slang

The sucker with the schnozzle poured a slug but before he could scram out two shamuses showed him the shiv and said they could send him over.

Twists, Slugs and Roscoes: A Glossary of Hardboiled Slang

Compiled by William Denton, buff@vex.net
Copyright © 1993 - 1998

Edition 3.5. Originally published by Miskatonic University Press, 1993.

Permission is granted to freely reproduce this glossary as long this header is attached.

Suggestions, additions, corrections and comments should be directed to William Denton (buff@vex.net).

Thanks to johnsf@info-wave.com, kijee@aol.com, LoisAna@aol.com, zeromostel@aol.com Bill Balint (bbalint@mathworks.com), Oskar Back (oback@uswest.com), Dan Beekman (lami@cyburban.com), Eddie Bradford (bradford@sybase.com), J.W. Carter (carter16@marshall.edu), Clayton Clark (tsunami@ccnet.ccnet.com), Ed Cobb (ecobb@netheaven.com), Jim Cort (jcort@smtpgate.allerion.com), Jerome Dehnert (JeromeDehnert@webtv.net), Joseph M. Erhardt (jmegsc@erols.com), Michael Ericksen (viking@humboldt1.com), Paris Flammonde (tarot@noln.com), Linda Franic (laf6@po.cwru.edu), Bob Fritsch (rfritsch@concentric.net), Katherine Harper (kharper@bgnet.bgsu.edu), Sandra Hess (shess@sirius.com), Chris Hobbs (chobbs@mitre.org), N.S. Hurt (hurtn@texas.net), Jevex (dahak@postoffice.ptd.net), Kristopher John (kjohn@envirolink.org), J. Russell Jones (tjj0039@dwic001.ks.boeing.com), Kevin (kevin@marshallnet.com), Andrew G. Lehr (agl@locke.ccil.org), Erick Lundin (erickj@iceland-c.it.earthlink.net), Douglas McCarty (mccarty@pond.net), Dan McClure (macdan@crl.com), Mark D. McHugh (markmchugh@prodigy.net), Lise McClendon (LiseMcC@aol.com), Margaret P. Mickelson (Margaret_P._Mickelson@hud.gov), Kelly Moffatt (conkea@istar.ca), Scott Radtke (heatmiser@mindspring.com), Steven Rubio (srubio@hooked.net) William J. Rusen" (wjr@3-cities.com), Michele Salles (homser@roadrunner.com), Paul Sarkis (psarkis@bna.com), Matt Stevens (mfs10@columbia.edu), Mark Taylor (mtaylo99@mail.idt.net), Chris Todd (resolute@interpath.com), Eric Tublin (Eric.Tublin@faa.dot.gov) and Marc Visconte (mviscont@freenet.vcu.edu) for their additions and suggestions.

If you've ever read a hardboiled detective story, you may have come across a sentence like,

"I jammed the roscoe in his button and said, 'Close your yap, bo, or I squirt metal.'"

Something like this isn't too hard to decipher. But what if you encounter,

"The flim-flammer jumped in the flivver and faded."

"You dumb mug, get your mitts off the marbles before I stuff that mud-pipe down your mush - and tell your moll to hand over the mazuma."

"The sucker with the schnozzle poured a slug but before he could scram out two shamuses showed him the shiv and said they could send him over."

You may need to translate this into normal English just to be able to follow the plot.

Or maybe you want to seem tougher. Why get in a car when you can hop in a boiler? Why tell someone to shut up when you can tell them to close their head? Why threaten to discharge a firearm when you can say, "Dust, pal, or I pump lead!"

This is the language spoken by Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade, Mike Hammer and the Continental Op. When Cagney, Bogart, Robinson and Raft got in a turf war, this is how they talked.

Now, with the help of this glossary, you too can speak it like a native!

