1920s Slang

1

A

• Alderman: A man's pot belly.

• Ameche: Telephone

• Ankle:

o (n) Woman

• 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

• Beef: problem

• Bee's Knees: An extraordinary person, thing, idea; the ultimate.

• Beezer: Nose

• Big house: Jail

• Big one, The: Death

• Big sleep, The: Death (coined by Chandler)

1920s Slang

2

• 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

o 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

• 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

1920s Slang

3

• Bunk:

o "That's the bunk" - that's false, untrue

o "to bunk" - to sleep

• Bunny, as in "Don't be a bunny": Don't be stupid

• Burn powder: Fire a gun

• Bus: Big car

• 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:

o Jail

o Car

• Cat's Meow: Something splendid or stylish; similar to bee's knees.

1920s Slang

4

• Cat's Pajamas: "I think yer the cat's pajamas" - term of endearment translated in today's

terms as "I think you are really really cool".

• Century: $100

• Cheaters: Sunglasses

• Cheese it: Put things away, hide

• Chew: Eat

• Chicago lightning: gunfire

• Chicago overcoat: Coffin

• Chilled off: Killed

• Clammed: Close-mouthed (clammed up)

• Clean sneak: An escape with no clues left behind

• 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

o Detective, even a private one

1920s Slang

5

o To win, as in a bet

• Copped, To be: Grabbed by the cops

• Copper

o Policeman

• Crab: Figure out

• Crate: Car

• Cut down: Killed (esp. shot?)

D

• Daisy: None too masculine

• Dame: Woman

• Dangle: Leave, get lost

• Darb: Something remarkable or superior

• Derrick: Shoplifter

• Dish: Pretty woman

• Dive: A low-down, cheap sort of place

1920s Slang

6

• Dizzy with a dame, To be: To be deeply in love with a woman

• Dogs: Feet

• Doll, dolly: Woman

• 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

o Leave, depart, as in "Let's dust"

o A look, as in "Let's give it the dust"

• Dust out: Leave, depart

E

• Egg: Man

• Eggs in the coffee: Easy, a piece of cake, okay, all right

o Policeman

1920s Slang

7

o A collar or an arrest. Someone being arrested will "have their elbows checked."

• Elephant ears: Police

F

• Fade: Go away, get lost

• Fakeloo artist: Con man

• Fella: a man

• Fin: $5 bill

o As in "That's flat" - that's for sure

• Flat Tire: A dull-witted or disappointing date.

• Flattie: Flatfoot, cop

• Flimflam(m): Swindle

• Flippers: Hands

• Flivver: A Ford automobile

• Flogger: Overcoat

• Flop:

o Go to bed

o As in "The racket's flopped" - fallen through, not worked out

1920s Slang

8

G

• Gal: Woman

• Gams: Legs (especially a woman's)

• Gashouse, as in "getting gashouse": Rough

• Gat: Gun

• Gate, as in "Give her the gate": The door, as in leave

• Gee: Man

• Gin mill: Bar

• Gink: Man

• Girlie: Woman

• Give a/the third: Interrogate (third degree)

• Glad rags: Fancy clothes

• Glom

o 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

1920s Slang

9

• Gooseberry lay: Stealing clothes from a clothesline

• Gowed-up: On dope, high

• Grab (a little) air: Put your hands up

• Graft:

o Cut of the take

• Grand: $1000

o Mexicans or Italians.

• Grifter: Con man

• Grilled: Questioned

• Guinea: derogatory term for an Italian

• Gum-shoe: Detective; also gumshoeing = detective work

• Gun for: Look for, be after

• Guns:

o Pickpockets

• Guy: a man

1920s Slang

16

• Ranked: Observed, watched, given the once-over

• Rap

o Criminal charge

o Information, as in "He gave us the rap"

• Rappers: Fakes, set-ups

• Rat: Inform

• Rhino: Money

• Right: Adjective indicating quality

• Right gee, Right guy: A good fellow

• Ringers: Fakes

• Ritzy: Elegant.

• Rod: Gun

• Roscoe: Gun

• Rub-out: A killing

• Rube: Bumpkin, easy mark

• Rumble, the: The news

• Run-out, To take the : Leave, escape

• Scatter, as in "And don't bother to call your house peeper and send him up to the

1920s Slang

17

o A hideout, a room or lodging

• Schnozzle: Nose

• Scram out: Leave

• Scratch: Money

• Scratcher: Forger

• Screw : Prison guard

• Send over: Send to jail

• Shine: Moonshine, bootleg liquor

• 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

o As a noun, bullet

o As a verb, to knock unconscious

1920s Slang

18

• Smell from the barrel, Have a: Have a drink

• Smoked: Drunk

• Snap a cap: Shout

• Snatch: Kidnap

• Sneak

o Leave, get lost, as in "If you're not a waiter, sneak"

• 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

• Squeeze: a female companion; girlfriend. Frequently used in underworld circles.

• Squirt metal: Shoot bullets

1920s Slang

19

• Stuck On: Having a crush on.

• Sucker: Someone ripe for a grifter's scam

• Sugar: Money

• Swanky: Ritzy.

• Swell: Wonderful.

• Swift, To have plenty of: To be fast (on the draw)

• Swing: Hang

T

• Take for a Ride: To drive off with someone in order to bump them off.

• Take the air: Leave

• Take the bounce: To get kicked out (here, of a hotel)

• Take the fall for: Accept punishment for

• 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

1920s Slang

20

• Torcher: Torch singer

• Torpedoes: Gunmen

• Trap: Mouth

• Trigger man: Man whose job is to use a gun

• Trouble boys: Gangsters

• Turn up: To turn in (to the police)

• Twist: Woman

1920s Slang

21

• Ya Follow: do you understand?

• Yap: Mouth

• Yard: $100

• Yegg: Safecracker who can only open cheap and easy safes

• Zotzed: Killed