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18th amendment - Amendment to the US Constitution that started National Prohibition
21st amendment
- Amendment to the US Constitution that ended National Prohibition
Absolutely - affirmative
All Wet - describes an erroneous idea or individual, as in, "he's all wet."
And How - I strongly
agree!
Applesauce - an expletive same as horsefeathers, As in "Ah applesauce!"
Attaboy - well done!; also Attagirl!
Baby - sweetheart. Also denotes something of high value or respect.
Balled Up - confused, messed up
Baloney - nonsense!
Bangtails - Racehorses
Bank's Closed - no kissing or making out - i.e. - "Sorry, Mac, the bank's closed."
Bathtub
Gin - A Form of homemade liquor mixed in a bathtub
Be on the nut - To be broke
Bean-shooter - Gun
Bearcat - a hot-blooded or fiery girl
Beat it - scam or get lost
Beat one's
gums - idle chatter
Beef - Problem
Bee's Knees - An extraordinary person, thing, idea
Beeswax - business, i.e. None of your beeswax.
Beezer - Nose
Behind the eight ball - In a difficult
position, in a tight spot
Bell bottom - a sailor
Berries - is attractive or pleasing; similar to bee's
knees, As in "It's the berries."
Big Cheese - The most important or influential person. Same as
big shot
Big House - Jail
Big One - Death
Big Sleep - Death
Bim - Woman
Bindle - the bundle in which a hobo carries all his worldly possessions
Bing - Jailhouse talk for solitary
confinement
Bird - Man, sometimes meaning "odd man"
Bit - Prison sentence
Blind
tigers - The illegal saloons, speakeasies during prohibition
Blip off - To kill
Blow - Leave
Blow one down - Kill someone
Blower - Telephone
Bluenose - An excessively puritanical person,
a prude
Boob - Dumb guy
Bootleg liquor - Illegally alcoholic beverages
Bootlegger
- A person who illegally made or imported alcohol
Boozehound - Drunkard
Bop - To kill
Box - A safe or a bar
Box job - A safecracking
Brace (somebody) - Grab, shake up
Bracelets
- Handcuffs
Break it up - Stop that, quit the nonsense
Breeze - To leave, breeze off: get lost
Breezer - an convertible car
Broad - Woman
Bruno - Tough guy, enforcer
Bucket - Car
Bulge, The - The advantage
Bulls - Plainclothes railroad cops; uniformed police; prison guards
Bump Gums - To talk about nothing worthwhile
Bump Off - To murder
Bum's rush - ejection by force
from an establishment
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
Butt me - I'll
take a cigarette
Button man - Professional killer
Buttons - Police
Butts - Cigarettes
Buzz - Looks person up, comes to persons door
Buzzer - Policeman's badge
C - $100, a pair
of C's = $200
Cabbage - Money
Caboose - Jail
Call copper - Inform the police
Can - Jail, Car
Can house - Bordello
Can-opener - Safecracker who opens cheap safes
Canary
- Woman singer
Carry a Torch - Suffering from an unrequited love.
Cash - a kiss
Cash
or check? - Do you kiss now or later?
Cat's Meow - Something splendid or stylish; similar to bee's knees;
The best or greatest
Cat's Pajamas - Same as cat's meow
Chassis - the female body
Cheaters - Eyeglasses
Check - kiss me later
Cheese it - Put things away, hide
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 - Knife, "a stabbing or cutting weapon"
Chopper squad - Men with machine guns
Chump - person marked for a con or a gullible person.
Clam -
a dollar
Clammed - Close-mouthed (clammed up)
Clean sneak - An escape with no clues
left behind
Clip joint - In some cases, a nightclub where the prices are high and the patrons are fleeced
Clipped - Shot
Close your head - Shut up
Clubhouse - Police station
Con - Confidence game,
swindle
Conk - Head
Cool - To knock out
Cooler - Jail
Cop - Detective, even a
private one
Copped, to be - Grabbed by the cops
Copper - Policeman
Corn - Bourbon ("corn
liquor")
Crab - Figure out
Crate - Car
Croak - To kill
Croaker - Doctor
Crush - An infatuation
Crushed out - Escaped (from jail)
Cut down - Killed
Daddy
- a young woman's boyfriend or lover, especially if he's rich
Daisy - None too masculine
Dame
- Woman
Dance - To be hanged
Dangle - Leave, get lost
Dapper - a Flapper's dad
Darb - An excellent person or thing (as in "the Darb" - a person with money who can be relied on to pay the check)
Daylight, as in "fill him with daylight" - Put a hole in, by shooting or stabbing
Dead
soldier - an empty bear bottle
Deck, as in "deck of Luckies" - Pack of cigarettes
Derrick
- Shoplifter
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 - an attractive woman
Dolled up - dressed up
Don't know from nothing - don't have any information
Don't take any wooden nickels - Don't do anything stupid
Dope fiend - Drug addict
Dope peddler
- Drug dealer
Double-cross - to cheat, stab in the back
Dough - Money
Drift - Go, leave
Drill - Shoot
Drop a dime - Make a phone call, sometimes meaning to the police to inform on someone
Droppers - Hired killerset
Drugstore Cowboy - a guy that hangs around on a street corner trying to pick
up girls
Drunkard - one that drinks alcohol and often is not sober
Drys - The supporters of the
Prohibition Amendment
Dry Agents - The agents who worked for the Prohibition Bureau in order to enforce Prohibition.
