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Dictionary of Contemporary Slang, Third Edition; Tony Thorne (A & C Black, 2005)

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heatseeker

214

heatseeker n American

a dynamic person. The usage derives from the phrase ‘heat-seeking missile’ as used in news reports, etc., from the 1970s, and was heard in the 1990s in a professional context and among students.

heave vb

to retch or vomit. A literal, rather than metaphorical usage.

heave-ho, the old heave-ho, heave-o n

a rejection or dismissal. A worldwide English expression, typically referring to being jilted by a lover or being fired from one’s job. It originates in the shouts of exhortation made by men engaging in physical exertion. It was a sailors’ call in the 17th century.

‘It was evens…four men had broken her heart and she had given another four the old heave-ho.’

(A Touch of Spice, British TV comedy, 1989)

heaves, the heaves n

an attack of retching or vomiting. A literal description of these spasms, although the expression is, by its context, considered slang.

heaving adj

1. British stinking. The term, in use in working-class speech in the north of England and Scotland, possibly evokes the notion of something so rotten as to be infested with maggots and literally pulsating, or else evokes the heaving (i.e. retching) of the person sensing the odour. Slightly less overwhelming experiences are evoked by minging and howling.

I couldn’t stay in the flat more than five minutes – it was fuckin’ heavin’ in there…

2.British, Irish very crowded with people

It was heaving in there last night.

heavy1 n

a thug, minder, someone employed for their intimidating physical presence rather than their intellectual qualities. Originally an Americanism, the term has spread to world English via crime fiction and films. In current British colloquial speech it is sometimes used in the phrase ‘come the heavy’, meaning to act in a threatening manner.

heavy2 vb

to intimidate, threaten or pressurise (someone). The verb forms (expressed as ‘to heavy someone’, ‘to heavy someone into (doing) something’ or to ‘come

the heavy’) postdate the adjective and noun forms.

heavy3 adj

1. violent, oppressive, intimidating, powerful

2a. (of a situation) emotionally charged

2b. (of a person) difficult to cope with, having a powerful personality

These senses of the word, which were slang terms of the 1960s, have become common colloquialisms.

hebe, heeb, heebie n

a Jew. Based on the word Hebrew, these words originated in the USA. They have been heard in Britain and Australia since the early 1970s, sometimes jocularly lengthened to ‘heebie-jeebies’. Hebe is less offensive than yid, kike, etc., but discriminatory nonetheless.

hectic adj British

excellent, exciting. A vogue term of approbation among adolescents and schoolchildren since 2000.

hedger n British

a rural vagrant. The term, from the lexicon of the homeless, travellers, etc., denotes a crustie who prefers to live rough in the countryside. It was first recorded in the early 1990s, although phrases containing ‘hedge’ – like ‘ditch’ for a scene of sordid or dishonest behaviour – were common from the 16th century.

heel n American

someone who behaves in an unworthy or base way. This use of the word appeared at the turn of the 20th century.

heesh n American

an altered pronunciation and spelling of hash (hashish). The term was used on the street in the 1960s and 1970s, since when it has been adopted by schoolchildren and preppies in imitation of more louche speakers.

heifer n

a.a young woman. A usage which is mainly restricted to the slang of the USA and Australia. In Britain the word was common in the 19th century, but has been archaic since before World War I.

b.an unattractive, clumsy or unsophisticated young woman

I feel like such a heifer.

height adj American

excellent, first-rate. A term of approbation from the hip hop youth culture of the 1980s, coined by black teenagers

215

hep

(as a shortening of ‘height of fashion’) in the USA and spread with the music and dance trend to Britain where it enjoyed a brief vogue.

‘Don’t reach for a tape measure the next time someone refers to your bullet-proof safari jacket as “height”. They just mean it’s cool.’

(Charles Maclean on New York terminology, Evening Standard, 22 January 1987)

heimie n

an alternative spelling of hymie

heinie n American

the backside, buttocks. A coy diminutive of hind(quarters) or behind, although spelt as if it were Yiddish. The term is innocuous enough to be used by mothers and children.

‘He hit me daddy – and then he kicked me in the heinie.’

