straight adj.1
1. esp. of language, unadorned, undiluted, expressed in a straightforward manner, honest.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Clockmaker III 37: There’s no nonsense about her: she is as straight as a shingle in her talk, right up and down. | |
| Mysteries and Miseries of N.Y. III 10: It’s a bad business, Lize, but you do seem to tell a straight story! | |
| (con. c.1840) Huckleberry Finn (2001) 121: Come, now, tell a straight story. | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Sporting Times 1 Feb. 1/4: Straight business, m’ fren’. | |
| Boy’s Own Paper 18 May 516: I want, sir, a straight answer. | |
![[Can]](/static/img/flags/can.png "Canada") | ‘The Shooting of Dan McGrew’ in Songs of a Sourdough 34: But I want to state, and my words are straight, and I’ll bet my poke they’re true. | |
| Gem 28 Oct. 13: Was that a straight yarn you told us this morning? | |
| Third Round 735: ‘Any idea what caused the explosion?’ ‘I ‘aven’t, governor — that’s strite.’. | |
| Carry on, Jeeves 96: He had certainly told New York some pretty straight things about itself, having apparently taken a dislike to the place. | |
| Miss Pym Disposes 163: Lucy looked to see if he was being ironic. But no; the remark was ‘straight’. | |
| Always Leave ’Em Dying 11: For a couple of seconds I felt like giving this gal a straight answer. | |
![[WI]](/static/img/flags/wi.png "West Indies") | A House For Mr Biswas 173: Just let me get this straight. Mugroo owe me money. | |
| Family Arsenal 96: I’ve been straight with you. | |
| ‘A Losing Streak’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] Come on Grandad, just give me a straight yes or no! | |
| Auf Wiedersehen Pet Two 182: If you want me to keep helping you out, Dennis, you’ll have to be straight with me. | |
| (con. early 1950s) L.A. Confidential 57: He fell asleep getting his stories straight. | |
| Vinnie Got Blown Away 67: Be straight with you though he was up after a freeman’s fucking soft idiot. | |
| Layer Cake 18: My card had been marked, I could be completely straight with him. |
2. of an individual, in pocket (esp. after a spell of poverty), recompensed.
 | (con. 1836) Reports of Cases Argued and Determined XXXI 369: In assumpsit on a promissory note bearing interest, proof that defendant, being sent to by plaintiff for money, paid 1l., and said, ‘this puts us straight for last year’s interest’. | |
| White Moll 216: That puts us straight, you and me, don’t it, Bertha? | |
| Really the Blues 163: We’ll know we always did our best, and we’ll be straight with ourselves. | |
| ‘The Night the Bird Blew for Doctor Warner’ in Southern (1973) 55: Level with me ’cause I’m straight for loot, dig. | |
| Mr Love and Justice (1964) 43: ‘You want me call the law?’ the Bengali landlord echoed. ‘No, no -No, no – I’ll see you straight: a fiver!’. | |
| Down These Mean Streets (1970) 98: Soon as I was straight, I’d lay her ten bolos back on her. | |
| Brother Ray 191: By 1961 I knew my money was straight. | |
| Powder 52: Once I’m straight we split everything fifty-fifty. | |
| Outlaws (ms.) 176: We’re straight now, me and Ged. We’re equals. | |
| Place on the Corner 85: ‘Eli, lemme hold somethin’. I’ll see you straight when my check comes’ (meaning lend me some money and I’ll repay you when I get it). |
3. (also straight-A) respectable; trustworthy .