The majority of these officials were corrupt.
Dry up - shut up, get lost
Duck soup - Easy, a piece
of cake
Ducky - very good
Dumb Dora - a stupid female
Dump - Roadhouse, club; or, more generally,
any place
Dust out - Leave, depart
Earful - enough
Edge - intoxication, a buzz.
i.e. "I've got an edge."
Egg - a person who lives the big life
Electric cure - Electrocution
Elephant ears - Police
Fade - Go away, get lost
Fall Guy - victim of a frame
Fella
- a man
Fin - $5 bill
Finder - Finger man
Finger, Put the finger on - Identify
Fire
extinguisher - a chaperone
Fish -(1) a college freshman; (2) a first timer in prison
Flaming
Youth - Male counterpart to a flapper.
Flapper - A stylish, brash young woman with short skirts and shorter hair.
Flat Tire - A dull-witted or disappointing date.
Flattie - Flatfoot, cop
Flat Tire - A dull
insipid, disappointing date. Same as pill, pickle, drag, rag, oilcan
Flimflam - Swindle
Flippers -
Hands
Flivver - A Ford automobile
Flogger - Overcoat
Flop - Go to bed or fallen through,
not worked out
Flophouse - A cheap transient hotel where a lot of men sleep in large rooms
Fly boy -
a glamorous term for an aviator
Fog - To shoot
Frame - To give false evidence, to set up someone
Fry - To be electrocuted
Fuzz - police
Gal - Woman
Gams - A Woman’s Legs
Gasper - Cigarette
Gat - Gun
Getaway sticks - Legs
Get a wiggle on - get a move on,
get going
Get Sore - Get mad
Giggle juice - Liquor
Giggle Water - Liquor
Gin mill
- Bar
Glad rags - Fancy clothes
Giggle Water - An intoxicating beverage; alcohol
Gin Mill
- An establishment where hard liquor is sold; bar
G-men (government men) - FBI special agents
Gold
Digger - A woman who associates with or marries a man for his wealth
Goofy - Crazy in love
Goog
- Black eye
Goon - Thug
Gooseberry lay - Stealing clothes from a clothesline
Gowed-up - On
dope, high
Grab (a little) air - Put your hands up
Graft - Con jobs or cut of the take
Grand
- $1000
Grift - Confidence game, swindle
Grifter - Con man
Grilled - Questioned
Gumshoe - Detective
Gumshoeing - Detective work
Gun for - Look for, be after
Guns - Pickpockets,
Hoodlums
Guy - a man
Hack - Taxi
Half, a - 50 cents
Hard Boiled - a tough, strong
guy
Harlem Sunset - Some sort fatal injury caused by knife
Harrison Narcotics Act - A bill passed in
1914 making narcotics prescribed by a doctor legal. However doctors were not allowed to prescribe narcotics to addicts.
Hash House - A cheap restaurant
Hatchet men - Killers, gunmen
Have the Bees - To be rich
Hayburner - (1) a gas guzzling car (2) a horse one loses money on
Hays Code - Also known as the “Motion
Picture Production Code”. This was a code created by Will Hays. It was the standard for what movies would and would
not show.
Head doctors - Psychiatrists
Heap - Car
Heat - Police
Heater -
gun
Heebie-Jeebies - The jitters
Heeled - Carrying a gun
High-Hat - To snub.