Ameche
Telephone (e-mail)
Ankle
Woman (e-mail)
Babe
Woman (Vengeance, 37)
Baby
A person, can be said to either a man or a woman (Art, 52)
Bangtails
Racehorses (Op, 74; Partridge's)
Barbering
Talking (Knockover, 70)
Be on the nut, to
To be broke (Pick-Up, 3)
Bean-shooter
Gun (Art, 156)
Beezer
Nose (e-mail)
Behind the eight-ball
On a streak of bad luck (e-mail)
Bent cars
Stolen cars (Sleep, 154)
Berries
Dollars (Knockover, 402; Thin, 148)
Big house
Jail (Knockover, 354; Op, 59)
Big one, the
Death (Falcon, 44)
Big sleep, the
Death (a term coined by Chandler) (Speaking, 88)
Bim
Woman (Lake, 191)
Bindle
  1. of heroin: Little folded-up piece of paper (with heroin inside) (Art, 54)
  2. The bundle (or "brindle") in which a hobo carries all his worldy possessions (e-mail)
Bindle punk
A hobo or derelict hired to do rough or unpleasant work. (Could perhaps refer to a small time drug dealer, as well.) (Pick-Up, 116).
Bindle stiff
Chronic wanderers; itinerant misfits, criminals, migratory harvest workers, and lumber jacks. Hobos who carry their own cooking utensils and blanket on their backs (ie. fry pan, stew pan, tin cup, fork, knife, spoon, etc.) From the 1890's. Called so because they carried a "bindle." A stiff was a rough, clumsy person. George and Lenny in Of Mice and Men are bindle stiffs. (e-mail)
Bing
Jailhouse talk for solitary confinement, hence "crazy" (Thin, 148)
Bird
Guy (Op, 52)
Blip off
To kill (Knockover, 366)
Blow
Leave (Knockover, 49; Playback, 39; Key, 164)
Blow one down
Kill someone (Sleep, 123)
Blower
Telephone (e-mail)
Bo
Pal, buster, fellow, as in "Hey, bo" (Sleep, 172; Farewell, 8)
Boiler
Car (Knockover, 69)
Boob
Dumb guy (Lake, 154)
Boozehound
Drunkard (Night, 3)
Bop
To kill (Sleep, 76)
Box
A safe (e-mail)
Box job
A safecracking (Art, 180)
Brace (somebody)
Grab, shake up (Art, 182)
Bracelets
Handcuffs (Op, 80)
Break it up
Stop that, quit the nonsense (Art, 133)
Breeze
To leave, go (Pick-Up, 26), also breeze off - get lost (Playback, 35)
Broad
Woman (passim)
Bruno
Tough guy, enforcer (e-mail)
Bucket
Car (Turner)
Bulge, as in "The kid had the bulge there"
The advantage (Op, 220)
Bulls
Plainclothes railroad cops; uniformed police; prison guards (Knockover, 380; e-mail)
Bump
Kill (Night, 35)
Bump off
Kill (Pick-Up, 32); also, bump-off - a killing (Sleep, 161)
Buncoing some (people)
Defrauding some people (Knockover, 205)
Bunk
  1. As in "That's the bunk" - that's false, untrue (Op, 98)
  2. As in "to bunk" - to sleep (Knockover, 395)
Bunny, as in "Don't be a bunny"
Don't be stupid (Pick-Up, 32)
Burn powder
Fire a gun (Knockover, 425)
Bus
Big car (Pick-Up, 72)
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. (Playback, 55) (see reference)
Button
Face, as in "a poke in the button" (Farewell, 217)
Buttons
Police (Pick-Up, 29; Sleep, 66)
Butts
Cigarettes (Vengeance, 25)
Buy a drink
To pour a drink (Art, 139)
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 (Art, 90)
Buzzer
Policeman's badge (Playback, 103)
C
$100, also a pair of C's = $200 (Vengeance, 27; Sleep, 157)
Cabbage
Money (Shoot, 14)
Caboose
Jail (from "calaboose," which derives from calabosa, the Spanish word for "jail") (Farewell, 8; e-mail)
Call copper
Inform the police (Pick-Up, 156)
Can
Jail (Knockover, 203; Op, 268)
Can-opener
Safecracker who forces open cheap safes (Speaking, 89)
Case dough
"Nest egg ... the theoretically untouchable reserve for emergencies" (Speaking, 88)
Cat
Guy (Shoot, 16)
Century