(Date with an Angel, US film, 1987)

heist vb, n

(to commit) a robbery or hold-up. The word, redolent of American gangsterdom, dates from the first two decades of the 20th century. It is probably a variant form of hoist which, like ‘lift’, is a 200- year-old euphemism for steal, influenced by German and Yiddish speakers who would know the verb as heisst. Heist in its current usage usually suggests a carefully staged major robbery or criminal operation.

helicopter n American

a temporary visitor. In middle-class adult slang of the 1990s the word would be applied to a neighbour who drops in just to eat and then disappears or, as in the phrase ‘helicopter-parents’, by school staff referring to parents who stay only long enough for a brief consultation or complaint. In 2006 ‘helicopter parent’ was in vogue with the slightly different sense of one who hovers constantly, prompting offspring and scrutinising teachers.

helicopters, the n British a bout of dizziness.

See also whirling pits, the

helioproctosis n British

arrogance, overweening self-assurance. In medical slang the supposed condition in which ‘the sun shines out of someone’s arse’. Also known as proctoheliosis, from the Greek helios – Sun and procto – rectal.

hella, hellov prefix American

very. A variant form of ‘helluva’ and ‘hellish’, influenced by the fashionable prefix mega. The first popular use of the device was in the combination ‘hellacool’, heard among American teenagers in 1987 and 1988. By 2000 the variant form hellov was also in use.

hellacious adj American

a. appalling, awful, horrifying. A hyperbolic term mainly used and presumably coined by educated speakers, this is an invented elaboration of ‘hellish’.

‘Well, we made it but we had a truly hellacious flight.’

(US visitor to the UK, June 2005)

b. impressive, excellent. The term, like bad, wicked, etc. has since the early 1980s been used by the young to indicate approval.

Hey, they’re a hellacious band.

hench adj British

muscular, well-built. A term from Caribbean speech, also heard in the UK since 2000, especially among younger speakers. It may derive from henchman (itself from the Old English hengestman, a groom, where hengest meant ‘stallion’).

heng vb British

to stink. The term was posted on the b3ta website in 2004.

Hennessey n

a.alcohol

b.marihuana

For US rappers and hip hop aficionados the French cognac brand Hennessey became a generic term for (expensive) alcohol. Among black British adolescents in London in 2001, probably in ignorance of its origin, the word could be used of both alcohol and cannabis.

hep adj

aware, in touch with the latest (cultural) trends. An Americanism from the jargon of jazz musicians in the early part of the 20th century, hep was adopted by the white intellectuals of the beat generation in the mid-1950s and slightly later by teenagers. The word metamorphosed into hip (although the two terms coexisted in the early 1960s), which itself prompted the coinage of hippy. The precise dates and derivation of hep are somewhat obscure, although it almost certainly originates in a shout of exhortation or encouragement: either the noise used by riders, ploughmen, etc. to

hepcat

216

horses, or (perhaps more likely, given the importance of marching bands in the early history of jazz) that used by parade leaders, drill sergeants, etc. to keep time. To ‘get hep’ or ‘be hep’ signifies to be working in harmony or in step.

hepcat n

an aficionado of jive, jazz and other aspects of progressive popular culture of the 1940s and 1950s. Originally a black term combining hep (fashionably aware) and cat (a man), it was adopted by white bohemians, intellectuals and proto-beat- niks and used until replaced by such terms as hipster in the 1960s. British jazz fans also picked up the expression and used it self-consciously or humorously until the mid-1960s.

herb n

1.marihuana, herbal cannabis. This is probably the most common name for the drug in Caribbean use (usually pronounced ’erb). The word has been given especial prominence since the early 1970s by reference to it (in popular songs and elsewhere) by Jamaican Rastafarians, for whom it is sacramental. White British cannabis smokers adopted the term as an alternative to the more commonplace grass, bush, etc. in the mid-1970s.

2.British a street urchin. A rare shortening of Herbert, typically pronounced ’erb.

3.American a dupe. This term, heard in the 1990s in street argot, is probably taken from the proper name supposedly denoting a quintessential ‘sucker’. (H)erbert is the British equivalent.

herbal, herbals n

marihuana. The term is a predictable borrowing of one component of the official designation ‘herbal cannabis’ for the leaves and flowers of the plant sold and consumed loose, as opposed to compacted into hashish. It had partly supplanted the form (h)erb by the later 1990s.

‘Didn’t any of them enjoy a lug on the herbals?’

(Q magazine, March 1997)

Herbert n British See ’erbert

her indoors n British

one’s wife, female partner or boss. A London working-class circumlocution which was popularised by its use in the TV series Minder (broadcast between 1979 and 1988). The expression has

established itself as a facetious or ironic reference to an unseen (and by implication oppressive) female presence.