| Clockmaker II 223: Yes, we are as straight as a shingle in our dealins, and do things above board handsum. | |
| Letters to Young People 141: ‘Own up,’ now, and ‘do the straight thing,’ and I’ll ‘set you down’ as ‘one of the women we read of’. | |
| Post to Finish I 109: I’m pretty straight, but you can’t expect me to take off my hat and say ‘After you, sir’. | |
| Chicago Trib. 25 May 13/4: The margin in favor of the bank in [a] ‘straight’ faro game is said to be 35 per cent. | |
| Child of the Jago (1982) 50: I was alwis kep’ respectable an’ straight all my life. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | ‘Andy Page’s Rival’ in Roderick (1972) 359: Andy was uncomfortably ‘straight’. | |
| Heart of Darkness 57: You know I hate, detest, and can’t bear a lie, not because I am straighter than the rest of us, but simply because it appals me. | |
| Fact’ry ’Ands 215: You’re the straightest man here, and the only one I’d let into this with me. | |
| Lonely Plough (1931) 98: She’s absolutely straight – couldn’t cheat if she tried. | |
| — The Wowser’ in Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 11 Mar. 2/4: [S]inging hymns to try ‘to keep us straight’. | |
| Human Side of Crook and Convict Life 252: The trio [...] determined that on the first occasion the ‘bird to pluck’ turned up the game should be straight. | |
| Night and the City 78: I met ever such a nice feller. What I liked about him was, he was straight. | |
| From Here to Eternity (1998) 157: I told em no, you was a straight joe when they all said you was yellow. Looks like I was wrong. | |
| Burn, Killer, Burn! 312: That Dipper is one straight ofay. | |
| The Same Old Grind 66: I’m getting a straight job [...] Typing, shorthand’. | |
| Sun. Times Mag. 12 Oct. 25: I never once had a straight job that I enjoyed – not once. | |
| Skin Tight 190: Nobody played a straight game any more. | |
| Last Kind Words 81: [S]he felt more comfortable with him than some straight-A joe working at the Walmart. |
4. a synon. for SE right.
| Paved with Gold 123: If I have gone wrong, you and Bertie is the only ones as could put me straight again. | |
| Long Odds III 187: He had done what [...] was termed ‘the straight thing,’ and [...] man is usually well satisfied with himself when that is the case. | |
| Magnet 29 Feb. 15: If you’re going to do the straight thing, as I thought you were. | |
| Plastic Age 201: You might as well get me straight right now: I’m going to run with whoever I want. | |
| Coonardoo 264: I sort of feel we’re straight for each other, like the blacks say. | |
| Corner Boy 44: You stick with me, kid, I’ll see you straight. | |
| Go, Man, Go! 75: Something’s got to be straight, Beano. Bernice is chicken to tell you. We’re for each other. | |
| Kill Your Darlings 45: Let me get this straight. Are you seriously asking me what Martin Amis was like in bed? |
5. of a situation, honest, satisfactory, as one desires, ‘sorted’.
| Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 111/2: So to make things straight [...] he ‘stalled’ his ‘mug’ for a few minutes and reappeared with a full bottle of wine. | |
| [Arthur Pember] Mysteries and Miseries 19: ‘Well, now, sir, maybe I sell a man a drink of bad whisky, but, then, he knows that when he buys it; so that’s fair and straight’. | |
| Referee 17 Apr. n.p.: But going to first principles, nothing can be straighter or more likely to work to an employer’s interest than for his jockey to back his own mount [F&H]. | |
| Giant Swing 74: ‘She [i.e. a waitress]got mixed up with her checks and the boss is getting her straight’. | |
| Jives of Dr. Hepcat (1989) 2: The mellow little old frames are showcasing their ‘frantic threads,’ and the cool kitties are riffing in their ‘mad fronts’ and daddy you better believe everything is much straight. | |
| Mr Love and Justice (1964) 45: Let’s get a few things straight. | |
| Black Jargon in White America 81: straight adj. 1. permissible; acceptable. | |
| Observer 18 July 25: It’s extremely clear and simple. I’d like to get it straight. | |
| Check the Technique 117: ‘They were like: “the album has sold what it's going to sell and we're straight”’ . | |
| (ed.) UNC-CH Campus Sl. Spring 2014 14: STRAIGHT — state of being okay with another: X: ‘Sorry, bro.’ Y: ‘It’s cool, man. We straight’ . | |
| Sellout (2016) 128: Asking Hominy what he wanted for his birthday this year. [...] ‘I don’t know. Just get me some racism and I’llm be straight’. |
6. of a woman, chaste, respectable.
| letter q. in Wiley Life of Billy Yank (1952) 259: There are so many hore houses in town which must have a Sentinel at each door for to keep them Straight. | |
| ‘Blooming Aesthetic’ in Rag 30 Sept. n.p.: A tallow-faced-straight young girl, / A never-out-late young girl. | |
| ‘The Solid Muldoon’ in Soldiers Three (1907) 48: A wife [...] the straightest in the contonmints. | |
| Plastic Age 156: Some fellows say it ’s all right to have a woman, and some fellows say it ’s all wrong, but I notice none of them have any use for a woman who is n’t straight. | |
| You’re in the Racket, Too 80: It was a shame that she was a straight girl, because then there would have been no need for him to go trailing all the way up to the West End. |
7. law-abiding, honest; spec. of a reformed criminal.
