Gangster Slang

GANGSTER SLANG:

"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."

Ameche: Telephone
Babe: Woman
Baby: A person, can be said to either a man or a woman
Bangtails: Racehorses
Barbering: Talking
Be on the nut, to: To be broke
Bean-shooter: Gun
Beezer: Nose
Bent cars: Stolen cars
Berries: Dollars
Big house: Jail
Big one, the: Death
Big sleep, the: Death
Bim: Woman
Bindle: 1. of heroin: Little folded-up piece of paper. 2. The bundle in which a hobo carries all his worldy posessions.
Bindle punk: A hobo or derelict hired to do rough or unpleasant work. (Could perhaps refer to a small time drug dealer as well.)
Bindle stiff: One who steals a hobo's bindle
Bing: Crazy ??
Bird: Guy
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 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
Bucket: Car
Bulge, as in "The kid had the bulge there": The advantage
Bulls: Cops (perhaps plainclothes detectives)
Bump: Kill
Bump off: Kill; also, bump-off - a killing
Buncoing some (people): Defrauding some people
Bunk: 1. As in "That's the bunk" - that's false, untrue. 2. As in "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.
Button: Face, as in "a poke in the button"
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, or C-note: $100, also a pair of C's = $200
Cabbage: Money
Caboose: Jail
Call copper: Inform the police
Can: Jail
Can-opener: Safecracker who forces open cheap safes
Case dough: "Nest egg ... the theoretically untouchable reserve for emergencies"
Cat: Guy
Century: $100
Chew: Eat
Chicago overcoat: A coffin
Chick: Woman
Chilled off: Killed
Chin: A conversation; also chinning = talking
Chin music: A punch on the jaw
Chinese angle, as in "You're not trying to find a Chinese angle on it, are you?": a strange twist (not that Chinese people are actually involved)
Chippy: Woman of easy virtue
Chisel: To swindle or cheat
Chiv, chive: Knife, or other stabbing or cutting weapon
Chopper squad: Guys with machine guns
Clammed: Close-mouthed, as in 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. Also, a casino where the tables are fixed
Clipped: Shot
Close your head: Shut up
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.
Conk: Head
Cool, as in "He cooled me": To knock out
Cooler, the: Jail
Cop: 1. Detective, even a private one. 2. To win, as in a bet
Copped: Grabbed by the cops
Copper: 1. Policeman. 2. As in "All time served except his copper"
Corn: Bourbon (as in corn liquor)
Crab: Figure out
Crate: Car
Creep joint: ?? Can mean a whorehouse where the girls are pickpockets, but that doesn't fit here
Croak: To kill
Croaker: Doctor
Crushed out: Escaped (from jail)
Cush: Money (a cushion, something to fall back on)
Cut down: Killed (esp shot?)
Daisy: None-too-masculine
Dame: Woman
Dangle: Leave, get lost
Darb: Something remarkable or superior
Deck, as in "deck of Luckies": Pack of cigarettes
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
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: Woman
Dope: 1. Drugs, of any sort. 2. Information. 3. 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
Droppers: Hired killers
Drum: Speakeasy
Dry-gulch: Knock out, hit on head after ambushing
Ducat: Ticket
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, as in "We did the dumps": Roadhouse, club; or, more generally, any place
Dust: 1. Nothing, as in "Tinhorns are dust to me". 2. Leave, depart, as in "Let's dust" . 3. A look, as in "Let's give it the dust"
Dust out: Leave, depart
Dutch: 1. As in "in dutch" - trouble. 2. As in "A girl pulled the Dutch act" - committed suicide. 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
Egg: Fellow
Eggs in the coffee: Easy, a piece of cake, okay, all right
Elbows, as in "And there's no elbows tagging along": Police
Electric cure: Electrocution
Fade: Get lost
Fakeloo artist: Con man
Fin: $5 bill
Finder: Finger man
Finger, as in put the finger on: Identify
Flat: 1. Broke 2. As in "That's flat" - that's for sure
Flattie: Flatfoot, cop
Flimflamm: Swindle (Op, 23, 251)
Flippers: Hands? (Lake, 139)
Flivver: A Ford automobile
Flogger: Overcoat
Flop: 1. Go to bed. 2. 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"
Fog: To shoot
Frail: Woman
Frau: Wife
From nothing, as in "I know from nothing": I don't know anything
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"
Gee: Guy
Geetus: Money
Giggle juice: Liquor
Gin mill: Bar (speakeasy?)