‘All right I’ll stop off for a quick drink, but for God’s sake don’t tell her indoors.’

(Recorded, teacher, London, 1988)

Hershey highway n American

the anus. The expression, usually heard in connection with homosexual behaviour, uses the brand name of chocolate bars like its British equivalent, Bourneville boulevard.

het n, adj British

(a person who is) heterosexual

They wouldn’t understand, they’re all hets.

It’s a strictly het affair.

hey diddle diddle n

an act of urination, a piddle. A piece of rhyming slang in use in London and Australia. (Jimmy Riddle is a more common alternative.) The words are from the first line of a well-known nursery rhyme.

hickey n American

a.a love bite

‘I like your date, Sam. Be careful she doesn’t lose a baby tooth when she’s giving you a hickey.’

(Cheers, US TV comedy series, 1986)

b.a spot or other skin blemish

Hicksville n American

a backward provincial place. A racier version of ‘hick town’, based on ‘hick’ meaning rustic or unsophisticated. (Hick was originally a diminutive of Richard, influenced by ‘hickory’.)

H.I.D. n British

an abbreviated form of her indoors used by City financial traders during the 1990s

hide the sausage/salami/weenie vb

to have sexual intercourse. Usually preceded by ‘play’, these phrases are adult imitations of baby talk, used facetiously since the late 1960s. The first version is British and Australian, the second and third American.

hidren n Caribbean

a good friend. The term is an alteration of, or synonym for, bredren. Idren is an alternative form.

high adj

intoxicated by alcohol or drugs, euphoric. The expression ‘high as a kite’ preceded the shorter usage which became widespread in the late 1960s.

high on life

I feel like getting high.

217

hit

high five (someone) vb American

to slap raised palms and fingers together as a ritual greeting. The custom and the expression appeared in the black community in the 1970s and was subsequently adopted by sportspeople and adolescents in general.

high-hat vb American

to behave condescendingly or ‘highhandedly’ (towards someone). A fairly rare but long-established expression. The silent-film star Clara Bow claimed that more sedate members of the Hollywood community high-hatted her.

high muckamuck n American See muckamuck

hike vb, n

(to make) a departure or journey

Take a hike. It’s time to hike.

hill-billy adj British

chilly. An item of rhyming slang that probably originated in Glasgow rather than London.

It’s a bit hill-billy in here.

hilljack n American

a redneck, hillbilly, person from the ‘deep south’ of the USA. The term was in use on campuses in 2002.

himbo n

a male bimbo. An item of journalese that was adopted into general speech in the 1990s. Bimboy is a synonym.

hinky, hincky adj American

1.inspiring doubt or suspicion; of uncertain loyalty, origin, etc. This term of unknown derivation is roughly equivalent to the British dodgy

2.cute and/or neat

hip adj

a. in touch with current trends, up-to- date, culturally aware. This word coexisted with, and then supplanted, hep in the 1960s in the argot of musicians, beatniks and other bohemians. It implied identification with an ideal of cool behaviour characterised by a nonchalant, enlightened detachment and a rejection of ‘bourgeois’ values.

‘Now, the truly hip stay at home with the baby and open a bottle of wine with a couple of friends; if they do go out, they dress down in T-shirts, jeans and sneakers.’

(Sunday Times, 9 July 1989)

b. aware, ‘in the know’. Hip, now divested of its counterculture overtones, is used in

popular speech to denote an unspoken understanding of a certain state of affairs.

There’s no need to give me all this bullshit, man. I’m hip to what’s going down.

hippie n American

a term of address or endearment, usually for a male

hippie lettuce n American

marihuana. A jocular term heard on campus since 2000.

hippy, hippie n

a proponent and member of the ‘alternative society’ or counterculture movement which opposed orthodox bourgeois values during the late 1960s. The hippy movement was a much more widely based successor to the hipster and beatnik tendency, reaching public notice in California in 1966. By the summer of 1967 (known as the ‘Summer of Love’) manifestations of hippiedom had spread to Britain. True hippies never referred to themselves as such, but rather as freaks or heads; the term was originally a slightly condescending nickname (based on hip or hipster) bestowed by older musicians and other bohemians.

‘In punk’s style degradation, there is still no worse insult than “hippie”.’

