Faustus

Source: http://www.miskatonic.org/slang.html

The below is taken directly from the above, and pasted here simply as an easy reference for me and for others.

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 (seereference)
• 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?) dumb 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 dick: 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. dumb 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

• Queer
  
  • (n) Counterfeit
  • (n) Sexually abnormal
  • (v) To ruin something or put it wrong ("queer 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 dumb 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

• Vag, as in vag charge, vag 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 dick"
  • 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)