$100 (Pick-Up, 32; Sleep, 162)
Cheaters
Sunglasses (e-mail)
Chew
Eat (Op, 186)
Chicago overcoat
A coffin (Sleep, 163)
Chick
Woman (Vengeance, 33)
Chilled off
Killed (Sleep, 78)
Chin
A conversation (Art, 190); also chinning = talking (Sleep, 85)
Chin music
A punch on the jaw (e-mail)
Chinese angle, as in "You're not trying to find a Chinese angle on it, are you?"
Seems to mean a strange twist, not that Chinese people are actually involved (Thin, 125)
Chinese squeeze
Grafting by skimming profits off the top (e-mail)
Chippy
Woman of easy virtue (Lake, 48)
Chisel
To swindle or cheat (Pick-Up, 157)
Chiv, chive
Knife, "a stabbing or cutting weapon" (Speaking, 87; Dain, 188)
Chopper squad
Guys with machine guns (Pick-Up, 88)
Clammed
Close-mouthed (as in clammed up) (Pick-Up, 188)
Clean sneak
An escape with no clues left behind (Knockover, 436)
Clip joint
In some cases, a night-club where the prices are high and the patrons are fleeced (Partridge's), but here, a casino where the tables are fixed (Pick-Up, 174)
Clipped
Shot (Pick-Up, 81)
Close your head
Shut up (Shoot, 16)
Clout
Shoplifter (1930s) (e-mail)
Clubhouse
Police station (Lake, 24)
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. (Knockover, 400)
Con
Confidence game, swindle (e-mail)
Conk
Head (Postman, 33)
Cool, as in "He cooled me"
To knock out ?? (Playback, 140)
Cooler, the
Jail (Op, 55)
Cop
  1. Detective, even a private one (Vengeance, 140)
  2. To win, as in a bet (Key, 23)
Copped
Grabbed by the cops (Op, 57)
Copper
  1. Policeman (Op, 190; Key, 65)
  2. As in "All time served except his copper" - ?? (Farewell, 29)
Corn
Bourbon (as in corn liquor) (Pick-Up, 186)
Crab
Figure out (Sleep, 161)
Crate
Car (Art, 39)
Creep joint
?? Can mean a whorehouse where the girls are pickpockets, but that doesn't fit here (Pick-Up, 8)
Croak
To kill (Key, 84; Pick-Up, 86)
Croaker
Doctor (Knockover, 69)
Crushed out
Escaped (from jail) (Knockover, 372; Op, 54)
Cush
Money (a cushion, something to fall back on) (Knockover, 410)
Cut down
Killed (esp shot?) (Knockover, 210)
Daisy
None-too-masculine (Art, 201)
Dame
Woman (passim)
Dangle
Leave, get lost (Pick-Up, 3)
Darb
Something remarkable or superior (Dain, 181)
Dark meat
Black person (Dain, 37)
Deck, as in "deck of Luckies"
Pack of cigarettes (Vengeance, 36; Op, 203)
Derrick
Shoplifter (1930s) (e-mail)
Diapers, as in "Pin your diapers on"
Clothes, get dressed (Key, 74)
Dib
Share (of the proceeds) (Knockover, 400)
Dick
Detective (usually qualified with "private" if not a policeman) (passim)
Dinge (Farewell)
Black person
Dingus
Thing (Falcon, 147; Op, 11)
Dip
Pickpocket (Knockover, 377)
Dip the bill
ave a drink (Sleep, 163; Art, 212)
Dish
Pretty woman (e-mail)
Dive
A low-down, cheap sort of place (Knockover, 199)
Dizzy with a dame, to be
To be deeply iin love with a woman (Art, 217)
Do the dance
To be hanged (Knockover, 446)
Dogs
Feet (Pick-Up, 17)
Doll
Woman (Pick-Up, 11), also dolly (Op, 224)
Dope
  1. Drugs, of any sort (Farewell, 82, 143)
  2. Information (Dain, 30; Op, 146; Sleep, 161)
  3. As a verb, as in "I had him doped as" - to have figured for (Op, 233)
Dope fiend
Drug addict (Dain, 119)
Dope peddler
Drug dealer (Op, 52)
Dormy
Dormant, quiet, as in "Why didn't you lie dormy in the place you climbed to?" (Lake, 184)
Dough
Money (passim)
Drift
Go, leave (Pick-Up, 53; Sleep, 69)
Drill
Shoot (Knockover, 410)
Drink out of the same bottle, as in "We used to drink out of the same bottle."
We were close friends (Dain, 15)