| Five Years’ Penal Servitude 242: He vowed, however, that this time he would go to America [...] and try to be satisfied with ‘straight’ work. | |
| Willoughby Captains (1887) 222: ‘How have you been getting on the last week?’ he asked, gravely. ‘Have you been able to keep pretty straight?’. | |
| Dock Rats of N.Y. (2006) 112: ‘See here, Johnny, you’re on some crooked game.’ ‘My game is straight enough.’. | |
| Truth (Perth) 14 Jan. 8/8: I’m alludin’ to straight houses / [...] / Where the business it are proper— / Not no low down slenter show. | |
| Five Thousand an Hour Ch. vi: I don’t believe there’s a man in New York with a straighter and cleaner record than Gamble’s. | |
| Fourth Form Friendship 111: ‘Be a little straighter in future, if you want to keep chums with me’. | |
| Autobiog. of a Thief 47: I remembered that I wasn’t ‘straight’ any more. | |
| Horse’s Mouth (1948) 175: Suppose the Professor is straight and his friends are really the sort of people who would give me money, real money for a picture. | |
| No Hiding Place! 191/2: Pair of Straight Daisies. Civilian boots. (Daisy Roots). | |
| Crazy Kill 88: We’re looking for a boy [...] called Iron jaw. His straight monicker is Ibsen. | |
| Scene (1996) 79: I can’t understand it [...] He could quit right now and be straight for the rest of his life. | |
| Manchild in the Promised Land (1969) 193: They were all straight. They weren’t into any crime or stuff. | |
| Inside the Und. 106: A straight copper generally becomes news only when he is the victim of a shooting. | |
| GBH 72: [T]his was the area at which the Law’s hatred was directed, and not only the straight law. | |
| Doing Time 198: straight: honest and reliable. To ‘go straight’ means to reform and not participate in criminal activities. | |
| in That Was Business, This Is Personal 35: If you want a niceish job where you’re mixing with ‘straight’ people they’ve got to be told about your family. | |
| Bad Debts (2012) [ebook] Wife can’t believe it. Kid, job. Says he’s been absolutely straight. | |
| Guardian G2 14 Oct. 3: He went straight for seven years, but slipped up in 1997 and got four months for theft. | |
| Indep. 19 Feb. 8: Yes, I am straight and all the others bent! | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 179/1: straight adj. 1 true, honest 2 innocent, naive, virtuous. | |
| ‘Broken’ in Broken 42: Harold is the straightest, the most likely to want out [i.e. of law-breaking]. |
8. of information etc., trustworthy, undisputable.
| Bulletin (Sydney) 8 Jan. 5/1: Mr. Hilly […] is the centre of half a score of boys, though whether he is imparting instruction or receiving various straight griffins, is impossible to be determined. | |
| Double Event 22: He’s got the straight griff for something. | |
| ‘Odyssey of the North’ Complete Short Stories (1993) I 239: ‘It’s only a “hunch,” Kid,’ he said; ‘but I think it’s straight.’. | |
| Spats’ Fact’ry (1922) 38: I don’t mind givin’ yeh ther real straight grif aerbout bad men. | |
| White Moll xi: Is dat straight wot de papers said about youse-know-who gettin’ pinched? | |
| ‘Observation Post’ in N.Y. Age 12 Apr. 9/6: If the jive I get is strate, Herman Brown [...] has a mitey fine date. | |
| Julian’s Way 376: It’s not the standard story for sorrowing relatives. I’m giving you the straight griff. | |
| London After Dark 99: I got the straight info on a screwing job. Might be worth a nice bit, eh? | |
| After Hours 69: ‘I’ll find them for you. That is straight business from Tony Tee’. | |
| Down and Out 130: If what you’re saying is really on the line and straight, then there’s no reason why they can’t review your case. |
9. of a wager, definite.
| Bulletin (Sydney) 2 May 10/2: Six previous convictions were recorded against him, and things looked straight at three weeks or a fiver, especially as he did not trot out the ague idea; but he mentioned in a casual sort of way that he was a prominent member of the Salvation Army, and the Bench passed the case on for seven days to allow the prisoner to leave Collingwood. |
10. in criminal terms, trustworthy.
