Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a generic term for the USA and American culture; esp. the armed forces or federal agencies of the USA.

1812		Bennington (VA) News-Letter 23 Dec. 38/2: Now Mr. Editor – pray if you can inform me, what single solitary good thing will, or can acrue to (Uncle Sam.) the U.S. for all the expence, marching and countermarching, pain, sickness, death &c among us?
1813		Troy Post 7 Sept. 3/3: ‘Loss upon loss,’ and ‘no ill luck stiring [sic] but what lights upon Uncle Sam’s shoulders,’ exclaim the Government editors, in every part of the Country. [...] This cant name for our government has got almost as current as ‘John Bull.’ The letters U.S. on the government waggons, &c are supposed to have given rise to it [DA].
1827		J.F. Cooper Prairie i 285: The well-known initials that have since gained for the government of the U.S. the good-humoured and quaint appellation of Uncle Sam.
1832		J.K. Paulding Westward Ho! II 181: He said he’d bought the land of Uncle Sam, and he had as good a right to shoot there as the old man himself.
1840		R.H. Dana Two Years before the Mast (1992) 143: Her papers and colors were from Uncle Sam.
1848		J.R. Lowell Biglow Papers (1880) 50: Sam gets tipsy an’ kicks up a riot. [Ibid.] 113: They’re like two pickpockets in league for Uncle Samwell’s pus.
1853		N.Y. Clipper 20 Aug. 2/4: A company was dispatched by ‘Uncle Samuel’ to a survey of the state of Illinois.
c.1858		J.H. Green Reformed Gambler 165: Yes, sir, I am a drover, sir! a gentleman drover, sir. I have money enough to singe a canebrake. Yes, sir, enough of Uncle Sam’s thousand dollar blankets (meaning one thousand dollar notes) to make a carpet for a steamboat!
1861		R.F. Burton City of the Saints 1: A tour through the domains of Uncle Samuel without visiting the wide regions of the far West would be [...] like seeing Hamlet with the part of the Prince of Denmark [...] omitted.
1865		‘Root Hog Or Die’ in I. Beadle Comic and Sentimental Song Bk 49: They couldn’t whip the Yankees, I’ll tell you the reason why / Uncle Sam made ’em sing, Root Hog or Die.
1868		‘Grant’s the Man’ Grant Songster 13: Now’s the time that Uncle Sammy, / Plays on jews-harp, ‘Alabama.’.
1870		C.G. Leland ‘First Edition of Breitmann’ in Hans Breitmann in Church 123: Dou say’st id vill be sturmy. / Vot sturmy ish, ish crand. / Crate heroes ish de beoples / In Uncle Samuells land.
1872		‘Our Warrior Bold’ in Farmer of Chappaqua Songster 66: Uncle Sammy loves him well.
1873		W.H. Thomes Slaver’s Adventures 18: Money moves the world, and men’s hearts; and hang me if I don’t wish that I had as much of it as would sink one of Uncle Sam’s seventy-fours.
1887		G. Devol Forty Years a Gambler 283: They [...] had been fighting against some dogs in Detroit, and from their talk we learned that they [i.e. Canadians] had downed Uncle Sam.
1893		F. Remington letter 29 Apr. in Splete Sel. Letters (1988) 169: Not if your ‘Uncle Samuel’ is ‘on’ at the time.
1896		P.L. Dunbar ‘The Colored Soldiers’ inLyrics of Lowly Life 114: I would sing a song heroic / Of those noble sons of Ham, / Of the gallant colored soldiers / Who fought for Uncle Sam!
1903		A.H. Lewis Boss 200–1: There’s two hundred thousand dollars’ worth of Uncle Sam’s bonds.
1907		C. M’Govern By Bolo and Krag 199: Uncle Sammy had nothing but a dog-scrap on his hands.
1908		Truth (Brisbane) 30 Aug. 9/8: Uncle Sam wood say Australia / Were the werry place for him.
1916		J. Lait ‘Omaha Slim’ in Beef, Iron and Wine (1917) 126: When it comes to war Uncle Sam hollers for reg’lers.
1917		R. Lardner ‘The Water Cure’ in Gullible’s Travels 192: A little way off from us was four other political enemies o’ J. Frank Hanly, tellin’ my Greek friend in tonsorial tones that if he didn’t like his Uncle Sammy he knowed what he could do.
1920		H. Wiley Wildcat 39: Uncle Sam had provided him with travel rations.