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
Hock shop
- Pawnshop
Hooch - Bootleg liquor
Hood - Criminal
Hoofer - Dancer
Hoosegow -
Jail
Horn - Telephone
Hot - Stolen
Hotsy-Totsy - Pleasing
House dick - House/hotel
detective
House peeper - House/hotel detective
Hype - Shortchange artist
Ice - Diamonds
Ing-bing, as in to throw an - A fit
Iron - A car
Jack - Money
Jake - OK, as in ,
"Everything is Jake."
Jake-Foot - An illness that paralyzed at least one limb in the body. The
disease was spread by “Jamaican Ginger”, a popular type of homemade alcohol
Jalopy - Old car
Jam - Trouble, a tight spot
Jane - A woman
Java - Coffee
Jaw - Talk
Jerking a nod - Nodding
Jingle-brained - Addled
Jitney - a car employed as a private bus. Fare was
usually five cents; also called a "nickel"
Jobbie - Man
Joe - Coffee, as in "a
cup of joe"
Johns - Police
Joint - A club, usually selling alcohol
Juice - Interest
on a loanshark's loan
Jug - Jail
Jump, The - A hanging
Keen - Attractive or appealing
Kick off - Die
Kiss - To punch
Kisser - Mouth
Kitten - Woman
Knock
off - Kill
Labor Riots - Riots during the 1920s when workers refused to work
Lammed off - Ran
away, escaped
Large: $1,000 - twenty large would be $20,000
Law, the - The police
Lead -
"fill ya full of lead": the term used for bullets
Lead poisoning - To be shot
Left holding
the bag - (1) to be cheated out of one's fair share (2) to be blamed for something
Lettuce - Folding
money
Level with me - be honest
Lid - Hat
Line - Insincere flattery.
Lip
- (Criminal) lawyer
Live wire - a lively person
Looker - Pretty woman
Look-out - Outside
man
Lounge Lizard - a guy that is sexually active
Lousy with - To have lots of
Mac - a man
Made - Recognized
Map - Face
Marbles - Pearls
Mark - Sucker, victim of swindle or
fixed game
Maroon - person marked for a con or a gullible person.
Meat wagon - Ambulance
Mickey
Finn - A drink drugged with knock-out drops
Mill - Typewriter
Mitt - Hand
Mob - Gang (not
necessarily Mafia)
Moll - A gangster's girl
Monicker - Name
Moonshine - Illegal alcohol,
usually in context with homemade alcohol
Mouthpiece - Lawyer
Mugs - Men (especially refers to
dumb ones)
Nailed: Caught by the police
Neck - Kissing with passion
Nevada gas - Cyanide
Newshawk - Reporter
Newsie - Newspaper vendor
Nibble one - To have a drink
Nicked
- Stole
Nifty - great, excellent
Nippers - Handcuffs
Noble Experiment - Another name for
Prohibition
Nobody Home - Describes some one who is dumb
Noodle - Head
"Now you're
on the trolley!" - Now you've got it, now you're right!
Number - A person
Off the
track - said about a person who becomes insanely violent
On the lam - fleeing from police
On the
level - legitimate, honest
On the up and up - on the level
Op - Detective
Opium - A
drug that was often inhaled caused also from alcoholics drinking
Orchid - an expensive item
Orphan
paper - Bad checks
Ossified - a drunk person
Out on the roof - To drink a lot, to be drunk
Owl - a person who's out late
Oyster fruit - Pearls
Packing Heat - carrying a gun
Pal
- a man
Palooka - Man, probably not very smart; a below-average or average boxer
Pan - Face
Paste - Punch
Patsy - Person who is set up; fool, chump
Paw - Hand
Peaching - Informing
Peeper - Detective
Peepers - Eyes
Pen - Penitentiary, jail
Penal System - The court
system
Peterman - Safecracker who uses nitroglycerin
Piece - Gun
Pigeon - Stool-pigeon
Piker - (1) a cheapskate (2) a coward
Pill - (1) a teacher (2) an unlikable person
Pinch
- To arrest
Pins - Legs
Pipe - See or notice
Pipe down - stop talking
Pipes -
Throat
Plant - Someone on the scene but in hiding, Bury
Plug - Shoot
Plugs - People
Poke - Bankroll, stake
Pooped - Killed
Pop - Kill
Prohibition - The ban of any substance
Pro skirt - Prostitute
Puffing - Mugging
Pug - Pugilist, boxer
Pump - Heart
Pump metal - Shoot bullets
Punk - Hood, thug
Pushover - A person easily convinced or seduced
Puss - Face
Put down - Drink
Put the screws on - Question, get tough with
Putting
on the Ritz - doing something in high style
Rag-a-muffin - a dirty or disheveled individual
Rags - Clothes
Ranked - Observed, watched, given the once-over
Rap - Criminal charge
Rappers - Fakes, set-ups
Rat - Inform
Rate - To be good, to count for something
Rats and mice - Dice, i.e. craps
Rattler - Train
Razz- to make fun of
Real McCoy - The genuine
article
Red-light - To eject from a car or train
Redhot - Some sort of criminal
Reefers -
Marijuana cigarettes
Rhino - Money
Right - Adjective indicating quality
Ringers - Fakes
Ritzy - Elegant (from the hotel)
Rod - Gun
Rub-out - A killing
Rube - Bumpkin, easy
mark
Rubes - money or dollars
Rumble, the - The news
Rum runner - Someone who smuggles alcohol:
bootlegger
Saloon - A bar type organization, operated before prohibition
Sap - A dumb guy
Sap poison - Getting hit with a sap
Savvy - Get me? Understand?