| Hooligan Nights 105: I knew she was straight, ’cause she was workin’ wiv a pal of mine. | |
| Powers That Prey 102: That bloke Minick straight? [...] Can he keep his clapper quiet? | |
| Marvel 15 Oct. 25: I know you’re straight enough, and won’t let me into a hole. | |
| Little Caesar 116: As long as he’s straight with me, I ain’t got no interest in him at all. | |
| Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 137: The ruling section of the prison, comprised of convicts whom the lags acknowledge as ‘straight men’. | |
| Really the Blues 22: Baby, don’t you want a straight girl for a change? | |
| Und. Nights 39: Morry [...] if you were a straight man you would not waste my time like this. | |
| ‘Do Your Crying for the Living’ in et al. Life (1976) 165: The scratch is right and the set-up looks straight. |
11. (Aus.) sober.
| Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 13 July 3/4: He. talks like that when squiffy or straight. |
12. heterosexual.
| Transcript Foster Inquiry in Perverts by Official Order (1989) 54: ‘Are you the only straight one in this crowd?’ ‘I am not,’ replied the sailor, ‘saying that I am straight.’ [...] ‘As they say in sets I have known,’ he confessed, ‘it is a dash of lavender.’. | |
| et al. Gay Girl’s Guide 10: go down on: A quasi-straight term for do, ‘blow’, etc. [...] Others [i.e. bars] are here today and straight tomorrow. | |
| Naked Lunch (1968) 147: I’m fucking this citizen so I think, ‘A straight John at last’. | |
| Last Exit to Brooklyn 42: I’ll never forget that atrocious scene he pulled on us. All those straight creeps are like that. | |
| Plender [ebook] I‘ think he’s relatively straight’. | |
| Faggots 286: While 73% of The Pines is straight-owned, 99% is faggot-occupied. | |
| Doing Time 128: But put men in an all male society, the straightest of guys can easily change. | |
| Gay (S)language. | |
| (con. 1964-65) Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 223: There’s not a straight man alive who wouldn’t swap ten years of his life for one month of the experience. | |
| Yes We have No 151: Young and old, bent and straight. | |
| ‘Vilja de Tanquay Exults’ in Queer Street 300: By and large, now, they’ve turned bleedin’ sensitive – / And I’m talking about the straight ones, darling. | |
| Way Home (2009) 80: [Homosexuality] was not an issue of derision among the boys who were straight. | |
| Daily Mail 30 Jan. 🌐 ‘She’s the first girl I have been with.’ Gay toyboy insists [she] turned him straight. | |
| in Adult 10 Feb. 🌐 A metaphor, ‘straight’ is also a remarkably apt term for heterosexuals, and I say this as woman who loves dick. | |
| Tales of the Honey Badger [ebook] ...about as straight as a Mardi Gras. | |
| Soho Typescripts: 15: [in categories of pornography] Straight was not opposed to gay. Instead ‘Str.’ signified heterosexual sex without sadomasochism (today termed ‘vanilla’). | |
| Widespread Panic 67: Grace Kelly [...] turned Johnnie Ray straight . |
13. aware, understanding, comprehending.
| (con. 1920s) Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 218: Get that straight, and don’t forget it! | |
| ‘Let Me at the Enemy’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 38: I had to get them people straight an’ get ’em straightened fast. | |
| Hiparama of the Classics 10: Gonna get you straight! If they can’t get you straight, they know a Cat, that knows a Cat, that’ll Straighten you! | |
| Down These Mean Streets (1970) 51: We stopped short and waited cool-like for little Crip to set us straight on what was happening. | |
| ‘Enough’ 🎵 I’m on deck, on point, I’m straight, I’m cool. | |
| Mother Jones July/Aug. 🌐 You ’bout to do half my time with me. You straight with that? |
14. in the sex industry, involving normal heterosexual intercourse, with no ‘perversions’, e.g. flagellation or bestiality.
| Sister of the Road (1975) 178: Nowadays few men want it straight. They want it half and half. | |
| Norman’s London 209: I gather that these days there is little call for what is known as ‘straight gear’. | |
| Dead Butler Caper 38: How do you want it – straight or French? | |
| Because the Night 132: I know he wants something other than straight fucking. | |
| Remorseful Day (2000) 366: She with a succession of straight or kinky but always besotted bedmates. | |
| Layer Cake 25: Your British are very straight really in what they want. |
15. (UK Und.) susceptible to bribery or corruption, thus, from a criminal point of view sense 10.
