Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US) a supplier of contraband liquor.

1930		J. Lait Gangster Girl 9: Silk had been Goldie’s New York connection in some of the national networks of booze manipulating.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 40: I scored for a connection.

2. (orig. US, also ’nec) a supplier of drugs; esp. a wholesaler (rather than a street seller).

1932		V.F. Nelson Prison Days and Nights 178: There are usually only two or three ‘connections’ (or sources of supply).
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 93: I had to make a trip back to Chi to pick up a fresh supply from my connection.
1953		‘William Lee’ Junkie (1966) 26: I know several good connections we can probably catch right now.
1960		C. Cooper Jr Scene (1996) 115: We want the connect [...] that’s all we want.
1964		H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 51: Someone to scoop up the empties; to buy the bennie; to meet the connection.
1974		V.E. Smith Jones Men 65: His New York connects [...] they wouldn’t be too happy.
1976		R. Sabbag Snowblind (1978) 107: René was on his way to Bogotá to meet Ricardo’s connection.
1980		(con. 1971) W. Sherman Times Square 53: The stance of the hang-around guy who waited for a score or a ‘nec,’ a connection, on the street.
1989		(con. 1930s) Courtwright & Des Jarlais Addicts Who Survived 95: That was back in the thirties; ’38. ’39. She really went down the hill with heroin [...] At that time it was a big favor to get her junk. I got her a connection.
1992		T. Williams Crackhouse 54: After about a year of dealing he lost his connect.
2000		W.T. Vollmann Royal Family 348: I would never have copped from that connection again.
2001		Source Aug. 140: With the exception of trying to find a local weed connect and scheming on some dimes on the beach, AZ’s stay in Honolulu is relatively tame.
2008		Simon & Zorzi ‘Unconfirmed Reports’ Wire ser. 5 ep. 2 [TV script] You gonna cut Proposition Joe [...] out the connect.
2011		G. Hayward Corruption Officer [ebk] cap. 45: They were saying how you’re the connect inside the jail.
2015		Section Boyz ‘Trapping Ain’t Dead’ 🎵 Trapping ain't dead / My connect’s still breathing.
2020		G. Krauze What They Was 63: Not Nice has the connec for big bits of food and he knows everyone [...] who’s shotting punk.

3. (orig. US) the act of contacting a drug dealer; thus connection dough, money for drugs.

1922		E. Murphy Black Candle 229: Where do you get drugs when you go to a strange city? [...] how do you make the connection?
1930		M. West Babe Gordon (1934) 11: Coke pedlar and sniffer made their ‘connection’ in safety.
1937		‘Boxcar Bertha’ Sister of the Road (1975) 93: If they ask you to help them make a connection, don’t have anything to do with them.
1938		D. Maurer ‘Argot of the Und. Narcotic Addict’ Pt 2 in AS XIII:3 183/1: connection dough. The price of a bindle of narcotics.
1958		Murtagh & Harris Cast the First Stone 54: I made some connections [...] and did a little peddling.
1961		H. Ellison ‘At the Mountain of Blindness’ in Gentleman Junkie 62: Porky was a pusher. He was waiting for his mark to come and make the connection.
1970		E. Tidyman Shaft 104: A kid in school didn’t have to go look for a pusher [...] He just go to his teacher and make a connection.
1983		N. Heard House of Slammers 87: But you’ll need a bale cause the stuff’s wholesale / It’s the only connection, that’s sure.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 76: She’d taken a bus to Prospect Park and made a drug connection.

4. (orig. US) the person with whom one achieves sexual fulfilment; thus the act itself.

[1843		Satirist & Sporting Chron. (Sydney) 25 Feb. 2/2: At length, after a good deal of inter-ference on the Foreigner’s part, Mrs B. viewed the thing calmly, and said, it’s no use thinking about it [...] let us leave Hobart’s Town, and we’ll get a connexion somewhere else].
1971		M. Novotny Kings Road 97: I take it you two made a great connexion last night.

5. (orig. US) any form of connection or go-between, e.g. one who helps with a crime.

1927		C. Coe Me – Gangster 181: You’re the kid that’s been hangin’ aroun’ Rift’s place tryin’ to make a connection.
1933		‘Paul Cain’ Fast One (1936) 48: The play was to run it in, three cases to a launch, each trip. They’ve got a swell federal connection at the wharf.
1959		E. De Roo Young Wolves 129: He’s got connections, and they kinda try to look after me. As a favour to him.
1960		C. Cooper Jr Syndicate (1998) 98: We crossed over to New York [...] where we met the connect.
1974		G. Radano Stories Cops Only Tell Each Other 59: ‘Me, the man without a hook,’ said Mike, ‘the man without a rabbi to make a connection’.
1989		M. Amis London Fields 46: The boiler’s creating or the bell don’t work. You need somebody with a few connexions.
1990		D. Heilbroner Rough Justice 212: Was Steven Peel [...] part of a burgeoning ring of high-class thieves with inside connections at American Express?
2001		A. Schulman 23rd Precinct 88: The hook could be a friend or relative in the Police Department, or a connection who can pull strings.
2011		J.J. DeCeglie Drawing Dead [ebook] I would have stayed in a hotel but I knew these guys had connects all over the place.
2020		D. Winslow ‘Broken’ in Broken 41: I went to some mob connections.
2020		S.A. Crosby Blacktop Wasteland 29: He was a connect. A guy who could put you in touch with some other guys.

6. (US prison) a corrupt guard, or trusted prisoner, who helps inmates smuggle contraband into and within prison.

1934		J.L. Kuethe ‘Prison Parlance’ in AS IX:1 26: connection. A prison guard or trusty who brings prohibited articles into prison. One who does favours for a prisoner.
1966		R. Giallombardo Gloss. in Study of a Women’s Prison 120: In the Alderson prison the ‘connect’ is any inmate with a ‘good job’ who will cooperate in the procurement of scarce goods.

7. (UK black) a fig. or conceptual connection, .

2020

G. Krauze What They Was 53: Olders [...] tryna act like they know it all, like they have all the connecs, like you can’t work out shit for yourself.