Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to discover, to guess correctly.

1577		Misogonus in Farmer (1906) I iv: By the same token thou taughest me – can you not hit it?
1614		R. Taylor Hog Hath Lost His Pearl III ii: wel.: Is thy liuing-giuer within sir? ser.: You meane my Master sir? wel.: You haue hit it sir, prays’d be your vnderstanding.
c.1617		Fletcher Chances III iv: john.: I know it by my selfe there can be no Hell To his that hangs upon his Hopes; especially In way of lustly Pleasures. pet.: He has hit it.
c.1637		R. Brome Damoiselle IV ii: What do yee cal’t? I shall never hit it.
1658		W. Chamberlayne Love’s Victory 13: Thou hast hit it – thou hast hit it.
1662		‘M.W.’ Marriage Broaker V i: Now you have hit it.
1695		Congreve Love for Love IV i: Ah, you’ve hit it, sir. That’s the matter with him, sir.
1707		Farquhar Beaux’ Strategem I i: A highwayman! upon my life, girl, you have hit it.
1722		S. Centlivre Artifice Act V: tally.: Popery, downright Popery! May the Genius of England defend us – Let me see! What dead folks have we among the Living? There’s [...] An Eunuch – An, an old Maid. wid.: You have hit it, my Lord.
1738		Swift Polite Conversation 88: You have hit it; I believe you are a Witch.
1749		Smollett (trans.) Adventures of Gil Blas I 167: You have hit it.
1761		G. Colman Jealous Wife I i: Ay, ay, there you have hit it: Mrs. Oakly would make an excellent wife.
1780		H. Cowley Belle’s Stratagem V ii: You have hit it. Elle est mon caprice.
1818		W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian (1883) 18: ‘The prison,’ added the young lawyer – ‘You have hit it – the very reverend Tolbooth itself’.
1828		J. Thomson An Uncle Too Many II iii: Why your ladyship’s hit it, sure enough; they certainly dish’d me!
1832		Quid 40: There you have hit it.
1848		‘Ned Buntline’ Mysteries and Miseries of N.Y. II 15: Vel, you ’ave hit it!
1860		‘George Eliot’ Mill on the Floss (1985) I 73: You have hit it there, Bessy.
1864		B. Hemyng Eton School Days 129: Hurrah! Purefoy, you’ve hit it, I am sure.
1870		L. Oliphant Piccadilly 287: I have hit it.
1878		J. Hatton Cruel London III 317: ‘That must be old Graham Denton’s daughter,’ said Decker. ‘You’ve hit it,’ said Tom.
1883		J. Keane On Blue Water 220: ‘Guess you’ve about hit it,’ replied the mate.
1894		(con. 1861) Rock Island Argus 2 June 3/4: Steve, you’ve hit it — hit it plumb centre!
1900		Sporting Times 19 May 1/3: You’ve hit it sonnie [...] you’ve struck it, by gum—skin her!
1915		Wodehouse Psmith Journalist (1993) 203: You have hit it, Comrade Windsor. [Ibid.] 258: I believe you’ve hit it.
1922		Wodehouse Clicking of Cuthbert 64: That’s just what I meant [...] You’ve just hit it.
1949		K. Amis letter 6 Oct. in Leader (2000) 215: If he’s going to this one, good enough; but if not – then guess who***!!fffx*??! yes, YOU’VE HIT IT (a big hand, folks) ITS DADDY BEEEEEE!!!!!
1954		Wodehouse Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit 168: It struck me as a most admirable idea [...] ‘You’ve hit it!’ I said.
1960		Wodehouse Jeeves in the Offing 53: Your intelligence is almost human. You’ve hit it.

2. to have a given experience, usu. with a combining adj. that implies some form of success.

1591		Florio 2nd Fruites 25: G.: That is stake-money under the line, is it not so? T.: Yea sir, you hitt it right [OED].
1598		M. Drayton Moon-Calf in Chalmers IV (1810) 132/1: Quoth mother Redcap, ‘You have hit it right’. [Ibid.] 133/2: ‘Gossip, indeed you have hit it to a hair’ [...] Quoth mother Mumby.
1770		T. Chatterton Revenge I ii: He’s in the right on’t—hits it to a tittle.
1837		‘The Wide Awake Club’ Bentley’s Misc. Feb. 209: You’ve hit it, sir [...] down as a hammer.
1932		J. Dixon Free To Love 70: As soon as some of the old fogey editors [...] hear I’ve hit it on the nose, they’ll be sending for me.
1945		J. Hoyt Cummings Fatal Pay-off 58: I hit it right on the nose!
1953		T. Runyon In For Life 193: It looked as if we had hit it lucky.
1963		J. Rechy City of Night 106: Skipper living off and on with Trudi and hitting it big occasionally.
1972		Milner & Milner Black Players 252: A week later he is apt to be talking of hustling, pimping, going to Reno to ‘hit it big’.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 17: He’s been with Cal since before he hit it big.
2001		C. Jeffords Shady Ladies of the Old West 🌐 If they didn’t hit it rich pretty quickly [...] many eventually eased their way out of life [...] with strychnine.
2010		L. Berney Gutshot Straight [ebook] ‘I’d say he’s just a down-to-earth guy who happened to hit it big’.