| Boss of Britain’s Underworld 38: Some screws could always be straightened. If you knew your way around [i.e. prison] you got a straight screw and he smuggled your snout in for you. |
16. safe, beyond suspicion.
| (con. 1920s) Burglar to the Nobility 37: We got into the straight car which we had stashed three streets away. | |
| Way Home (2009) 28: ‘Are they going to get you, Chris?’ [...] ‘Nah, I’m straight [...] Long as they didn’t read my plates, I’ll be fine’. |
17. conventional, as opposed to the values of the ‘counterculture’.
| Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1969) 356: Anybody want a straight job? | |
| Rolling Stone 22 Sept. 14: He’d been really a sorta straight, sportsman type. | |
| Fixx 131: He was a high-flyer in the straight establishment. | |
| Happy Like Murderers 75: Symbols of everything everybody was apparently rebelling against. Straight life. | |
| Layer Cake 12: Very straight, square birds were downing Es at a rate of knots and getting chopped, fucked in khazis. | |
| Rubdown [ebook] ‘You grew up with hippies?’ [...] ‘The only way I could rebel was to do something really straight’. | |
| Straight Dope [ebook] [A] very straight-looking white dude is walking right at me, and I mean so straight that he’s hip. |
18. (US campus) likeable.
| Campus Sl. Mar. 7: straight – likeable, acceptable: ‘Have you seen Eddie’s new girlfriend. She’s straight.’. |
19. successful.
| ‘Under the Influence’ 🎵 I was straight until I got caught sellin’ em shaped. |
In derivatives
(US) a conventional (poss. conservative) individual.
| Jrnl Herald (Dayton, OH) 11 Dec. 8/5: [The] Director of Research [...] greeted a dozen long-hairs, straightniks, and reporters. | |
| Tampa Bay Times (St Petersburg, FL) sect. 1 16 Mar. 1/3: That show is worth seeing by rock fans and curious straightniks alike. |
In compounds
see under crip n.
(Aus./N.Z.) the truth; thus attrib.
| N.Z. Truth 4 Aug. 4/7: Then I told him the straight dincum. | |
| Tatler (London) 7 Mar. 6/2: We’re looking at you to give us the straight dinkum tip. |
1. the honest truth, undisputed facts or full information.
| S.F. Call 6 Aug. 24/3: Is there any difference between ‘dope’ and ‘straight dope’ and ‘good dope’? | |
| Dly Arizona Silver Belt (Globe, AZ) 24 Dec. 5/2: Aw quit yer kiddin’ an’ gimme the straight dope. | |
| Day Book (Chicago) 18 Mar. 13/1: Ain’t I given you the dope straight? | |
| Perrysburg Jrnl (OH) 22 May 2/1: ‘Straight dope?’ he demanded sternly. ‘No phoney gag, but the real thing?’. | |
| Little Caesar 118: ‘Them books is crooked.’ ‘Straight dope?’ asked Rico, his face hardening. | |
| Over the Wall 326: I’m giving you the straight dope. | |
| Rebellion of Leo McGuire (1953) 55: That’s the straight dope, Mr. McGuire. | |
| Savage Night (1991) 64: Had The Man given me the straight dope? | |
| (con. 1920s) South of Heaven (1994) 195: You just give us the straight dope. | |
| Going After Cacciato (1980) 131: It’s the straight dope. We been kidnapped. |
2. used as adv. completely, utterly.
| http://grey-magazine.com July 🌐 A particularly egregious police shooting [...] One that should never have happened, one where we straight-dope fucked up. |
(teen) something currently fashionable.
| www.verywellfamily.com/a-teen-slang-dictionary 10 Mar. 🌐 Straight Fire - Hot or trendy. |
see under goer n.
honest behaviour.
| Bulletin (Sydney) 7 Feb. 7/1: Of late years, however, he turned the game up completely; in fact, he stoutly opposed the sport in his own native district, not because he loved the turf less, but because he loved straight going more. | |
| Long Odds III 217: Their [i.e. ‘this British public’]appreciation of pluck — of what I must term ‘straight going,’ is extraordinary. |
1. the absolute truth.