Droppers
Hired killers (Double, 73)
Drum
Speakeasy (Knockover, 357)
Dry-gulch
Knock out, hit on head after ambushing (Farewell, 63)
Ducat
  1. Ticket (Key, 73)
  2. For hobos, a union card or card asking for alms (e-mail)
Duck soup
Easy, a piece of cake (Knockover, 44)
Dummerer
Somebody who pretends to be (deaf and?) dumb in order to appear a more deserving beggar (Knockover, 198)
Dump, as in "We did the dumps"
Roadhouse, club (Knockover, 431); or, more generally, any place (Art, 90)
Dust
  1. Nothing, as in "Tinhorns are dust to me" (Pick-Up, 3)
  2. Leave, depart, as in "Let's dust" (Pick-Up, 13) (also Art, 52; Sleep, 64)
  3. A look, as in "Let's give it the dust" (Pick-Up, 28)
Dust out
Leave, depart (Op, 81)
Dutch
  1. As in "in dutch" - trouble (Postman, 56)
  2. As in "A girl pulled the Dutch act" - committed suicide (Vengeance, 122)
  3. 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, 119)
Egg
Fellow (Knockover, 395)
Eggs in the coffee
Easy, a piece of cake, okay, all right (Knockover, 44; Dain, 192)
Elbows, as in "And there's no elbows tagging along"
Cops? "Elbow" also means a collar or an arrest. Someone being arrested will "have their elbows checked." (Knockover, 180; e-mail)
Electric cure
Electrocution (Key, 153)
Fade
Get lost (Shoot, 103)
Fakeloo artist
Con man (Farewell, 87)
Fin
$5 bill (Playback, 11; Vengeance, 40)
Finder
Finger man (Speaking, 87)
Finger, as in put the finger on
Identify (Knockover, 380)
Flat
  1. Broke (Knockover, 413)
  2. As in "That's flat" - that's for sure (Op, 99)
Flattie
Flatfoot, cop (Art, 58)
Flimflamm
Swindle (Op, 23, 251)
Flippers
Hands? (Lake, 139)
Flivver
A Ford automobile (Speaking, 87; Knockover, 436)
Flogger
Overcoat (Op, 219)
Flop
  1. Go to bed (Speaking, 87)
  2. As in "The racket's flopped" - fallen through, not worked out (Op, 268)
Flophouse
"A cheap transient hotel where a lot of men sleep in large rooms" (Speaking, 87)
Fog
To shoot (Falcon, 212)
Frail
Woman (Sleep, 127)
Frau
Wife (Pick-Up, 195)
From nothing, as in "I know from nothing"
I don't know anything (Shoot, 65)
Gams
Legs (especially a woman's) (e-mail)
Gashouse, as in "getting gashouse"
Rough (Pick-Up, 17)
Gasper
Cigarette (Turner)
Gat
Gun (passim)
Gate, as in "Give her the gate"
The door, as in leave (Dain, 195)
Gaycat
"A young punk who runs with an older tramp and there is always a connotation of homosexuality" (Speaking, 87)
Gee
Guy (Art, 105)
Geetus
Money (Turner)
Getaway sticks
Legs (especially a woman's) (e-mail)
Giggle juice
Liquor (Turner)
Gin mill
Bar (speakeasy?) (e-mail suggestion)
Gink
Guy (Knockover, 433)
Girlie
Woman (Vengeance, 34)
Give a third
Interrogate (third degree) (Pick-Up, 70)
Glad rags
Fancy clothes (Knockover, 366)
Glom
  1. To steal (Art, 217)
  2. To see, to take a look
Glaum
Steal (Knockover, 46; Dain, 17)
Go climb up your thumb
Go fly a kite, go stick your thumb up your ass (Lake, 17)
Go over the edge with the rams
To get far too drunk (Night, 25)
Go to read and write
Rhyming slang for take flight (Op, 80)
Gonif
Thief (Yiddish) (Knockover, 364)
Goofy
Crazy (Knockover, 112)
Goon
Thug (Vengeance, 49)
Goose
Guy (Knockover, 366)
Gooseberry lay
Stealing clothes from a clothesline (see reference)
Gowed-up
On dope, high (Farewell, 81)
Grab (a little) air
Put your hands up (Sleep, 72; Pick-Up, 178)
Graft, the
  1. Con jobs (Op, 170)
  2. Cut of the take (Lake, 76)
Grand
$1000 (Pick-Up, 33)
Greasers
  1. Mexicans or Italians.
  2. A hoodlum, thief or punk.