(Observer, 24 May 1977)

hipster n

a culturally aware person, a cool bohemian. Predecessors to the hippies of the late 1960s, hipsters were the aficionados of jazz, Oriental philosophy, modernist art-forms, etc., who themselves succeeded the hepcats of the 1940s and 1950s. Hipster and beatnik are, in a historical perspective, almost identical, although the word hipster, unlike beatnik, was used by those in question to describe themselves. For the etymology of the word, see hep.

hissie-fit, hissie n

a bout of hysterical anger, agitation, despair, etc. The term is used particularly by women and gay males and is obviously derived from the standard term hysterical. Fanny-fit is a similar phrase recorded in British speech from the 1990s.

‘Julian’s having a hissie-fit.’

(Concierge, US film, 1993)

hit1 n

1a. a puff on a cigarette or pipe containing marihuana or another illicit drug

Give me a hit on that joint.

hit

218

‘It opens my head, opens my membranes. If you get a good hit, maybe you go comatose for ten minutes.’

(Crack user, Guardian, 5 September 1989)

1b. a single dose of a drug, particularly LSD

Both uses date from the late 1960s and are still current.

2. a killing, assassination. An underworld euphemism from the USA since the early 1970s, used or understood all over the English-speaking world. The term invariably refers to a professional murder.

hit2 vb

1.to assassinate or murder. The verb probably postdates the noun form.

2.American to serve a drink to. Usually in a form such as ‘hit me again with one of those’.

3.to solicit money from, borrow from. A more robust version of the colloquial ‘touch’. A racier and more recent American version is ‘hit someone up (for)’.

He hit me for $20.

hit it vb

to have sex. In this sense, the term was used among aficionados of London dancefloor culture in the 1990s. It is probably based on the notion of ‘scoring a hit’ or of ‘hitting it off’.

‘When they all got together afterwards, I’m sure Max thought he was going to hit it with Lisa.’

(Recorded, club habitué, London, April 1996)

hit-man n

a professional killer, a paid assassin. This euphemistic term from the jargon of the American underworld and law enforcers had spread to other Englishspeaking areas by about 1972.

hit on vb American

a.to ‘chat up’, attempt to seduce, accost sexually or romantically

b.to aggress, bully or criticise

c.to importune or beg for money

All senses of the term became popular in the 1980s, especially among teenagers. The unorthodox verb form probably originates from an immigrants’ error, or a deliberate elaboration by black speakers.

hit the bricks vb American

a more fashionable version of the colloquial ‘hit the road’ and later ‘hit the street’ (to get going or appear in public).

Originally the phrase specifically referred to released prisoners.

hit the hay/sack vb

to go to bed, lie down to sleep. Both expressions have been widespread in English since the turn of the 20th century and probably originated in tramps’ jargon.

hit the toe vb Australian

to depart, leave. Although the coinage seems transparent, Partridge records it as rhyming slang for go and attributes it to the surfie subculture.

hit up vb

1.to inject oneself with an illicit drug, particularly heroin. An American addicts’ expression of the 1960s, since adopted elsewhere. It may be used intransitively as in ‘she’s hitting up’, or transitively as in ‘hit up some smack’.

2.hit (someone) up a racier version of hit in the sense of borrow (money) from

hizzle n American

a home, residence. A vogue term in rap and hip hop parlance since 2000, using the -izzle suffix.

ho n

a.a female prostitute, promiscuous and/ or immoral woman

b.a female

The southern US and Afro-Caribbean pronunciation of whore became one of the best-known items of hip hop and rappers’ slang, moving, like many pejorative terms in transgressive subcultures, to take on first ironic, then straightforwardly neutral or appreciative connotations before crossing over into the generalised slang of adolescents in all English-speaking areas.

hobo n American

a tramp or vagrant. The word is now a common colloquialism and no longer considered to be slang by most speakers. Authorities disagree on the origin of the term; it may be from a greeting (‘Ho! Boy’ or ‘Ho Bro!’) or refer to ‘hoe-boys’ (agricultural migrant workers).

hobson-jobson n British

the linguistic process whereby foreign words or phrases are anglicised for use by English speakers. The practice was particularly noticeable during the colonial era and World War I. Hobson-Jobson is itself a rendering of the Muslim religious cry ‘Ya Hasan, Ya Hosain!’ (praising or lamenting Hassan and Hussein, grandsons of Mohammed). Plonk (an alteration

 

 

 

219

 

 

 

 

hoisty

of the French vin blanc) and hocus-

A colourful term popular among Sloane

pocus (from the Latin hoc est corpus) are

Rangers in Britain from the mid-1970s.

examples of this type of pun or folk ety-

The word is probably an original public-

mology.