| letter 23 Oct. in Byrkit Letters from the Southwest (1989) 43: I experimented a little to see if this story was ‘straight goods’. | |
| Stories of Chinatown 7: ‘What’s that yer givin’ us?’ sarcastically inquired Jerry Barnett [...] ‘Straight goods,’ answered Lloyd. | |
| More Ex-Tank Tales 81: I told him the straight goods as to how I happened to be reclining by the roadside. | |
| Varmint 321: ‘Honest?’ ‘Straight goods!’. | |
| Gay-cat 88: It’s all straight goods, too. I ain’t follered Slim fur months [...] fur nothin’. | |
| Rain II 155: Tell him I can get work in Sydney—straight stuff. | |
| Flirt and Flapper 79: Flirt: What is the object of gaining riches if your children cannot benefit by it? Flapper: That’s straight goods. | |
| ‘Blackmailers Don’t Shoot’ in Red Wind (1946) 100: ‘I don’t have them,’ he insisted. ‘Straight goods. I never saw them.’. | |
| ‘Wedding Bells Will Ring’ in Short Stories (1937) 204: I always give you the straight stuff. | |
| Sudden Takes the Trail 13: Is that the straight goods? | |
| ‘Latin Blood’ in Speed Detective Aug. 🌐 So we contacted Lanza and he said yes, that was straight goods; you did make threats. | |
| Scrambled Yeggs 73: ‘Straight goods?’ ‘Straight, Scotty. I always give it to you straight, don’t I?’. | |
| Hy Lit’s Unbelievable Dict. of Hip Words 52: straight goods – The real nitty gritty. | |
| In La-La Land We Trust (1999) 130: I swear this flick’s the straight goods. | |
| Leather Maiden 37: He hadn’t added information on flying saucers and lake monsters. It was just the straight goods on Caroline. |
2. attrib. use of sense 1.
| Sarjint Larry an’ Frinds 25: Yess, sorr, Oi am now de Datto of Bassuk – a reg’lar straight goods Datto, mind you. |
3. a person who tells the truth.
| Indiana State Sentinel 28 Sept. 4/5: It turns out that these [...] Republican bosses, when analyzed are not the straight goods. | |
| Boss 97: He’s th’ straight goods. | |
| Sarjint Larry an’ Frinds 57: We were beginning to think dat our stranger friend was straight goods indade. | |
| ‘Past One at Rooney’s’ in Strictly Business (1915) 266: When a fellow has a girl – a steady girl – she’s got to be all right, you know. She’s got to be straight goods. |
4. undiluted spirits.
| ‘The Fable of Successful Tobias’ in True Bills 26: It was customary to mix Tea, Coffee, Sherbet, Lemonade, Egg-Nog, Artillery Punch, Fizzerine, and Straight Goods until [...] the last Caller was Sozzled. |
5. a competent individual.
| St Louis Republican (MO) 30 Aug. 52/7: If [...] he’s got the straight goods in him, you’ll have an easy time of it. | |
| Ohinemuri Gaz. (N.Z.) 22 Nov. 1/4: He anticipates a real good thing for the Yanks and a correspondingly bad one for ‘Jerry’. The latter is assuredly up against the ‘straight goods’. |
see under oil n.
see under pitch v.
see poop n.4 (2)
see under skinny n.3
see straight goods
(N.Z. prison) a life sentence (10 years).
| Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 179/1: straight ten n. a life sentence. |
see under tip n.5
see under trick n.1
(UK und.) an unavoidable arrest, the villain is caught red-handed.
| Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 11: Straight un: Caught in the act. |
see under wire n.1
In phrases
of an individual, behaving respectably and honestly; of an object or place, e.g. a casino, respectable, devoid of cheating .
| Landmark (White River Jnct, VT) 14 Dec. 6/2: Needless to say, play was not always 'on the ‘straight’. | |
| Marvel 12 Nov. 6: I want Spider to keep on the straight, I do. | |
| ‘The Play’ in Bulletin (Sydney) 16 July 47/1: But when ’e’s got ’er, spliced an’ on the straight, / ’e crools the pitch, an’ tries to kid it’s Fate. |
(UK Und.) to lead a respctable and/or law-abiding life.
| Spoilers 65: I ain’t so sure as I shan’t run straight in future. | |
| Legion of Hell 51: ‘And how about your private life, my lad? Been running quite straight, I hope?’ ‘Why, of course, sir!’ ‘Humph! Not drinking? [...] No women? No entanglements, or anything of that sort, I hope!’ ‘No, sir, of course not!’. |
conventionally moral and law-abiding behaviour; thus keep on the straight and narrow v., to maintain a regular, law-abiding life; also attrib.
