Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. good, fine, satisfactory, acceptable, occas. splendid.

1839		C.G. Greene in Boston Morn. Post 23 Mar. 2/2: He [...] would have the ‘contribution box’, et ceteras, o.k.—all correct—and cause the corks to fly, like sparks, upward [OED].
1840		Atlas 18 June 2: The band rode in a stage, which had a barrel of hard cider on the baggage rack, marked with large letters, ‘O.K.’—oll korrect [DAE].
1843		N.Y. Sporting Whip 18 Feb. n.p.: The knowing ones / Thought all was not O.K.
1856		Melbourne Punch 20 Nov. 3/3: ‘Proposals for a New Slang Dictionary’ [...] O.K. —Adj. To rights, proper, stunning, of the right sort, prime, all serene, crummy, some, out-an-out, scrumtious, &c, of the initials of the old English words, Orle Korrect.
c.1858		J.H. Green Reformed Gambler 164: ‘I can’t understand your meaning of entering your name falsely.’ ‘Oh, all is O. K.!’ replied the sucker captain, placing his fingers upon his nose.
1866		Sporting Gaz. (London) 27 Oct. 6/2: Instead of ‘all correct,’ of which O.K. is the slang equivalent, it turned out a decided case of ‘hookey’ so far as the fielders were concerned.
1869		C.G. Leland ‘Breitmann in Politics’ in Hans Breitmann About Town 38: He’s O. K. oopon de soobject; / Shoost pet your pile on dat; / On dis bartik’ler quesdion / He intends to coot it fat.
1871		Elk Co. Advocate (Ridgway, PA) 30 Nov. 3/2: I’m all O.K.
1879		‘’Arry on the River’ in Punch 9 Aug. 57/1: He’d a seen as my form was O.K., as I fancy ain’t easy mistook.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 16 May 14/2: This is the first we ever heard of a ‘Sydney Jockey Turf Club, but we suppose the matter must be O.K. or it wouldn’t be in the papers.
1894		J. London Tramp Diary in Jack London On the Road (1979) 52: We told them we would leave in a body & as all stood firm after a tally we were forgiven. So its all O.K.
1895		Bulletin 9 Feb. n.p.: You didn’t ’ave to pay for my clobber; / I’m ryebuck and the girl’s okay.
1899		R. Whiteing No. 5 John Street 233: She objected to the parting of the ass’s mane as ‘too O.K. for a moke’.
1902		A. Bennett Grand Babylon Hotel 74: ‘It’s O.K., I suppose,’ said the man.
1914		M. Glass Potash And Perlmutter 37: You examine ’em, and if they’re all O.K., why, you send him a cheque.
1922		M.E. Smith Adventures of a Boomer Op. 63: Outside of this, she was perfectly OK.
1926		C. Sandburg letter 3 Apr. in Mitgang (1968) 236: Friday, the 23d, is okeh.
1931		D. Runyon ‘Gentlemen, the King!’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 173: This mouthpiece is not putting any proposition away as okay unless he knows it is pretty much okay.
1932		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Young Lonigan in Studs Lonigan (1936) 117: He said that anything a girl did was O.K. with him, as long as she was good-looking.
1937		E. Anderson Thieves Like Us (1999) 70: You have done all right and everything is okeh.
1941		Williamstown Chron. (Vic.) 3 May 6/2: Everything turned out ock.
1942		Whizzbang Comics [frontispiece] And the old folks at home will enjoy every line / And vote me a present that’s ‘O.K.!’ and ‘Fine!’.
1948		(con. 1944) N. Mailer Naked and Dead 233: Jesus, this is okay.
1950		J. Weidman Price Is Right 298: Ide is an okay book-keeper.
1953		L. Uris Battle Cry (1964) 205: I hope they thought I was O.K.
1965		C. Brown Manchild in the Promised Land (1969) 107: I was thirteen so now it was okay for me to hang out. Nobody squawked.
1966		T. Keyes All Night Stand 25: Thirty quid for the night was o.k.
1975		Sun. Times Mag. 12 Oct. 26: It’s O.K. for them that can afford it.
1986		B. Geldof Is That It? 59: They put £32 a week into our hands, which was OK money in those days.
1986		C. Hiaasen Tourist Season (1987) 19: Overall he did an okay job.
1999		K. Sampson Powder 53: Come on, Wheeze. This sounds OK. There’s a lot of sense in what he’s saying.
2000		Observer Screen 23 Jan. 5: It’s okay girls.
2003		G. Tate Midnight Lightning 81: High school was our true introduction to drugs and alcohol. Which was totally OK with us.
2019		N. Walker Cherry 41: Joe painted houses with Roy. And they actually made okay money.