 

 

 

school or army coinage, but may echo the

hock vb

 

 

 

many now obsolete slang terms containing

to pawn. The word comes from the

the word ‘hog’ that invoke wallowing,

Dutch hok, the literal meaning of which

snorting and other excessive behaviour:

is ‘hook’. In 19th-century Dutch slang,

expressions

such

as

hog-wild,

‘hog-rub-

ber’ (a peasant), ‘hog-fat’ (a slovenly per-

hok meant both debt and the clutches

of creditors or the law, whence the Eng-

son), etc.

 

 

 

 

 

lish term.

 

 

 

hog-wild adj, adv

 

 

 

 

hockey, hockie n

 

uncontrolled, unrestrained in behav-

a. an act of (hawking and spitting)

iour. A folksy Americanism from the

b. a gob of spit

 

 

turn of the 20th century which is nor-

c. a piece of any disgusting substance,

mally heard in the form of ‘go hog-wild’

such as excrement. The term is imitative

or ‘run hog-wild’. (Hog is the standard

American term for pig.) The term was

either of clearing the throat and spitting

immortalised as the title of a Laurel and

or of a choking reaction to a disgusting

Hardy short film in 1930.

 

 

sight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ho-hum n, adj, vb

 

 

 

 

d. American nonsense, rubbish. A gener-

 

 

 

 

alisation of the previous senses.

(something) dull, tedious, of mediocre

hockshop n

 

 

 

quality or little interest. When used by

 

 

 

Americans

this

expression

usually

a pawnshop, pawnbroker’s. An expres-

denotes boredom, by British speakers it

sion (from hock) used all over the Eng-

may

rather

suggest uncertainty.

In

lish-speaking world.

 

 

American English the adjective occa-

hog n

 

 

 

 

 

 

sionally doubles as a noun or, more

1. a motorcycle. A word popular with

rarely, a verb (meaning to be bored by or

American Hell’s Angels of the late 1950s

to declare something boring).

 

 

and 1960s and their British and Austral-

a big ho-hum

 

 

 

 

ian imitators. The word originally referred

 

 

 

 

They ho-hummed the lecture course.

 

specifically

and

affectionately

to Harley

 

hoick vb British

 

 

 

 

Davidsons,

the

Hell’s Angels’

preferred

 

 

 

 

to spit or to clear the throat and spit.

machines. (Hog is the standard Ameri-

The word is a more echoic version of the

can term for pig.)

 

 

standard English ‘hawk’.

 

 

2. American an angry or unpleasant

 

 

He hoicked over the fence into the gar-

woman. An Americanism which, unlike

den.

 

 

 

 

 

the similar pig or dog, has not been

 

 

 

 

 

hoist vb

 

 

 

 

 

adopted in other English-speaking areas.

 

 

 

 

 

3. PCP, angel dust. This disorienting nar-

1. to steal, particularly by shoplifting or

picking a pocket. The term is around 200

cotic, phencyclidine, is an animal tran-

years old in underworld jargon, and was

quilliser used

on pigs, among other

still in use in 2004.

 

 

 

species.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He

managed

to

hoist a

couple

of

hogans n pl American

 

 

watches.

 

 

 

 

 

female breasts. The word is probably an

 

 

 

 

 

2. American to raise and down a drink,

ignorant or facetious alteration of ogens.

usually beer. A masculine term with over-

‘Look at them hogans!’

 

 

tones of heroic or hearty drinking ses-

(Herman’s Head, US TV comedy, 1993)

sions. (The word may occasionally refer

hog-tied adj American

 

to eating, as in ‘hoist some oysters’.)

 

incapacitated, rendered helpless. Hogs

What say we go hoist a few?

 

 

(the standard American term for pigs)

hoisty adj British

 

 

 

 

were hobbled by having all four legs

stolen, illicit, bent or hot. The term may

bound.

 

 

 

have originated in TV scripts (based on

hog-whimpering adj British

 

the authentic slang senses of hoist and

a. abject, bestial, helpless

 

by analogy with hooky), rather than in

b. abjectly or bestially drunk

 

underworld usage. It was featured in the

Old Ollie was absolutely hog-whimpering

Simpson and Galton comedy Over the

last night.

 

 

 

Rainbow, 1993.

