Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US black) to get together, to meet.

1938		Cab Calloway Hi De Ho 32: dig: meet.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 4: And it was in Pontiac that I dug that Jim Crow man in person, a motherferyer that would cut your throat for looking.
1960		E. De Roo Big Rumble 14: We’ll dig each other if you want to.
1962		B. Jackson Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 205: It was late one day and I was on my way / to dig my partner Dan.

2. (US black) to visit.

1938		Flash! (Wash., D.C.) 21 Feb. 11/1: dig my pad — Go home to my bed.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 25: The first place we dug was the De Luxe Café at 35th and State.
1957		H. Simmons Corner Boy 11: Let’s dig the happenings at Zodie’s.
1960		E. De Roo Big Rumble 92: We’re digging that Youth Board biggie together this aft, reet?

3. (orig. US black) to appreciate, to enjoy, to love.

1936		Archie Seale Man About Harlem 3 Oct. [synd. col.] [headline] Digging and Dishing.
1946		H.A. Smith Rhubarb 19: ‘Dig the Ancient One!’ Myra cried to the rest of the room. ‘Ain’t he lush!’.
1954		Mad mag. Nov. 7: When I dig that crazy Caesar I’m stoned even if I’m digging him six feet under!
1954		K. Amis letter 14 Mar. in Leader (2000) 375: I dug your old fiction thing on the wireless and thought he read it as well as could be expected.
1960		‘Lord Buckley’ Hiparama of the Classics 14: Like some studs dig Kennedy, like some Studs dig Nixon.
1961		T. Taylor Baron’s Court All Change (2011) 20: I didn’t dig this at all [...] so I asked her what she meant.
1974		D. Mamet Sexual Perversity in Chicago (1994) 95: I mean, I dig tits ... but I wouldn’t go out of my way for a pair of tits.
1988		P. Califia Macho Sluts 39: I dig what I do.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 394: I hate him, but I dig him too.
2000		Hip-Hop Connection Jan./Feb. 47: I can see myself doing a lot of other things, but right now I’m still digging it.
2006		D. Seabrook Jack of Jumps (2007) 207: Mmm, she dug the Jazz Club.
2007		L. Redhead Cherry Pie [ebook] ‘Sounds like you really dig her, but you don’t seem upset you’ve broken up’.
2010		K. Richards Life 238: We also knew that the Stones fans were digging it.
2015		S. King Finders Keepers (2016) 117: I knew you’d dig it.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 24: ‘[G]et him to admit he digs boys’.

4. (orig. US black, also dig it) to understand.

1939		N.Y. Age 16 Dec. 10/1: Do you dig what I mean, my dear, or do must I tell what I know?
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 6: Something was all puffed up in me, but I couldn’t dig what it was, or give it a name.
1959		C. MacInnes Absolute Beginners 174: Nobody seemed to dig how dangerous it had been to Dad.
1963		C. Wood ‘Prisoner and Escort’ in Cockade (1965) I iii: Honestly I don’t dig you at all.
1964		‘Charles Barrett’ Address: Kings Cross 18: I bought Harper’s Bazaar and Playboy to glance through on the plane because they were so expensive, glossy and chic - a status symbol, if you dig me.
1972		Nova Apr. 83: I don’t think many people dig what it’s about. It’s heavy. Really heavy.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 70: I just want to die in peace. You can dig that, can’t you?
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 288: Dig this: [...] a Confederate flag hung prominently from the state capitol.
2001		Eble Campus Sl. Fall 3: DIG IT – understand.
2002		‘Touré’ Portable Promised Land (ms.) 157: We Words (My Favorite Things) [...] Ya dig? Ya heard? Yo mama!
2012		D. O’Donnell Locked Ward (2013) 147: you know? We are in this world at the moment, but not of it. Dig?

5. (orig. US black) to pay close attention to; also ext. as dig it or dig up.