2. safe, unharmed.

1839		Boston Eve. Transcript 11 Oct. 3: It is o.k. (all correct) in this quarter.
1840		N.Y. Daily Express 9 Apr. 2/2: The Locos having gone into Masonic Hall O.K. and come out K.O. (Kicked out), the O.K.’s have changed their name [DAE].
1887		G. Devol Forty Years a Gambler 284: The sucker quieted down, think he would be O.K. when he reached the station.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 89: My wife Bonnie was putting up with some relatives and I knew she was O.K.
1959		C. MacInnes Absolute Beginners 197: This old codger [...] must have grabbed him by the arm and said, ‘You’re okay son, come with me.’.
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 16: Hey, pal, you okay.
1995		J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 19: Found out later Tina was OK.
2000		N. Griffiths Grits 123: Sh now. be calm. You’ll be OK in a bit.

3. up to date, fashionable, e.g. it’s the OK thing to do.

1869		‘Walking in the Zoo’ in De Marson New Singer’s Journal xxxv. 246: The Stilton, sir, the cheese, the O.K. thing to do, / On Sunday afternoons, is to toddle to the Zoo.
1908		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘A Cracksman’s Conscience’ Sporting Times 18 Jan. 1/3: I could see a happy time ahead, when I could cut a dash, / And live like a lord, O.K., and up to date.
1929		‘Henry Green’ Living (1978) 213: The O.K. gas plant.
1999		Guardian Rev. 23 July 23: The Kennedys prove that it’s OK to mourn in Bermuda shorts.

4. of a person, good, decent, e.g. an OK guy.

1871		J.H. Banka State Prison Life 61: I say, boys, let up on that feller. I had a chat with him to-day, and he’s all O.K.
1940		D. Maurer Big Con 64: I know [...] that both of you are O.K.
1962		F. Norman Guntz 186: They are both okay geezers.
1977		E. Bunker Animal Factory 26: The first a close friend, the second merely okay.
1988		D. Woodrell Muscle for the Wing 29: Look, you’re an okay fella, but not my sort.
2000		Indep. 10 Jan. 18: He [...] is an OK sort of chap.
2008		R. Price Lush Life 246: ‘Projects kid?’ [...] ‘Yeah, from Cahan, but apparently from an OK family’ .

5. constructed with with or about, acceptable to; comfortable, at ease with.

1916		E. Genet letter 20 June in Channing War Letters of Edmond Genet 187: If anything should happen to me over here, Mother, it would be so much easier to meet if I knew I was O. K. with my own loved country.
1979		Woollams & Brown TA 224: She can do something different and feel OK about it.
1980		M. Weller Loose Ends 27: But now I feel like really OK about it.
1992		S. Gotz et al. American Artists 112: Whereas, if the canvas gets eaten away by the heat transfer, I would feel OK with that.
2004		R. Bryant-Jeffries Counselling for Progressive Disability 40: There’s no way I would have felt OK about that.
2005		B. Morris Jamaica Me Dead 24: No, I’m not OK with that, Zack. I’m not OK at all.
2023		S. Hart Once Upon a Prime 127: Naturally, he took this as a sign that God was okay with his interest in mathematics.

6. well supplied with, usu. money.

2001

K. Sampson Outlaws (ms.) 16: He’s not okay for money.