 

 

 

 

hoity-toity

220

hoity-toity adj

affectedly arrogant, condescendingly superior. A 19th-century term which derives from the earlier ‘highty-tighty’ (meaning ‘high and mighty’) and is influenced by haughty.

hokey adj American

phoney, counterfeit, of dubious quality, third-rate. A back-formation from ‘hokum’.

holding adj American

in possession of illicit drugs. A legalistic, officialese term, also adopted by drug-abusers.

When they found him he was holding but they had to let him go on a technicality.

hold it down vb

1.British to act in a commendably restrained manner, to ‘stay cool’. The phrase occurs in the language of teenage gangs and was recorded in use among North London schoolboys in 1993 and 1994.

2.to shut up, keep silent. A term used by young street-gang members in London since around 2000.

hole n

1a. the anus or vagina. The word is barely a euphemism but a simple description of an orifice, in common use at least since Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (begun sometime in the later 1380s).

‘Dark was the night as pitch or as coal and at the window out she [Alison] put her hole.’

(‘The Miller’s Tale’, Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer)

1b. the mouth. In this sense the word is often used by schoolchildren, especially in the phrase ‘shut your hole!’.

2a. an unpleasant place. Rat-hole is a more vivid modern embellishment.

2b. a one-person cell, a place of solitary confinement

3. an abbreviation of asshole (in the figurative sense of a foolish/obnoxious individual). This term, originating in North American usage, was adopted by British adolescents in the later 1990s.

holler1 n

a response, telephone call. Probably originating in US speech, the term has been fashionable since 2000 in all Eng- lish-speaking areas.

holler2, holler back (at) vb American

to respond to, return a greeting or telephone call. One of the most common

slang expressions in adolescent usage as recorded in a number of surveys since 2000.

holler!, holla! exclamation American goodbye. A very fashionable usage among younger speakers since 2000.

hollyhocks n British

venereal disease. The word is rhyming slang for (the) pox.

home, homes n shortenings of homeboy

homeboy n American

a street-gang member ready and old enough to defend his area or turf. The word, now part of the code of Los Angeles street gangs, was originally an innocuous American term for a good neighbour or good citizen.

‘And some homeboys looking for trouble down here from the Bronx.’

(Lou Reed, ‘Halloween Parade’, from the album New York, 1989)

homegirl n American

the female equivalent of the more common homeboy, recorded in black American speech as long ago as the 1930s. By the 1990s the term was often abbreviated to homey.

home run, homer n American

an instance of sexual satisfaction or conquest; full sexual intercourse. This adolescents’ expression, inspired by baseball and typically used by males, denotes the successful culmination of a heavy petting session or attempted seduction. Partial success is referred to as reaching first base.

Danny managed to score a home run. He made a homer.

homey, homie n

a shortening of homeboy or homegirl, which became popular in the 1990s and was also adopted by white adolescents to refer to their peers, first in North America and subsequently to a limited extent in the UK. When it first appeared approximately fifty years earlier the word was used by black American migrants as an affectionate term of address for anyone originating from the same home town or city

‘I’m square with my homeys…’

(17-year-old black female suspected of the murder of another girl, quoted in the

Evening Standard, 2 March 1997)

221

hood

homo n

a male homosexual. This was probably the most common term in colloquial use among heterosexuals until the popular adoption of the non-discriminatory gay and its many pejorative alternatives in the late 1960s.

Compare stromo

honcho n

a boss, an important person. This word from American English of the late 1950s is not, as is often supposed, Hispanic in origin, but from the Japanese hancho meaning squad-leader; the term was adopted by Americans during the Korean War. It is now used typically in a business context, often in the phrase head honcho.

‘He [Reagan] was surrounded in his own White House by the portly honchos of the Democratic Party. The message was unwitting but clear: these are the people who count in Washington today.’

(Observer, 22 November 1987)

honeypot n

the vagina. A euphemism which was first recorded in the 17th century and is still employed today, particularly in the USA.

honk1 vb

1.to vomit. The term is echoic and has existed in British slang since the 1950s.

2.to stink. Related to the Liverpudlian ronk, this sense of the word is widespread in Australia and not unknown in Britain.

3.to drink (to excess). A middle-class and high-society term of the 1950s in Britain, now rarely heard.

See also honkers; honking

honk2 n

1a. a stink, bad smell. A variation of ronk, perhaps influenced by hum and stink. A usage popular in Australia and, to a lesser extent, in Britain.

