Hard Boiled Slang

A glossary of noire slang and terms used in original form and derivatively in Frogland.

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

• 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

• 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)

• 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 in 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

• 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: 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:

    • A brat

    • An informer; a weasel; an unscrupulous person

  • 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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, odd

  • (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 man ribbed up to get the dope”: Set up, arranged for

• 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: 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

• 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

• 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