(Pick-Up, 171)

Grift
  1. As in "What's the grift?": What are you trying to pull? (Art, 39)
  2. Confidence game, swindle
Grifter
Con man (Knockover, 354)
Grilled
Questioned (Op, 36)
Gum
  1. As in "Don't ... gum every play I make": Gum up, interfere with (Op, 224)
  2. Opium (e-mail)
Gum-shoe
Detective (Op, 36), also gumshoeing = detective work (Knockover, 197)
Gun for
Look for, be after (Op, 98)
Guns
  1. Pickpockets (e-mail)
  2. Hoodlums (Knockover, 400)
Gunsel
  1. Gunman (Falcon) (Hammett invented this use)
  2. Boy homosexual (Falcon)
  3. "1. (p) A male oral sodomist, or passive pederast. 2. A brat. 3. (By extension) An informer; a weasel; an unscrupulous person." (Underworld)
  4. (Note Yiddish "ganzl" = gosling; see reference
Hack
Taxi (Farewell, 35; Vengeance, 35)
Half, a
50 cents (Shoot, 28)
Hammer and saws
Police (rhyming slang for laws) (Knockover, 70)
Hard
Tough (Art, 119)
Harlem sunset
Some sort fatal injury caused by knife (Farewell, 14)
Hash house
A cheap restaurant (Shoot, 9)
Hatchetmen
Killers, gunmen (Knockover, 202)
Have the bees
To be rich (Knockover, 62)
Have the curse on someone
Wanting to see someone killed (Turner)
Head doctors
Psychiatrists (Night, 193)
Heap
Car (Knockover, 400; Dain, 194)
Heat
A gun (Sleep, 73), also heater (Knockover, 160)
Heeled
Carrying a gun (e-mail)
High pillow
Person at the top, in charge (Farewell, 165)
Highbinders (Knockover, 242)
  1. Corrupt politician or functionary
  2. "Professional killer operating in the Chinese quarter of a city"
Hittin' the pipe
Smoking opium (Op, 62)
Hitting on all eight
As in cylinders, in good shape, going well (Dain, 182)
Hock shop
Pawnshop (Dain, 63)
Hogs
Engines (Art, 175)
Hombre
Man, fellow (Sleep, 209; Knockover, 413)
Hooch
Liquor (Art, 206; Knockover, 383)
Hood
Criminal (Pick-Up, 141)
Hooker, as in "It took a stiff hooker of whiskey" (Knockover, 408)
A drink of strong liquor (Partridge's)
Hoosegow
Jail (Knockover, 354)
Hop
  1. Drugs, mostly morphine or derivatives like heroin (Farewell, 143)
  2. Bell-hop (Lake, 73)
Hop-head
Drug addict, esp. heroin (Op, 52)
Horn
Telephone (e-mail)
Hot
Stolen (Knockover, 70)
House dick
House detective (Vengeance, 25)
House peeper
House detective (Playback, 118)
Hype
Shortchange artist (1930s) (e-mail)
Ice
Diamonds (Dain, 17)
In stir
In jail (Knockover, 380)
Ing-bing, as in to throw an
A fit (Key, 8)
Iron
A car (Key, 115)
Jack
Money (Op, 265; Sleep, 114; Art, 104)
Jake
Okay (Pick-Up, 29; Sleep, 108)
Jakeloo
Okay (Sleep, 163)
Jam
Trouble, as in "in a jam" (Shoot, 8)
Jane
A woman (e-mail)
Jasper
A man (perhaps a hick) (Lake, 77)
Java
Coffee (e-mail)
Jaw
Talk (Op, 99)
Jerking a nod
Nodding (Turner)
Jingle-brained
Addled (Knockover, 365)
Jobbie
Guy (Knockover, 439)
Joe
Coffee, as in "a cup of joe" (e-mail)
Johns
Police (Sleep, 69)
Johnson brother
Criminal (e-mail)
Joint
Place, as in "my joint" (Knockover, 199)
Jorum of skee
Shot of liquor (Turner)
Joss house
Temple or house of worship for a Chinese religion (Knockover, 207)
Juice
Interest on a loanshark's loan (e-mail)
Jujus
Marijuana cigarettes (Farewell, 62)
Jump, the
A hanging (Dain, 203)
Junkie
Drug addict (e-mail)
Kale
Money (Art, 180)
Keister
Suitcase (Pick-Up, 11), also spelt keyster (Also means buttocks or safe/strongbox) (Key, 72)
Kick, as in "I got no kick"
I have nothing to complain about (Thin, 103)
Kick off
Die (Knockover, 69)
Kicking the gong around
Taking opium (e-mail)
Kisser
Mouth (Sleep, 173; Playback, 38)
Kitten
A woman (e-mail)
Knock off
Kill (Knockover, 197)
Knockover
Heist, theft (Knockover, 399)
Lammed off
Ran away, escaped (Lake, 37)
Large
$1,000, as in "twenty large" (e-mail)
Law, the
The police (Shoot, 121; Pick-Up, 29)
Lay
  1. Job, as in Marlowe saying he's on "a confidential lay" (Farewell, 17); or more generally, what someone does, as in "The hotel-sneak used to be my lay" (Op, 86)
  2. As in "I gave him the lay" - I told him where things stood (as in lay of the of land) (Op, 70)
Lettuce
Folding money (e-mail)
Lid
Hat (e-mail)
Lit, to be
To be drunk (Art, 149)
Loogan
Marlowe defines this as "a guy with a gun" (Sleep, 138)
Looker
Pretty woman (e-mail)
Look-out
Outside man (Speaking, 87)
Lousy with
To have lots of (Knockover, 363)
Lug
  1. Bullet (Lake, 193)
  2. Ear (Thin, 107)
Lunger
Someone with tuberculosis (e-mail)
Made
Recognized (Knockover, 99)
Map
Face (Art, 175)
Marbles
Pearls (Art, 176)
Mark
Sucker, victim of swindle or fixed game (e-mail)
