Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) rendering one sleepy or comatose.

1899–1900

C.L. Cullen Tales of the Ex-Tanks 123: The stuff they purvey on the trains always had a dopey effect on me.

2. mildly ill; comatose.

1899–1900		C.L. Cullen Tales of the Ex-Tanks 46: The tall man was so dopey that he could barely raise his arms.
1907		‘Hugh McHugh’ Beat It 37: Smoke Yellowfinger’s Cheroots and die lingering, but dopey.
1926		J. Black You Can’t Win (2000) 283: All that day I was only half conscious, dopey.
1930		(con. 1900s–10s) Dos Passos 42nd Parallel in USA (1966) 332: He stumbled along feeling sick and dopy from hunger.
1930–1		J.T. Farrell ‘Spring Evening’ in Fellow Countrymen (1937) 171: ‘If you want a real tip, take this. Play Mickey Callagher in the fourth,’ said Jack. ‘That dopey nag!’ said George.
1940		(con. 1914) S.J. Simonsen Soldier Bill 17: The next day he was rather dopey.
1950		B. Spicer Blues for the Prince (1989) 43: He’s still dopey and they’re afraid he might kick off if we try to put the question to him.
1950		A. Gurney Bluey & Curley 6 Jan. [synd. cartoon] This dopey drongo. Snoring his head off instead of helping.
1965		(con. 1930s) R. Wright Lawd Today 158: Ain’t it funny how dopey you feel after you done downed a big meal?
1976		R. Price Blood Brothers 30: Stony sat [...] turning to clear his head, still feeling too dopey to stand up.
1993		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read How to Shoot Friends 57: He was looking very dopey and glassy-eyed to me.

3. drunk.

1897		Ade Pink Marsh (1963) 191: I’m so dopey now I can’t finish yo’ shoe.
1906		Salt Lake City (UT) 30 Mar. 4/5: He is [...] moony [...] dopey [...] paralyzed.
1916		Sun (NY) 9 Apr. 10/7: [List provided by a doctor in the alcoholic ward at Bellevue — terms from ambulance drivers] [...] cock-eyed, dopey, drenched, fuzzled.
1936		N. Marsh Death in Ecstasy 274: Rita said it was her opinion the mistress was half-dopey most of her time.
1941		G. Casey ‘Short Shift Saturday’ in Mann Coast to Coast 227: There was a big, noisy mob in the bar. There were a lot of chaps [...] arguing or singing or just emptying pots and looking dopey.

4. drugged, sedated; used as a nickname for a habitual drug user.

1896		in N.Y. Journal 17 Oct. in Stallman (1966) 244: Really, he made it seem probable [...] that Crane’s mind was stupified by opium that night at the Broadway Garden [...] ‘Dopey,’ said the policeman.
1906		‘O. Henry’ ‘The Caliph, Cupid and the Clock’ in Four Million (1915) 196: It’s Dopy Mike [...] He hits the pipe every night.
1906		Rock Is. Argus (IL) 29 Oct. 2/2: The fellow [...] was ‘dopey’ [...] He is also a dope fiend.
1910		Spokane Press (WA) 22 Sept. 7/3: Try the blue label imported by Hi Sam Tong [...] ‘Dopey’ Agnes says it’s the best ever.
1919		(con. 1900) Journal Amer. Instit. of Criminal Law and Criminology X Jan. 62–70: I was dopy when I did this trick. I was just at the end of my rope, and did not care what happened.
1928		C. McKay Home to Harlem 159: [He] is dopey from them books o’his.
1936		N. Marsh Death in Ecstasy 303: Dopey! [...] For the first time in six months I’m not more or less doped.
1953		R. Chandler Long Good-Bye 175: she had both hands on the gun and with a quick jerk she got it away from him. I was surprised that she had the strength, even dopey as he was.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 797: dopey – Under the influence of a drug.
1975		L. Bangs in Psychotic Reactions (1988) 172: The street [is] littered with dopy jerkoffs and putzes of every stripe.
1996		Penguin Bk of More Aus. Jokes 258: I was lecherous, debauched, sodden with booze and dopey with drugs.
2005		J. Stahl I, Fatty 48: In my dopey dotage, I realize that she probably looted the thing.
2017		L. McInerney Blood Miracles 36: Ryan’s dopey dad. Giving out to Ryan for being a drug-dealing scumbag while smoking all his weed.

5. sleepy.

1906

C. M’Govern Sarjint Larry an’ Frinds 65: Old Dad’s sorry his fiddlin’ made you dopey.