| Bulletin (Sydney) 12 Dec. 39/4: She had a bright eye, a spring bloom, and within two weeks of her return to the straight and narrow way Sam heard her trilling samples of comic opera in her room. | |
| Milk and Honey Route 215: Straight and narrow – The way to eternal life and salvation. | |
| Und. Nights 31: Perhaps that was what sent him off the straight and narrow. | |
| Panic in Needle Park (1971) 54: I used to walk the straight and narrow line. I got a job, and kept good hours. | |
| Fixx 81: I left them there, trudging along the straight and narrow. | |
| Official and Doubtful 326: You mean am I a reformed character? Back on the straight and narrow. |
unassailably honest, impeccably respectable.
| Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Sept. 24/1: [P]resent-day referees don’t know the rules, and the one who acted on this occasion, though as straight as a die, had had no experience. | |
| Boy’s Own Paper 8 June 562: They’re straight as a die and game as a grizzly. | |
| Fowlers End (2001) 33: Treat Sam Yudenow straight an’ ’e’s a die. | |
| ‘Sympathy in White Major’ in High Windows 11: Straight as a die, one of the best. |
(US) wholly conservative, conventional.
| Hard Bounce [ebook] ‘Tammy’s straight edge’. |
(US campus) a greeting, ‘how are you?’.
| Campus Sl. Nov. 14: You straight – Is everything OK? |
In exclamations
SE in slang uses
In compounds
see separate entries.
see separate entries.
drinking while upright, i.e. standing at a bar rather than sitting at a table.
| Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era. |
1. a convict.
| Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. |
2. a Western Australian.
| Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. | |
| Chron. (Adelaide) 24 Mar. 43/3: Western Australians are known as gropers, sandgropers, straighthairs and Westralians. |
see straight n.2 (1)
(US teen) an intimate, a best friend, irrespective of gender.
| Baltimore Sun (MD) Sun. Mag. 4 Dec. 9/1: ‘Am I out to lunch?’ she asked a straight man. ‘Am I all filter? How did I get into this Vancouver bit?’. |
(US) a conventional, disapproving person.
| (con. 1960s) Wanderers 159: Just to show he wasn’t a straight-neck, Sharp wrote ‘Colored – 15’ and under that ‘Eskimo – 1’. |
immediately.
| Brighton Rock (1943) 49: You tell me if anyone asks questions [...] Get me on the blower at Billy’s straight off. | |
| Adolescent Boys of East London (1969) 117: If I have to do it straight off, then I do get bored with it. | |
| It Was An Accident 52: Screws all clocked me straight off. | |
| Hooky Gear 38: Then finally sayin it an then course them not gettin it straight off. An then me wonderin about explainin it again. |
see separate entries.
a law-abiding person; also attrib.
| Grits 463: It’s the only way ter sort out the world’s problems, innit? Make every politician, every banker, every fuckin straight-peg drop a Dove an go to a rave. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | (con. 1980s) Skagboys 27: He’s a moaning-faced straightpeg, the kind ay small businessman Thatcher loves. | |
| (con. 1980s) Skagboys 400: Ali, whae’s seein this straightpeg aulder dude, never answered her phone. | |
| Invisible Victims 119: If he is a straight peg he is entitled to call the police. If he is a straight peg, chances are 99 per cent of the time that he has worked most of his life paying taxes. | |
| Dead Man’s Trousers 73: Those entitled straight-peg millenial cunts. |
the truth.
| Cogan’s Trade (1975) 6: That the straight shit, Squirrel? You tryin’, do me a favour? | |
| Mr Blue 373: Yeah, I tell a good lie from time to time, ese, but this is straight shit, carnal. | |
| In My Hood 3 177: I’m saying them cats will roll over on you, Nate, and that’s some straight shit. |
see separate entries.
see under shot n.1
a prison sentence.
| Drama City 191: It’s harder in some way to do your straight time than it is to jail. | |
| Fight Your Ticket & Win 103: You will not be allowed work release or community service, but must do ‘straight time’ behind bars. |
see separate entries.
a woman who is seen as easy to seduce.
| DSUE (8th edn) 1164/1: [...] since ca. 1925. |
In phrases
to work out in time.