1921		Coshocton (OH) Trib. 8 Mar. 2/3: The coin we toiled so hard to get [...] our Uncle Samuel will get.
1930		E.H. Lavine Third Degree (1931) 222: Uncle Sam’s yellow-backs will act as open sesame for obtaining privileges not only in the Tombs but in state penitentiaries as well.
1934		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 403: Studs had an image of Uncle Sammy in his brain.
1940		J.H. O’Hara Pal Joey 38: When you are working for Uncle Sam he never heard of scale.
1940		O. Strange Sudden Takes the Trail 131: ‘Has he really been a guest o’ Uncle Sam?’ ‘Yeah, it ain’t generally knowed, but he got two years in the pen.’.
1942		W. Winchell On Broadway 29 July. [synd. col.] It took you a long time to rile up Uncle samson to the point where he told his marshal to throw the hoops on you.
1943		W. Guthrie Bound for Glory (1969) 361: Uncle Sammy says, ‘Gotta save that rubber ta haul soldiers ’n’ guns.’.
1944		Cab Calloway New Hepsters Dict. in Calloway (1976) 259: sam got you: you’ve been drafted into the army.
1950		Kerouac letter 27 Dec. in Charters I (1995) 245: I got to work now on script so I can pay Uncle Sam his bloody tax.
1952		L. Lariar Day I Died 12: Tom and I go into the army together, two of Uncle Sammy’s battlers.
1957		M. Shulman Rally Round the Flag, Boys! (1959) 170: Stay on the government tit [...] You’re smart, kid: stick with your uncle sugar!
1960		C. Cooper Jr Scene (1996) 96: The pay was extremely high — a lot higher than what Uncle Sam used to pay her in the WAC.
1960		W. Styron Set This House on Fire 472: I don’t make the rules. Uncle Sambo makes the rules.
1970		E. Tidyman Shaft 71: He had gone to soldier [...] because Uncle Sam wanted him.
1971		T. Whitmore Memphis-Nam-Sweden 142: Fuck you, Sam .
1972		(con. 1916) G. Swarthout Tin Lizzie Troop (1978) 98: The Bon Ton was robbing the sons of Uncle Samuel.
1977		(con. 1949) J.G. Dunne True Confessions (1979) 63: Didn’t want to go fight for Aunt Sam. Fuck the red, white and blue.
1978		T. O’Brien Going After Cacciato (1980) 219: It’s time for some diplomatic pressure [...] Time for Sammy to step in on our behalf.
1980		J.L. Gwaltney Drylongso 20: When they got wasted [...] Sam just igged ’em.
1982		G.V. Higgins Patriot Game (1985) 187: All in the service of our Uncle Sam.
1990		(con. c.1970) G. Hasford Phantom Blooper 25: We won’t fight for money [...] we will fight to say that Uncle Sam ain’t no damned uncle of mine.
1994		(con. 1941) A. Kernan Crossing the Line 100: Ensign Dilbert went back to ‘Uncle Sugar’ the next day for further training.
1999		Guardian On Line 23 Sept. 1: Uncle Sam’s hard sell.
2000		Indep. Rev. 27 Apr. 4: Uncle Sam will never get his hands on them.
2002		IOL News (Western Cape) 20 Nov. 🌐 A chilling look at the 1993 US incursion into Somalia which saw Uncle Sam take a thrashing.
2012		C. Stella Rough Riders 68: If he’s still working for the government [...] it’s [i.e. a scar] been touched up, compliments of Uncle Sam .
2023		F. Bill Back to the Dirt 148: [He] signed on Uncle Sam’s dotted line [i.e. to enlist] and never looked back.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1927		H. Asbury Gangs of N.Y. 32: A burly ruffian with his chin adorned by an Uncle Sam whisker – the type of American which is still portrayed by the English comic weeklies.
1955		(con. 1944) H. Robbins A Stone for Danny Fisher 285: It’s fifty grand! Fifty thousand Uncle Sam dollars!
2006		C. Carr Our Town 95: He [...] pulled out a stapled packet of a dozen pages or so — Uncle Sam Klansman on the cover.

3. the US public.

1836

T. Haliburton Clockmaker I 47: We call, said the Clockmaker, the American public Uncle Sam, as you call the British John Bull.

4. (drugs) a Federal narcotics agent.

1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972).
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 18: Sam — Federal narcotics agent.