Mazuma
Money (Art, 206)
Meat, as in "He's your meat"
There's your man, in this case, there's the guy you'll follow (Knockover, 368)
Meat wagon
Ambulance (Lake, 94)
Mesca
Marijuana (Playback, 126)
Mickey Finn, take a
  1. Take off, leave (Op, 229)
  2. A drink drugged with knock-out drops
Mill
Typewriter (Vengeance, 81)
Mitt
Hand (Art, 182; Farewell, 5)
Mob
Gang (not Mafia) (Op, 118)
Moll
Girlfriend (Knockover, 382; Playback, 55)
Monicker
Name (Knockover, 356; Vengeance, 75)
Mouthpiece
Lawyer (Pick-Up, 183)
Mud-pipe
Opium pipe (Op, 62)
Mug
Face (Op, 98)
Muggles
Marijuana (e-mail)
Mugs
Guys (esp. dumb) (Knockover, 401; Key, 87; Art, 92)
Mush
Face (Art, 191)
Nailed
Caught by the police (Thin, 109)
Nance
An effeminate man (Pick-Up, 188)
Nevada gas
Cyanide (Pick-Up, 172)
Newshawk
Reporter (Pick-Up, 17)
Newsie
Newspaper vendor (Knockover, 357)
Nibble one
To have a drink (Farewell, 6)
Nicked
Stole (Knockover, 205)
Nippers
Handcuffs (Pick-Up, 18)
Nix on (something)
No to (something) (Pick-Up, 30)
Noodle
Head (Op, 23; Playback, 14)
Nose-candy
Heroin in some cases (Knockover, 199)
Number
A person, can be either a man or a woman (Art, 33, 84)
Off the track, as in "He was too far off the track. Strictly section eight"
Said about a man who becomes insanely violent (Shoot, 117)
Op
Detective (esp. private), from "operative" (Playback, 109)
Orphan paper
Bad cheques (Dain, 109)
Out on the roof, to be
To drink a lot (Lake, 30)
Oyster fruit
Pearls (Art, 180)
Pack
To carry, esp. a gun (Knockover, 60; Op, 228)
Palooka
Guy, probably a little stupid (Knockover, 392)
Pan
Face (Art, 201)
Paste
Punch (Knockover, 66, 392)
Paw
Hand (Knockover, 246; Op, 82)
Peaching
Informing (Op, 85)
Peeper
Detective (Playback, 96; Sleep, 161)
Pen
Jail, penitentiary (Farewell, 29)
Peterman
Safecracker who uses nitroglycerin (Speaking, 89)
Pigeon
Stool-pigeon (Pick-Up, 156)
Pill
  1. Bullet (Falcon, 13)
  2. Cigarette (Knockover, 398; Playback, 38)
Pinch
An arrest, capture (Art, 118)
Pins
Legs (especially a woman's) (e-mail)
Pipe
See or notice (Speaking, 87)
Pipe that
Get that, listen to that (Shoot, 55)
Pipes
Throat (Thin, 110)
Pistol pockets
?? heels? (Turner)
Pitching woo
Making love (Turner)
Plant
Someone on the scene but in hiding (Lake, 183)
Plugs
People (Op, 222)
Poke
  1. Bankroll, stake (Pick-Up, 32)
  2. Punch (Farewell, 217)
Pooped
Killed (Key, 147)
Pop
Kill (Op, 42)
Pro skirt
Prostitute (Night, 12)
Puffing
Mugging (Knockover, 46)
Pug
Boxer (Vengeance, 83)
Pump
Heart (Falcon, 13)
Pump metal
Shoot bullets (Op, 230)
Punk
  1. Hood, thug (Vengeance, 28)
  2. "A jailhouse sissy who is on the receiving end." (Also as a verb, as in "to get punked.") (e-mail)
Puss
Face (Art, 27; Pick-Up, 37)
Put down
Drink (Postman, 56)
Put the screws on
Question, get tough with (Dain, 34)
Queer
  1. Counterfeit (Speaking, 88)
  2. Sexually abnormal (Speaking, 88)
  3. As a verb, to ruin something or put it wrong ("queer this racket") (e-mail)
Rags
Clothes (Knockover, 429)
Ranked
Observed, watched, given the once-over. (Knockover, 70)
Rap
  1. Criminal charge (Knockover, 47)
  2. Information, as in "He gave us the rap" (Op, 51)
  3. Hit (Postman, 33)
Rappers, as in "There were a couple solved for the record, but they were just rappers"
Fakes, set-ups (Farewell, 165)
Rat
Inform (Key, 78; Night, 5)
Rate
To be good, to count for something (Art, 55)
Rats and mice
Dice, i.e. craps (Dain, 29)
Rattler
Train (Dain, 158; Op, 51)
Red-light
To eject from a car or train (e-mail)
Redhot
Some sort of criminal (Pick-Up, 114)
Reefers
Marijuana cigarettes (Farewell, 172)
Rhino
Money (Knockover, 401)
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 (Pick-Up, 21)
Right gee
A good fellow (Sleep, 157)
Right guy
A good fellow (Knockover, 111)
Ringers
Fakes (Art, 176)
Rod
Gun (Op, 80, 219, 242; Vengeance, 11)
Roscoe
Gun (Key, 182)
Roundheels
  1. A fighter with a glass jaw (e-mail)
  2. A woman of easy virtue (e-mail)
Rub-out
A death (Knockover, 416)
Rube
Bumpkin, easy mark (Pick-Up, 127)
Rumble, the
The news (Knockover, 372)
Run-out, as in to take the
Leave, escape (Falcon, 164; Key, 18)
Sap
  1. A dumb guy (passim)
  2. A blackjack (passim)
Sap poison
Getting hit with a sap (Art, 188)
Savvy?
Get me? understand? (Farewell, 120)
Sawbuck
$10 (Night, 33)
Scatter, as in "And don't bother to call your house peeper and send him up to the scatter"
  1. Saloon or speakeasy.
  2. A hideout, a room or lodging