Sawbuck - $10 bill (a double
sawbuck is a $20 bill)
Says you - a reaction of disbelief
Schnozzle - Nose
Scram - Ask someone
to leave immediately
Scratch - Money
Scratcher - Forger
Send over - Send to jail
Shamus - (Private) detective
Sharper - A swindler or sneaky person
Sheba - A woman with sex appeal
(from the movie Queen of Sheba)
Sheik - A man with sex appeal (from the Valentino movies)
Shells -
Bullets
Shiv - Knife
Shyster - Lawyer
Sing - Make a confession
Sinker - a doughnut
Sister - Woman
Skate around - To be of easy virtue
Skid rogue - A bum who can't be trusted
Skirt - Woman
Slant, Get a - Take a look
Sleuth - Detective
Slug - a bullet or to
knock unconscious
Smoked - Drunk
Snap a cap - Shout
Snatch - Kidnap
Sneeze - Take
Snitch - An informer, or to inform
Snooper - Detective
Soak - To pawn
Sock - Punch
Soup - Nitroglycerine
Soup job - To crack a safe using nitroglycerine
Speakeasy - The illegal
saloons during prohibition
Spifflicated - Drunk. The same as canned, corked, tanked, primed, scrooched, jazzed,
zozzled, plastered, owled, embalmed, lit, potted, ossified or fried to the hat
Spiffy - An elegant appearance
Spill - Talk, inform
Spinach - Money
Spitting - Talking
Spoon - to neck, or at least
talk of love
Square - Honest
Squeeze - a female companion or girlfriend.
Squirt metal - Shoot
bullets
Step off - To be hanged
Stiff - A corpse
Sting - Culmination of a con game
Stool-pigeon - Informer
Stoolie - Stool-pigeon
Struggle Buggy - the backseat of a car. A parent's
worst nightmare
Stuck On - Having a crush on
Sucker - Someone ripe for a grifter's scam
Sugar - Money
Swanky - Ritzy
Swell - Wonderful. Also: a rich man
Tail - Shadow or follow
Take a powder - Leave
Take on - Eat
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
Take the fall for
- Accept punishment for
Temperance - Self restraint or abstinence in the use of alcoholic beverages
That's
the crop - That's all of it
Three-spot - Three-year jail term
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
Tomato - Pretty woman
Tooting the wrong
ringer - Asking the wrong person
Torpedo - A hired gun
Trap - Mouth
Trigger man - Man whose
job is to use a gun
Trouble boys - Gangsters
Twist - Woman
Two bits - $25, or 25 cents
Under glass - In jail
Upchuck - To vomit when one has drunk too much
Volstead Act - The act
implementing the 18th amendment. It made the 18th amendment enforceable
WCTU - Woman’s Christian Temperance
Union: a group against saloons and alcohol
Weak sister - A push-over
Wear iron - Carry a gun
Wet Blanket - a solemn person, a killjoy
Wets - The opponents of Prohibition
What's
eating you? - What's wrong
Whoopee - To have a good time
Wise head - A smart person
Wooden
kimono - A coffin
Wood Alcohol - A dangerous form of alcohol made during prohibition
Wrong gee - Not
a good fellow
Wrong number - Not a good fellow
Ya Follow? - do you understand?
Yak-Yak Bourbon
- A type of homemade liquor that became extremely popular in Philadelphia. This was one of the types of alcohol that
was fermented in old whisky barrels.
Yap - Mouth
Yard - $100
Yegg - Safecracker who only
opens cheap and easy safes
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