3. (Aus./US, also hit it up/with) to get on with, to establish good relations; also constr. with with.

1887		Sporting Times 5 Nov. 6/1: Mossy [...] doesn’t hit it at all with his wife.
1895		W. Pett Ridge Minor Dialogues 266: Him and me never seem to hit it together somehow.
1901		Bulletin (Sydney) 7 Dec. 28/3: An’ he don’t hit it with ’is ma – his step-ma – or his double step-ma, I’d oughter call ’er.
1921		Dos Passos Three Soldiers 39: You just wait till we hit France. We’ll hit it up some with the Madimerzels, won’t we, kid?
1926		M. West Sex (1997) I i: Maybe you and I could hit it up together, eh?
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl.

4. (US, also hit it off) to leave, to depart.

1924		O.O. McIntyre ‘New York Day by Day’ 18 Jan. [synd. col.] Hikers hitting it off for Jersey.
1948		P.W. Fairman ‘Big-Time Operator’ in Ruhm Hard-Boiled Detective (1977) 338: O.K., let’s hit it. See you, Frenchy.
1954		B. Kiely Honey Seems Bitter 43: He looked at his watch. ‘Gee, I’ll have to be hitting it.’.
1974		N. Heard Cold Fire Burning 143: ‘Man, it’s time to split. C’mon Ahmad.’ [...] Ahmad rose. ‘Let’s hit it’.
1990		S. Grafton ‘G’ Is for Gumshoe 170: ‘Let’s hit it,’ I said, as Dietz opened the door. Clyde’s white Mercedes sedan was parked at the curb.
1989		W.D. Myers Fallen Angels 125: ‘Okay, let’s hit it!’ he said. We were starting off. Backing out of the village toward the pickup zone.
2007		J. Collins Drop Dead Beautiful 410: This is not a nudist camp — pants on and let’s hit it.

5. to consume drink or drugs.

6. (US gay) to perform to the best of one’s ability.

1969		M. Puzo Godfather 149: The driver was really hitting it back to New York.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 107: hit it [...] 1. to perform to the best of one’s ability; to give it all you got.
2002		(con. mid-1950s) R. Gordon Can’t Be Satisfied 127: A wino in the neighborhood went up and down the streets with a cat on a leash and a recorder in his pocket [. . . .] Muddy would see him, say, ‘Hit it,’ and he'd blow a work song that sent the kids dancing.

7. (US black) to have sexual intercourse; note earlier use of hit it at hit v. (2a)

1989		(con. 1982–6) T. Williams Cocaine Kids (1990) 138: A number of terms relate to sexual behavior, including: hittin it.
1993		Snoop Doggy Dogg ‘Ain’t No Fun’ 🎵 Pass it to the homie, now you hit it.
1999		J. Ridley Everybody Smokes in Hell 182: Never hit it with a white chick before.
2000		G. Pelecanos Shame the Devil 57: I got ten dollars right here says that Dimitri is hittin’ it right now.
2004		Guerilla Black ‘You’re the One’ 🎵 Take off your clothes, / I hit it on the couch.
2012		‘Dutch’ ? (Pronounced Que) [ebook] Come on, Egypt, my dick hard as a rock. You gonna let me hit that?
2016		‘Chelsea G. Summers’ in Hazlitt.net 8 Jan. 🌐 We don’t have sexual intercourse—we ‘get busy,’ ‘hit it,’ ‘do the nasty,’ ‘get some,’ ‘score,’ and perform countless other acts that we refer to by adorable, horrifying, and illuminating turns of phrase.

8. (US prison) to masturbate; to have anal sex.

2000

Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 Hit It: Masturbation or anal sex. (MI).

9. see hit the books v.

10. see hit the road v. (1)

11. see hit the sack under sack n.