Gink: Guy
Girlie: Woman
Give a third: Interrogate (third degree)
Glad rags: Fancy clothes
Glaum: Steal
Glomming: Stealing
Go climb up your thumb: Go fly a kite, go stick your thumb up your ass
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
Goon: Thug
Goose: Guy
Gooseberry lay: Stealing clothes from a clothesline
Gowed-up: On dope, high
Grab (a little) air: Put your hands up
Graft, the: 1. Con jobs 2. Cut of the take
Grand: $1000
Grift, as in "What's the grift?": What are you trying to pull?
Grifter: Con man
Grilled: Questioned
Gum, as in "Don't ... gum every play I make": Gum up, interfere with
Gum-shoe: Detective, also gumshoeing = detective work
Gun for: Look for, be after
Guns: Hoodlums
Gunsel: 1. Gunman (Hammett invented this use). 2. Boy homosexual. 3a. (p) A male oral sodomist, or passive pederast. b. A brat. c. (By extension) An informer; a weasel; an unscrupulous person." 4. (Note) Yiddish "ganzl" = gosling
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
High pillow: Person at the top, in charge
Highbinders: 1. Corrupt politician or functionary. 2. Professional killer operating in the Chinese quarter of a city.
Hittin' the pipe: Smoking opium
Hitting on all eight: As in cylinders, in good shape, going well
Hock shop: Pawnshop
Hogs: Engines
Hombre: Man, fellow
Hooch: Liquor
Hood: Criminal
Hooker, as in "It took a stiff hooker of whiskey": A drink of strong liquor
Hoosegow: Jail
Hop: 1. Drugs, mostly morphine or derivatives like heroin. 2. Bell-hop (Lake, 73)
Hop-head: Drug addict, esp. heroin
Horn: Telephone
Hot: Stolen
House dick: House detective
House peeper: House detective
Ice: Diamonds
In stir: In jail
Ing-bing, as in to throw an: A fit
Iron: A car
Jack: Money
Jake: Okay
Jakeloo: Okay
Jam: Trouble, as in "in a jam"
Jasper: A man (of a certain type?)
Java: Coffee
Jaw: Talk
Jerking a nod: Nodding
Jingle-brained: Addled
Jobbie: Guy
Joe: Coffee, as in "a cup of joe"
Johns: Police
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
Jujus: Marijuana cigarettes
Jump, the: A hanging
Kale: Money
Keister: Suitcase, also spelt keyster (Also means buttocks or safe/strongbox)
Kick, as in "I got no kick": I have nothing to complain about
Kick off: Die
Kisser: Mouth
Knock off: Kill
Knockover: Heist, theft
Lammed off: Ran away, escaped
Large: $1,000, as in "twenty large"
Law, the: The police
Lay: 1. 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" 2. As in "I gave him the lay" - I told him where things stood (as in lay of the of land)
Lettuce: Folding money
Lit, to be: To be drunk
Loogan: Marlowe defines this as "a guy with a gun"
Look-out: Outside man
Lousy with: To have lots of
Lug: 1. Dumb Guy. 2. Bullet 3. Ear.
Made: Recognized
Map: Face
Marbles: Pearls
Mazuma: Money
Meat, as in "He's your meat": There's your man, in this case, there's the guy you'll follow
Meat wagon: Ambulance
Mesca: Marijuana
Mickey Finn, take a: 1. Take off, leave. 2. A drink drugged with knock-out drops.
Mill: Typewriter
Mitt: Hand
Mob: Gang (not Mafia)
Moll: Girlfriend
Monicker: Name
Mouthpiece: Lawyer
Mud-pipe: Opium pipe
Mug: Face
Mugs: Guys (esp. dumb)
Mush: Face
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: Cocaine, Heroin in some cases
Number: 1.A person, can be either a man or a woman. 2. To work someone over, as in "you really did a number on that guy."