1935		Hot News Sept. 20/2: If you listen enough, and dig him enough, you will realise that that [...] riff is the high-spot of the record .
1940		Louis Jordan ‘You Run Your Mouth and I’ll Run My Business’ 🎵 But dig this spiel I’m going to lay on you, gate, / Don’t cop your broom, park the body and wait.
1951		Kerouac On the Road (The Orig. Scroll) (2007) 211: I dug the Square for Hunkey, he wasn’t there.
1952		‘Hal Ellson’ Golden Spike 161: Wait by the window and dig the stud I talk to.
1965		‘SWAP Dict. Teen-age Sl’ in Ebony Mar. 98/2: Dig up: give me your attention — as in ‘Dig up, man, let’s split this jam (leave this dance).
1968		J. Colebrook Cross of Lassitude 233: Baby dig yourself [...] you’re pushing that broad too hard ... Lighten up a bit.
1970		A. Young Snakes (1971) 42: ‘Dig up,’ Champ said finally. ‘Tell you, here’s how I feel about you guys’ music.
1972		(con. 1950s) D. Goines Whoreson 31: You said a pimp ain’t nothing, but dig this.
1981		H. Gould Fort Apache, The Bronx 43: Dig it, bro [...] That chick’s got some germs they ain’t even discovered yet.
1997		(con. 1950s) J. Byrne Slab Boys [film script] 9: Dig the crease in the flannels ... you could dice peaches wi’ them.

6. (US black, also dig the cat) to discuss, to converse.

1949		Hal Ellson Duke ix: Digging the cat – talk, usually of a wide, loose nature, about everything and anything after smoking marihuana.
1953		W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 43: They had both been waiting for the same pusher and they had got to digging the cat. [Ibid.] 44: It was just the sort of stuff you heard. He didn’t know where he’d got it from. Just some cats digging, throwing it around. [Ibid.] 99: Cat was also employed as a verb meaning to talk, while digging the cat meant talking aimlessly or at length.

7. (orig. US black) to find out, to discover; to interrogate.

1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 24: It didn’t take her long to dig where I hung out.
1959		J. Blake letter 6 Aug. in Joint (1972) 142: I think I was digging him harder than he was me.
1959		‘Paul Merchant’ ‘Sex Gang’ in Pulling a Train’ (2012) [ebook] He cursed himself for having dodged out. He knew he should have stayed close and dug the scene with the chicks in the car.
1969		C. Himes Blind Man with a Pistol (1971) 39: We’re to dig what we can without leaving our friend.
1974		A. Pierrepoint Executioner 190: I do not think he was needling me, but I thought he had his spade out again. He was digging.
1995		J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 156: Now don’t get personal Andy, you’re digging me out here.

8. to believe.

1962		(con. 1953–7) L. Yablonsky Violent Gang (1967) 263: Oh, man, you guys still dig all that bullshit [...] I didn’t believe none of it.
1964		B. Jackson Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 97: Now I don’t dig this play. [...] I’m goin’ up on the cuts and see what the other cats say.
1981		J. Wambaugh Glitter Dome (1982) 213: They charge the cons five dollars a day for room and board and get them jobs to pay back victims and the state! Can you dig it?

9. to see, to recognize.

1950		Cornell (University) Daily Sun 10 Oct. 4: I ‘digged this baby,’ when I was a frosh [W&F].
1958		Southern & Hoffenberg Candy (1970) 153: Natch I was hip to the lay the moment I dug his joint.
1965		W. King ‘The Game’ in King Black Short Story Anthol. (1972) 302: I was in a mellow position. Had a joint next to her pad; could dig out the window.
1979		‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 12: I dug Willie in position to score.
2008		W.D. Myers Game 161: We didn’t dig the press soon enough.

10. (orig. US black) to imagine.

1967

P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 110: I’m digging maybe you’re fronting now, cool Piri, making like you’re a down stud. Now I ain’t signifying, but I never dug you for a punk.