1b. an evil-smelling person or animal

2.an act of vomiting, from the verb to honk

3.a wild, noisy, drunken party. A British term of the 1950s, probably from honk, meaning to drink and honked, meaning drunk.

honked adj British

drunk. The ‘honk’ in question may echo the hooting and vomiting of drunkards, or else the gulping or quaffing. Honking and honkers are synonyms.

honkers adj British

drunk. A middle-class term perhaps originating in armed-services slang, where it has been heard since the 1950s. The - ers ending is typical of public-school and army expressions.

honkies n pl American

the backside or buttocks. An Americanism of the 1970s, derived from the colloquial verb to ‘hunker down’ (i.e. to squat), which in turn is related to the word haunches (in mock-rustic English, ‘hunkers’).

honking adj British

drunk. A middle-class usage, heard less often nowadays than in the 1960s, which may have originated in armedservices slang. The ‘honk’ denotes either drinking in gulps, the braying made by drunken revellers or, more probably, vomiting.

honky, honkey, honkie n American

a white person. A pejorative black term which became widely known in the early 1970s. The word’s origin is unclear; it is said to be a deformation of ‘hunk’, meaning an immigrant (ultimately from ‘Hungarian’), but may equally be inspired by the honking of pigs.

hooch n

alcohol, particularly illicitly produced alcoholic drink. The word originally referred to strong liquor made by the Hoochino Indians of Alaska.

hood1 n American

a neighbourhood. This abbreviation, heard in the argot of black street gangs, was popularised by the title of the 1991 US film Boyz ’N the Hood.

hood2, hoodlum n American

a criminal, (small-time) gangster. The longer form of the word was in use in the USA by the end of the 19th century; hood became widespread from the 1940s. Many suggestions have been offered as to the origin of the terms. The least unlikely are: a deformation of an Irish surname such as Hoolahan; an altered backslang version of Muldoon; a corruption of ‘huddle-’em’, supposedly the cry of a gang of muggers; and hodalem or hudilump, respectively Bavarian and Swiss dialect terms for a wretch or naughty boy.

‘Go tell your hoodlum friends outside/ you ain’t got time to take a ride.’

(Lyrics to ‘Yakety-Yak’, by The Coasters, 1958)

hoodie

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hoodie n British

a young, usually male, hooligan. The term, in vogue in 2005, is the nickname for the hooded tracksuit top worn as a disguise and uniform.

hood-top n Jamaican

the tip of the penis. A vulgarism used as the title of a ragga song by Shabba Ranks in 1993; a female singer riposted with a song entitled Hood Top Flop.

hoof n See iron

hoofer n

a dancer, particularly a chorus girl, tapdancer or other hard-working professional dancer

hoof it vb

a.to go on foot, walk. In this sense the term has been used since the 17th century.

b.to leave, walk away. This sense of the verb dates from the 19th century and enjoyed a vogue in Britain in the late 1980s as a fashionable synonym for leg it or hook it.

c.to dance. A usage popularised in the context of pre-World War II Hollywood musicals. The predictable use of hoof (an animal’s foot) is probably reinforced by the word’s echoing of the panting of hard-working chorus dancers.

hoo-hoos n pl American

female breasts. The term, popular from 2003, may be an alteration of hooters or an arbitrary coinage.

hook1 vb

1. British to steal. This euphemism, which is still in use in London workingclass speech, is at least 200 years old. The ‘h’ is almost invariably dropped.

She managed to hook a few videotapes. ‘Barry’s been out hookin’ again.’

(Recorded, street trader, Islington, London, 1986)

2. Australian to ‘pick up’ (a romantic partner). Unsurprisingly, the word has been used in this sense before, e.g. in 19th century England, where it referred to obtaining a potential marriage partner.

‘When you hooked Darcy last night, did you sleep with her?’

(A Country Practice, Australian TV series, August 1994)

hook2, hook up vb

to have sex. A term used by young street-gang members in London since around 2000.

hooker n

a prostitute (invariably female). This American term has been imported into British and Australian usage since the mid-1970s. The origin of the word is stated authoritatively by many works of reference. However, they disagree. The most popular version cites the Civil War commander, General Hooker, who supposedly encouraged his men to frequent brothels. Another source gives Corlear’s Hook, the name of a New York red-light district, as the inspiration for the term. In fact hooker seems to have been in use with its current meaning as early as 1845 (which invalidates the Civil War explanation) and may simply be a figurative use of the literal meaning as ‘enticer’, ‘ensnarer’, a sense which it has in Dutch slang (hoeker would be known to the large Dutch-American population of New York as meaning ‘huckster’, for instance). Hooker was obsolescent by the 1920s, but was revived in the late 1960s.