(Lake, 188)

Schnozzle
Nose (Art, 190)
Scram out
Leave (Lake, 76)
Scratch
Money (Art, 56)
Scratcher
Forger (Op, 49)
Screw
  1. Leave, as in "Let's screw before anybody pops in" (Op, 183)
  2. Prison guard (e-mail suggestion)
Send over
Send to jail (Knockover, 353; Dain, 124)
Shamus
(Private) detective (Playback, 41; Lake, 37; Sleep, 68)
Sharper
A swindler or sneaky person (Op, 75)
Shatting on your uppers
To be broke (Sleep, 161)
Shells
Bullets (Pick-Up, 3)
Shine (e-mail)
  1. Black person.
  2. Bootleg whiskey.
Shine box
Bar for blacks (Farewell, 5)
Shine Indian
?? (Knockover, 89)
Shiv
Knife (Speaking, 87)
Shylock
Loanshark (e-mail)
Shyster
Lawyer (Farewell, 111)
Silk, as in "all silk so far"
All okay so far (Knockover, 393)
Sister
Woman (Knockover, 44)
Skate around, as in "She skates around plenty"
To be of easy virtue (Sleep, 83)
Skid rogue
A bum who can't be trusted (e-mail)
Skipout
Leave a hotel without paying, or a person who does so (Playback, 108)
Skirt
Woman (e-mail)
Slant, get a
Take a look (Key, 31)
Sleuth
Detective (Sleep, 65)
Slug
  1. As a noun, bullet (passim)
  2. As a verb, to knock unconscious (Lake, 191)
Smell from the barrel, have a
Have a drink (Art, 205)
Smoke
A black person (Farewell, 14; Pick-Up, 111)
Smoked
Drunk (Key, 182)
Snap a cap
Shout (Op, 84)
Snatch
Kidnap (Pick-Up, 156)
Sneak
  1. Leave, get lost, as in "If you're not a waiter, sneak" (Op, 73)
  2. Type of burglary, as in as in "The hotel-sneak used to be my lay" (Op, 86)
Sneeze
Take (Pick-Up, 102)
Snitch
An informer, or, as a verb, to inform
Snooper
Detective (Lake, 18)
Snort (as in of gin)
A drink (Art, 56)
Snow-bird
(Cocaine) addict (Pick-Up, 78; Knockover, 202)
Snowed
To be on drugs (heroin? cocaine?) (Pick-Up, 97); also snowed up (Op, 149)
Soak
To pawn (Knockover, 92)
Sock
Punch (Knockover, 66; Sleep, 173; Art, 153)
Soup
Nitroglycerine (e-mail)
Soup job
To crack a safe using nitroglycerine (Double, 77)
Souping the kidneys
?? driving fast? (Turner)
Spill
Talk, inform (Pick-Up, 43; Sleep, 99), spill it = tell me (Shoot, 96)
Spinach
Money (Knockover, 385)
Spitting
Talking (Knockover, 70)
Spondulix
Money (e-mail)
Square
Honest (Art, 130), "on the square" = telling the truth (Knockover, 379)
Squirt metal
Shoot bullets (Knockover, 67)
Step off
To be hanged (Knockover, 446)
Sticks of tea
Marijuana cigarettes (Farewell, 62)
Stiff
A corpse (Pick-Up, 195; Sleep, 99)
Sting
Culmination of a con game (e-mail)
Stool-pigeon
Informer (Op, 148; Knockover, 199)
Stoolie
Stool-pigeon (Art, 53)
Stringin'
As in along, feeding someone a story (Knockover, 356)
Sucker
Someone ripe for a grifter's scam (Knockover, 203)
Sugar
Money (Pick-Up, 50; Op, 71)
Swift, to have plenty of
To be fast (on the draw) (Lake, 201)
Swing
Hang (Op, 42)
Tail
Shadow, follow (Pick-Up, 67)
Take a powder
Leave (Pick-Up, 29)
Take it on the heel and toe
Leave (Knockover, 70)
Take on
Eat (Op, 183)
Take the air
Leave (Sleep, 85)
Take the bounce
To get kicked out (here, of a hotel) (Art, 102)
Take the fall for
Accept punishment for (Dain, 56)