| Derelicts Ch. xxii: I shall miss you terribly—at first—but it will all dry straight, Yvonne. | |
| Laughing Gas 278: Cheer up, Joseph. Things will dry straight one of these days. |
(US) to think clearly; to sort oneself out.
| Cutter and Bone (2001) 21: He [...] had temporarily dropped out in order to ‘get his head on straight’. | |
| Serial 63: I know you’re gonna get your head straight. | |
| Surprise Party 165: He’s going to get him help [...] to get his head straight. Some friends know a really good shrink in New York. Poor Tony's very mixed up. | |
| Vigil for a Stranger 64: He needs to think, to get his head straight. My father hates that expression, he hates all Robbie’s trendy slang, and he makes fun of it mercilessly. | |
| Glitter Dome (1982) 130: You gotta get your head straightened out. | |
| Hobos, Hustlers & Backsliders 138: The system’s messed him up, you know. He needs to get his head straight, chill for a while. |
(US) to run, to hurry.
| Kentuckian in N.Y. I 195: I’m for making a straight coat-tail out of this place. | |
| ‘Quarter Racing in Tennessee’ Spirit of the Times (N.Y.) XIII in Inge (1967) 20: He [...] then cut a stick and made a straight coat tail for Little Shinbone. | |
| Daily Phoenix (Columbia, SC) 16 July 2/1: The carpet-baggers will be [...] making straight coat-tails for their homes. | |
| Nat. Tribune (DC) 12 Apr. 8/1: Then, making straight coat-tails for the sutlers by way of the gang-plank, we [etc.]. | |
| (con. 1899) Shanghaied Out of Frisco 105: I jest made a straight coat-tail up the lane to her heart. |
crooked.
| Polite Conversation 38: Strait! ay, straight as my Leg, and that’s crooked at Knee. | |
| Maumee City Exp. (OH) 12 Jan. 1/4: She keeps a roaring and a snoring [...] and a flooring you; unless you mind your P’s and Q’s and stand as fast as screws, And as straight as a dog’s hind leg. | |
| High Life in N.Y. I 257: ‘You don’t say so,’ sez the tall man in whiskers, and he looked as straight as a loon’s leg; ‘what is it – any more jewelry, my pet?’. | |
| Nature and Human Nature II 12: You don’t steer right on end on a bee line, and go straight as a loon’s leg. | |
| Reynolds’s Newspaper (London) 14 Oct. 2/4: I honour the man who is noble and true [...] straight up and down, like a dog’s hind leg! | |
| Princeton Union (MN) 7 Aug. 8/1: Howard [...] is the boss stacker, he can build one as straight as a dog’s hind leg, so we are informed. | |
| Morn. Astorian (OR) 29 Oct. 2/1: The route is as straight as a dog’s hind leg. | |
| St Mary’s Jnl (KS) 28 Dec. 1/2: The walk is about as straight as a dog’s hind leg. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 21 Dec. 12/2: At Coogee for instance, there are streets [...] which, though not so tortuous as Reid’s career, are hardly as straight as a dog’s hind leg. | |
| Old Homestead 417: ‘By dam, Titt,’ he said, looking along the furrow and laughing, ‘but ye’re ploughin’ as straight as a dog's hind leg’. | |
| Marshall Messenger (TX) 21 Oct. 4/1: I will vote the straight democratic ticket [...] that is as ‘straight as a dog’s hind leg. | |
| Giggleswade Chron. 31 Jan. 6/7: The toad from biggleswade to Sandy is as straight as a dog’shind leg. | |
| in Took Max Miller Blue Book (1975) n.p.: No, I’m straight, dead straight, honest I am. As a butcher’s hook! | |
| Cincinnati Enquirer (OH) 27 Aug. 6/6: We can row a skif [...] as straight as a dog’s hind leg, at least downstream. | |
| Jrnl & Courier (Lafayette, IN) 9 Apr. 17/1: Morally and ethically [...] it’s about as straight as a dog’s hind leg. | |
| Palm Beach Post (FL) 5 Nov. 16/3: [M]ajor sports are about as straight as a dog’s hind leg. | |
| Pittsburgh Post-Gaz.(PA) 17 Mar. 22/2: Professional boxing has often given the impression of being as straight as a dog’s hind leg. | |
| Dly Spectrum (Saint George, UT) 1 Nov. 6/7: Illinois politics [...] play about as straight as a dog’s hind leg. |
see separate entry.