a high-class hooker

down on the strip where the hookers hang out

hook it vb British

to leave, run away. The phrase, a variant of ‘hook off’, an earlier and now obsolescent cockney expression, is over 100 years old and is also heard occasionally in the USA. The origin of the hook reference is obscure but may be related to its use to mean anchor (whence the expression to sling one’s hook: to weigh anchor, although this etymology is disputed).

hook (someone) one vb to hit, punch

hooks n pl

hands. For obvious reasons this metaphorical usage, associated with the images of ‘getting one’s hooks into’ someone or something and to hook meaning to steal, has existed for several hundred years.

hook up vb American

to kiss, embrace and/or engage in sexual play, especially used of recent acquaintances. The phrase is used particularly by high school and college students.

hooky adj British

stolen, of dubious provenance, hot. A London working-class and underworld term from hook, meaning to steal. Hooky

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hooters

is often pronounced with a dropped aspirate.

‘Last time I saw John ’e was sellin’ ’ooky watches out of a suitcase down Brick Lane.’

(Recorded, young male, London, 1988)

hoolie n

a wild, noisy party or celebration. The word is Irish in origin and is probably an anglicisation of the Irish Gaelic term ceilidh, meaning an informal gathering for folk music and dance.

hoon n

a.Australian a lout, hooligan or disreputable youth. Originally this word (of unknown etymology) signified a man ‘living on immoral earnings’; its meaning has now been generalised to denote, for instance, a member of a gang of ne’er- do-wells.

b.British an obnoxious individual

hoop n British

the anus. The term has been used in this sense in the armed forces since 2000.

hooped adj

tired, exhausted. The reference is to breathing out of one’s hoop, an expression, evoking a desperate need for extra oxygen, in army and Officer Training Corps usage since around 2000.

hoop out vb American

to play basketball. A high-school and campus term. To ‘hoop down’ is to play particularly earnestly or dynamically.

hooptie n American

an old and/or dilapidated car. The term is used in black speech and rap lyrics.

hooptie ride n American

a drive-by murder, in the jargon of street gangs and rappers

Hooray, Hooray Henry n British

ayoung upper-class male, particularly one who indulges in offensive, rowdy, hearty and/or vacuous behaviour. This pejorative term arose in the late 1960s to describe the more exhibitionist members of a social subgroup which was later anatomised under the name Sloane Rangers. Hooray was a later shortening. A version of this epithet first appeared in Damon Runyon’s story Tight Shoes, in which a young man called Calvin Colby was described as ‘without doubt, strictly

aHooray Henry’. In March 1990 Viscount Linley won libel damages from Today newspaper which had, among

more serious allegations, referred to him as a Hooray.

‘Hooray Henrys sometimes cruise down here just looking for an old codger to beat up. The last time they did it, we smashed up their flashy car.’

(Homeless dosser, Observer, 6 August 1987)

hootch n

an alternative spelling of hooch

hootchie, hoochie n American

a female, particularly a promiscuous or sexually active female. This term, derived from hootchie cootchie, was part of black street slang of the 1990s.

She sure is one hot hootchie.

Compare coochie

hootchie cootchie n American

sexual caresses or erotic dancing. A phrase familiar to blues music enthusiasts, from black slang of the early 20th century. A ‘hootchie cootchie man’ is a lover or stud. The phrase hootchie cootchie first appeared in the USA in the 1880s, when it denoted a sort of bellydance. The words may be a pseudoexotic invention or a distortion of a nowforgotten foreign term.

hooted adj American

drunk. Although the term, recorded among adolescents, usually describes intoxication by alcohol, it may be influenced by the noun form ‘hooter’, denoting a joint. Alternatively, it may be inspired by the hooting of inebriated celebrants.

hooter n

1. British the nose. A common term of the 1950s and 1960s which is still heard. A synonym less widespread on the same lines is bugle.

‘The doc says the 30-year-old vain singer [Michael Jackson]’s hooter is collapsing after being broken so often in four operations to change his looks.’

(News of the World, 7 May 1989)

2. American a joint (marihuana cigarette). A college and high-school term.

hooters n pl American

female breasts. A favourite term of college boys, reminiscent of bumpers, headlamps and other automotive similes. The usage also plays on the supposed similarity in action between pressing a rubber bulb and manipulating and fondling a breast.

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