java: Coffee
- Jaw: Talk
- Jerking a nod: Nodding
- Jingle-brained: Addled
- Jobbie: Man
- Joe: Coffee, as in “a cup of joe”
- Johns: Police
- Johnson brother: Criminal
- Joint: Place, as in “my joint”
- Jorum of skee: Shot of liquor
- Joss house: Temple or house of worship for a Chinese religion
- Juice: Interest on a loanshark’s loan
- Jug: Jail
- Jujus: Marijuana cigarettes
- Jump, The: A hanging
- Junkie: Drug addict
K
- Kale: Money
- Keister, keyster:
- Suitcase
- Safe, strongbox
- Buttocks
- Kick, as in “I got no kick”: I have nothing to complain about
- Kick off: Die
- Kicking the gong around: Taking opium
- Kiss: To punch
- Kisser: Mouth
- Kitten: Woman
- Knock off: Kill
- Knockover: Heist, theft
L
- Lammed off: Ran away, escaped
- Large: $1,000; twenty large would be $20,000
- Law, the: The police
- Lay
- Job, as in Marlowe saying he’s on “a confidential lay;” or more generally, what someone does, as in “The hotel-sneak used to be my lay”
- As in “I gave him the lay” – I told him where things stood (as in lay of the of land)
- Lead poisoning: To be shot
- Lettuce: Folding money
- Lid: Hat
- Lip: (Criminal) lawyer
- Lit, To be: To be drunk
- Loogan: Marlowe defines this as “a guy with a gun”
- Looker: Pretty woman
- Look-out: Outside man
- Lousy with: To have lots of
Lug
- Bullet
- Ear
- Man (“You big lug!”)
- Lunger: Someone with tuberculosis
M
- Made: Recognized
- Map: Face
- Marbles: Pearls
- Mark: Sucker, victim of swindle or fixed game
- Mazuma: Money
- Meat, as in “He’s your meat”: He’s the subject of interest, there’s your man
- Meat wagon: Ambulance
- Mesca: Marijuana
- Mickey Finn
- (n) A drink drugged with knock-out drops
- (v) Take a Mickey Finn: Take off, leave
- Mill: Typewriter
- Mitt: Hand
- Mob: Gang (not necessarily Mafia)
- Moll: Girlfriend
- Monicker: Name
- Mouthpiece: Lawyer
- Mud-pipe: Opium pipe
- Mug: Face
- Muggles: Marijuana
- Mugs: Men (esp. dum b ones)
- Mush: Face
N
- Nailed: Caught by the police
- Nance: An effeminate man
- Nevada gas: Cyanide
- Newshawk: Reporter
- Newsie: Newspaper vendor
- Nibble one: To have a drink
- Nicked: Stole
- Nippers: Handcuffs
- Nix on (something): No to (something)
- Noodle: Head
- Nose-candy: Heroin, in some cases
- Number: A person, can be either a man or a woman
O
- Off the track, as in “He was too far off the track. Strictly section eight”: Said about a man who becomes insanely violent
- Op: Detective (esp. private), from “operative”
- Orphan paper: Bad cheques
- Out on the roof, To be: To drink a lot, to be drunk
- Oyster fruit: Pearls
P
- Pack: To carry, esp. a gun
- Palooka: Man, probably a little stupid
- Pan: Face
- Paste: Punch
- Patsy: Person who is set up; fool, chump
- Paw: Hand
- Peaching: Informing
- Pearl diver: dish-washer
- Peeper: Detective
- Pen: Penitentiary, jail
- Peterman: Safecracker who uses nitroglycerin
- Pigeon: Stool-pigeon
- Pill
- Bullet
- Cigarette
- Pinch: An arrest, capture
- Pins: Legs (especially a woman’s)
- Pipe: See or notice
- Pipe that: Get that, listen to that
- Pipes: Throat
- Pistol pockets: ?? heels?
- Pitching woo: Making love (Turner)
- Plant
- (n) Someone on the scene but in hiding
- (v) Bury
- Plug: Shoot
- Plugs: People
- Poke
- Bankroll, stake
- Punch (as in “take a poke at”)
- Pooped: Killed
- Pop: Kill
- Pro skirt: Prostitute
- Puffing: Mugging
- Pug: Pugilist, boxer
- Pump: Heart
- Pump metal: Shoot bullets
- Punk
- Hood, thug
- “A jailhouse sissy who is on the receiving end.” (Also as a verb, as in “to get punked.”)