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
Oyster fruit: Pearls
Pack: To carry, esp. a gun
Palooka: Guy, probably a little stupid
Pan: Face
Paste: Punch
Paw: Hand
Peaching: Informing
Peeper: Detective
Pen: Jail, penitentiary
Peterman: Safecracker who uses nitroglycerin
Pigeon: see Stool-pigeon
Pill: 1. Bullet. 2. Cigarette
Pinch: An arrest, capture
Pipe: See or notice
Pipe that: Get that, listen to that
Pipes: Throat
Pistol pockets: ?? heels?
Pitching woo: Making love
Plant: Someone on the scene but in hiding
Plugs: People
Pooped: Killed
Pop: Kill
Pro skirt: Prostitute
Puffing: Mugging
Pug: Boxer
Pump: Heart
Pump metal: Shoot bullets
Punk: Hood, thug
Puss: Face
Put down: Drink
Put the screws on: Question, get tough with
Queer: 1. Counterfeit. 2. Sexually abnormal
Rags: Clothes
Ranked: Observed, watched, given the once-over.
Rap: 1. Criminal charge. 2. Information, as in "He gave us the rap". 3. Hit
Rappers, as in "There were a couple solved for the record, but they were just rappers": Fakes, set-ups
Rat: Inform
Rate: To be good, to count for something
Rats and mice: Dice, i.e. craps
Rattler: 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"?
Right: Adjective indicating quality
Right gee: A good fellow
Right guy: A good fellow
Ringers: Fakes
Rod: Gun
Roscoe: Gun
Rub-out: A death
Rube: Bumpkin, easy mark
Rumble, the: The news
Run-out, as in to take the: Leave, escape
Sap: 1. A dumb guy. 2. A blackjack
Sap poison: Getting hit with a sap
Savvy?: Get me? understand?
Sawbuck: $10
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.
Schnozzle: Nose
Scram out: Leave
Scratch: Money
Scratcher: Forger
Screw: 1. Leave, as in "Let's screw before anybody pops in" 2. Prison guard.
Send over: Send to jail
Shamus: (Private) detective
Sharper: A swindler or sneaky person
Shatting on your uppers: To be broke
Shells: Bullets
Shine: 2. Bootleg whiskey.
Shiv: Knife
Shylock: Loanshark
Shyster: Lawyer
Silk, as in "all silk so far": All okay so far
Sister: Woman
Skate around, as in "She skates around plenty": To be of easy virtue
Skipout: Leave a hotel without paying, or a person who does so
Skirt: Woman
Slant, get a: Take a look
Sleuth: Detective
Slug: 1. As a noun, bullet 2. As a verb, to knock unconscious.
Smell from the barrel, have a: Have a drink
Smoked: Drunk
Snap a cap: Shout
Snatch: Kidnap
Sneak: 1. Leave, get lost, as in "If you're not a waiter, sneak" 2. Type of burglary, as in as in "The hotel-sneak used to be my lay"
Sneeze: Take
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 job: To crack a safe using nitroglycerine
Souping the kidneys: ?? driving fast?
Spill: Talk, inform. spill it = tell me
Spinach: Money
Spitting: Talking
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
Stool-pigeon or Stoolie: Informer
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)
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 ??
Throw lead: Shoot bullets
Ticket: P.I. license
Tiger milk: Some sort of liquor
Tighten the screws: Put pressure on somebody
Tip a few: To have a few drinks
Tip your mitt: Show your hand, reveal something
Tooting the wrong ringer: Asking the wrong person
Torcher: Torch singer
Torpedoes: Gunmen
Trap: Mouth
Trigger man: Guy who does the shooting on a job
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.
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": Broke
Vag, as in vag charge, vag law: Vagrancy
Vig, Vigorish: Interest on a loanshark's loan
Weak sister: A push-over
Wear iron: Carry a gun
Wheats, as in "a stack of wheats": Pancakes
White: 1. Good, okay, as in "white dick". 2. As in a gallon of - gin
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
Yank: ?? tough situation?
Yap: Mouth
Yard: $100
Yegg: Safecracker, "who can only open a rather cheap and vulnerable safe"
Zotzed: Killed

Compiled by William Denton.