Tea
Marijuana (Playback, 126)
That's the crop
That's all of it (Dain, 158)
Three-spot
Three-year term in jail (Art, 85)
Throw a joe
Pass out ?? (Key, 86)
Throw lead
Shoot bullets (Sleep, 139; Op, 216)
Ticket
P.I. license (Vengeance, 15)
Tiger milk
Some sort of liquor (Thin, 110)
Tighten the screws
Put pressure on somebody (Knockover, 81)
Tin
Badge (e-mail)
Tip a few
To have a few drinks (Pick-Up, 21)
Tip your mitt
Show your hand, reveal something (Knockover, 98)
Tomato
Pretty woman. Also "hot tomato" (e-mail)
Tooting the wrong ringer
Asking the wrong person (Knockover, 68)
Torcher
Torch singer (Sleep, 116)
Torpedoes
Gunmen (Farewell, 215)
Trap
Mouth (Vengeance, 13)
Trigger man
Guy who does the shooting on a job (Sleep, 209)
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 (Art, 209)
Trouble boys
Gangsters (Art, 85)
Turn up
To turn in (to the police) (Falcon, 164)
Twist
Woman (Falcon, 164; Knockover, 46; Sleep, 163)
Two bits
$25 (Key, 3), or 25 cents.
Up-and-down, as in "to give something the up-and-down"
A look (Knockover, 97)
Uppers, as in "I've been shatting on my uppers for a couple of months now"
Broke (Knockover, 54)
Vag, as in vag charge, vag law
Vagrancy (Op, 52)
Vig, Vigorish
  1. Excessive interest on a loanshark's loan (e-mail)
  2. Advantage in odds created by a bookie or gambler to increase profit (e-mail)
Weak sister
A push-over (Op, 42)
Wear iron
Carry a gun (Sleep, 67)
Wheats, as in "a stack of wheats"
Pancakes (Op, 183)
White
  1. Good, okay, as in "white dick" (Knockover, 379)
  2. As in a gallon of - gin (Dain, 175)
Wikiup
Home (Turner)
Wire, as in "What's the wire on them?"
News, "What information do you have about them?" (Shoot, 24)
Wise, to be
To be knowledgeable of (Pick-Up, 32), "put us wise" - tell us (Lake, 81)
Wise head
A smart person (Thin, 106)
Wooden kimono
A coffin (e-mail)
Worker, as in "She sizes up as a worker"
A woman who takes a guy for his money (Op, 139)
Wrong gee
Not a good fellow (Sleep, 184)
Wrong number
Not a good fellow (Art, 84)
Yank
?? tough situation? (Turner)
Yap
Mouth (Vengeance, 12)
Yard
$100 (Pick-Up, 103; Art, 54)
Yegg
Safecracker, "who can only open a rather cheap and vulnerable safe" (Op, 51, 146; Speaking, 89)
Zotzed
Killed (e-mail)

Bibliography

Key:

Abbreviation = Full Title (year of first publication) by Author (Publisher and year of publication for the copy I used)

Probably no-one will care about exact page references, but they were included for the sake of completeness.

(* = not as yet analyzed for slang, ss = short stories collected years after first publication)

I intend to go through the remaining works of Chandler and Hammett looking for more slang terms, and then move on to other hardboiled authors. Interestingly, some of the toughest of the hardboiled writers (like Mickey Spillane) don't use that much slang, but occasionally words do crop up that aren't used by anyone else.

William Denton <buff@vex.net>

Last modified: Sun Jun 21 18:29:35 EDT 1998

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