- Puss: Face
- Put down: Drink
- Put the screws on: Question, get tough with
Q
- Quee r
- (n) Counterfeit
- (n) Sexually abnormal
- (v) To ruin something or put it wrong (“quee r this racket”)
R
- Rags: Clothes
- Ranked: Observed, watched, given the once-over
- Rap
- Criminal charge
- Information, as in “He gave us the rap”
- Hit
- Rappers: Fakes, set-ups
- Rat: Inform
- Rate: To be good, to count for something
- Rats and mice: Dice, i.e. craps
- Rattler: Train
- Red-light: To eject from a car or train
- Redhot: Some sort of criminal
- Reefers: Marijuana cigarettes
- Rhino: Money
- Ribbed up, as in “I got a Chink ribbed up to get the dope”: Set up, arranged for? “I have arranged for a Chinese person to get the information”? (Knockover, 203)
- Right: Adjective indicating quality
- Right gee, Right guy: A good fellow
- Ringers: Fakes
- Rod: Gun
- Roscoe: Gun
- Roundheels
- A fighter with a glass jaw
- A woman of easy virtue
- Rub-out: A killing
- Rube: Bumpkin, easy mark
- Rumble, the: The news
- Run-out, To take the: Leave, escape
S
- Sap
- A dum b guy
- A blackjack
- Sap poison: Getting hit with a sap
- Savvy?: Get me? Understand?
- Sawbuck: $10 bill (a double sawbuck is a $20 bill)
- Scatter, as in “And don’t bother to call your house peeper and send him up to the scatter”
- Saloon or speakeasy.
- A hideout, a room or lodging
- Schnozzle: Nose
- Scram out: Leave
- Scratch: Money
- Scratcher: Forger
- Screw
- Leave, as in “Let’s screw before anybody pops in”
- Prison guard
- Send over: Send to jail
- Shamus: (Private) detective
- Sharper: A swindler or sneaky person
- Shells: Bullets
- Shine
- Black person
- Moonshine, bootleg liquor
- Shine Indian: ?? (Knockover, 89)
- Shiv: Knife
- Shylock: Loanshark
- Shyster: Lawyer
- Silk, as in “all silk so far”: All okay so far
- Sing: Confess, admit secrets
- Sister: Woman
- Skate around, as in “She skates around plenty”: To be of easy virtue
- Skid rogue: A bum who can’t be trusted
- Skipout: Leave a hotel without paying, or a person who does so
- Skirt: Woman
- Slant, Get a: Take a look
- Sleuth: Detective
- Slug
- As a noun, bullet
- As a verb, to knock unconscious
- Smell from the barrel, Have a: Have a drink
- Smoke: A black person
- Smoked: Drunk
- Snap a cap: Shout
- Snatch: Kidnap
- Sneak
- Leave, get lost, as in “If you’re not a waiter, sneak”
- Type of burglary, as in as in “The hotel-sneak used to be my lay”
- Sneeze: Take
- Snitch: An informer, or, as a verb, to inform
- Snooper: Detective
- Snort (as in of gin): A drink
- Snow-bird: (Cocaine) addict
- Snowed: To be on drugs (heroin? cocaine?); also “snowed up”
- Soak: To pawn
- Sock: Punch
- Soup: Nitroglycerine
- Soup job: To crack a safe using nitroglycerine
- Spill: Talk, inform; spill it = tell me
- Spinach: Money
- Spitting: Talking
- Spondulix: Money
- Square: Honest; on the square: telling the truth
- Squirt metal: Shoot bullets
- Step off: To be hanged
- Sticks of tea: Marijuana cigarettes
- Stiff: A corpse
- Sting: Culmination of a con game
- Stool-pigeon: Informer
- Stoolie: Stool-pigeon
- Stringin’: As in along, feeding someone a story
- Sucker: Someone ripe for a grifter’s scam
- Sugar: Money
- Swift, To have plenty of: To be fast (on the draw)
- Swing: Hang
T
- Tail: Shadow, follow
- Take a powder: Leave
- Take it on the heel and toe: Leave
- Take on: Eat
- Take the air: Leave
- Take the bounce: To get kicked out (here, of a hotel)
- Take the fall for: Accept punishment for
- Tea: Marijuana
- That’s the crop: That’s all of it
- Three-spot: Three-year term in jail
- Throw a joe: Pass out ?? (Key, 86)
- Throw lead: Shoot bullets
- Ticket: P.I. license
- Tiger milk: Some sort of liquor
- Tighten the screws: Put pressure on somebody
- Tin: Badge
- Tip a few: To have a few drinks
- Tip your mitt: Show your hand, reveal something
- Tomato: Pretty woman
- Tooting the wrong ringer: Asking the wrong person
- Torcher: Torch singer
- Torpedoes: Gunmen
- Trap: Mouth
- Trigger man: Man whose job is to use a gun
- Trip for biscuits, as in “You get there fast and you get there alone – or you got a trip for biscuits”: Make the trip for no purpose, achieve no results
- Trouble boys: Gangsters
- Turn up: To turn in (to the police)
- Twist: Woman
- Two bits: $25, or 25 cents.
