Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to back down, to give up, esp. in humiliating circumstances.

1887		C. Chesnutt ‘The Goophered Grapevine’ in Conjure Woman (1899) 33: I would n’ ’vise you to buy dis yer ole vimya’d, ’caze de goopher’s on it yit, en dey ain’ no tellin’ w’en it’s gwine ter crap out.
1912		Atlanta Constitution 24 Nov. Sec B 4/3: Then ‘Jedge Briles’ asked the bridegroom who crapped out of a wedding what he had to say, and the startling reply was: [etc.].
1930		(con. 1917) ‘W.W. Windstaff’ ‘A Flier’s War’ in Longstreet Canvas Falcons (1970) 277: Half of them crap out – mental.
1948		Z.N. Hurston Seraph on the Suwanee (1995) 835: You had the biggest chance in the world [...] But you crapped out on it and lost the dice.
1959		Kerouac letter 10 June in Charters II (1999) 206: THE ONLY THING I’M WORRIED ABOUT IS AVON MIGHT CRAP OUT ON THIS DEAL.
1969		M. Puzo Godfather 131: ‘The balls on that son of a bitch,’ he said admiringly. ‘After he craps out last night he wants a meeting today or the next day.’.
1972		E. Grogan Ringolevio 398: [He] would still be throwin’ those same boxcars and crappin’ out on history.
1986		S. King It (1987) 76: I mean, unless your mother just died [...] this is called crapping out.
1997		C. Hiaasen Lucky You 51: First quitting high school, then crapping out of the army.
2004		E. Weiner Drop Dead, My Lovely (2005) 252: Goddamn it, don’t crap out, Wendy. We’re almost there.

2. to fail, to go wrong, to blunder.

1897		Tennessean (Nashville, TN) 29 Jan. 6/4: Day after day Flood went up to the plate and ‘crapped out,’ never a home run coming.
1908		L.W. Payne Jr ‘Word-List From East Alabama’ in DN III:iv 302: crap out, v. To fail to make good in a game of craps. Also used in college slang of failing an examination.
1932		J.L. Kuethe ‘Johns Hopkins Jargon’ in AS VII:5 330: crap out — to lose at dice; to fail.
1946		P. Bowman Beach Red 20: Men are speculating. Some make their point. Others crap out.
1954		J. Steinbeck Sweet Thursday (1955) 120: We ain’t going to see our darling friend crap out if we can help it.
1965		J. Thompson Texas by the Tail (1994) 150: We’ve crapped out, Turk. There’s nothing to do now but pay off.
1975		N. De Mille Smack Man (1991) 185: If Benny Schwartz wasn’t at his place, then he’d have crapped out. The police would find Schwartz before he did.
1991		(con. 1920s) O.D. Brooks Legs 139: That’s at least thirty days for a bath if you crap out.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 282: It was futile. It was hopeless. Their bribe roll had crapped out.
2007		C. Goffard Snitch Jacket 217: They’ve been telling me for twenty years the pump could crap out any minute.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 47: The fucked-up and failing body I had when I crapped out back in ’92.

3. to die.

1930		(con. 1917) ‘W.W. Windstaff’ ‘A Flier’s War’ in Longstreet Canvas Falcons (1970) 280: Both of us likely to crap out on any flight.
1957		(con. 1943) A. Myrer Big War 368: He’s got dengue [...] He could crap out any time.
1962		T.F. Jones Stairway to the Sea 54: It seems his [i.e. Hamlet’s] old man crapped out.
1999		N. Cohn Yes We have No 279: When one dog craps out, buy another.
2009		(con. 1960s) J. Ellroy Blood’s a Rover 33: Daddy Holly crapped out in ’39. Cirrhosis took him down.

4. of people, to collapse, to become exhausted, to fall asleep.

1944		P. Kendall Dict. Service Sl. n.p.: Crapping out . . . sleeping during work hours.
1958		(con. 1950) E. Frankel Band of Brothers 169: I’m gonna crap out, doggie [...] You hear somethin’ or see somethin’ [...] you shake me.
1963		M. Braly Shake Him Till He Rattles (1964) 55: Everyone crapped out on me [...] and that damn Kovin was snoring.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 210: You see that first little door? That’s where he craps out.
1989		Hackworth & Sherman About Face (1991) 157: Only around noon would we crap out and sleep for ten or twelve hours.
2000		(con. 1940s–60s) Décharné Straight from the Fridge Dad.
2012		T. Piccirilli Last Kind Words 154: [H]e didn’t crap out until eight or nine in the morning and didn’t get his day started until maybe five p.m.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 73: I crapped out on the couch.

5. to take a rest.

1957		(con. 1944) A. Myrer Big War 348: Take your cup of coffee into the sun porch and crap out with the papers.
1961		(con. early 1950s) J. Peacock Valhalla 257: Crap out for a while and take a smoke.

6. of machinery, to break down.

1995		C. Hiaasen Stormy Weather 112: The batteries crapped out in his Walkman.
2000		P. Roth Human Stain 235: How’s that going to help me when my car craps out?
2011		K. Horsley ‘Jungle Boogie’ in Pulp Ink [ebook] The torch crapped out.

7. to kill.

1960		G. Sire Deathmakers 252: You had no right to come up here where they could crap you out.
1990		W.D. Myers Mouse Rap 43: ‘[Y]ou could get rubbed out anytime [...] you might get crapped out any minute’.

8. (S.Afr.) to abuse, to criticize.

1982

P. Slabolepszy Sat. Night at the Palace (1985) 12: He loses the bladdy ball. So you scheme Carstens craps him out? No ways.