U
- Under glass: In jail
- Up-and-down, as in “to give something the up-and-down”: A look
- Uppers, as in “I’ve been shatting on my uppers for a couple of months now” or “I’m down on my uppers”: To be broke
V
- Va g, as in va g charge, va g law: Vagrancy
- Vig, Vigorish
- Excessive interest on a loanshark’s loan
- Advantage in odds created by a bookie or gambler to increase profit
W
- Weak sister: A push-over
- Wear iron: Carry a gun
- Wheats, as in “a stack of wheats”: Pancakes
- White
- Good, okay, as in “white dic k”
- Gin (“a gallon of white”)
- Wikiup: Home
- Wire, as in “What’s the wire on them?”: News, “What information do you have about them?”
- Wise, To be To be knowledgeable of; put us wise: tell us
- Wise head: A smart person
- Wooden kimono: A coffin
- Worker, as in “She sizes up as a worker”: A woman who takes a guy for his money
- Wrong gee: Not a good fellow
- Wrong number: Not a good fellow
Y
- Yap: Mouth
- Yard: $100
- Yegg: Safecracker who can only open cheap and easy safes
Z
Zotzed: Killed
Bibliography
Key: Full Title (year of first publication) by Author (Publisher and year of publication for the copy I used)
(ss = short stories collected years after first publication)
- The Big Knockover (ss) by Dashiell Hammett (Vintage, 1972)
- The Big Sleep (1939) by Raymond Chandler (Ballantine, 1971)
- The Continental Op (ss) by Dashiell Hammett (Vintage, 1975)
- The Dain Curse (1929) by Dashiell Hammett (Vintage, 1972)
- “Death’s Passport,” a Dan Turner story by Robert Leslie Bellem. Published in Spicy Detective in 1940.
- The Dictionary of American Underworld Slang, by ?.
- Dougle in Trouble by Richard Prather and Stephen Marlowe (Gold Medal, 1959)
- Farewell, My Lovely (1940) by Raymond Chandler (Vintage, 1976)
- The Glass Key (1931) by Dashiell Hammett (Vintage, 1972)
- The Lady in the Lake (1943) by Raymond Chandler (Vintage, 1976)
- The Maltese Falcon (1930) by Dashiell Hammet (Vintage, 1984)
- Night Squad (1961) by David Goodis (Vintage, 1992)
- Partridge’s Concise Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English edited by Partridge and Beal (Collier Macmillan, 1989?)
- Pick-Up on Noon Street (ss) by Raymond Chandler (Pocket Books, 1952)
- Playback (1958) by Raymond Chandler (Ballantine, 1977)
- The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934) by James M. Cain (Vintage, 1978)
- Raymond Chandler Speaking edited by Gardiner and Walker (Allison & Busby, 1984)
- Shoot the Piano Player (1956) by David Goodis (Vintage, 1990)
- The Simple Art of Murder (ss) by Raymond Chandler (Ballantine, 1972)
- The Thin Man (1934) by Dashiell Hammett (Vintage, 1972)
- Vengeance is Mine (1950) by Mickey Spillane (Signet, 1951)
Frank Jostling 