Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a general derog. description of an individual, esp. a braggart.

1609		Jonson Silent Woman IV ii: Wiues are nasty, sluttish Animalls.
1631		J. Shirley School of Complement III ii: I am in loue with a Wench [...] and I am in hate with a Gentleman, a yong Animall, and I would kill him.
1672		Dryden Assignation III i: Away, thou Animal! I have found thee out for a high and mighty fool.
1681		Otway Soldier’s Fortune I ii: Indeed, such another charming animal [...] ’tis an unspeakable blessing to lie all night by a horse-load of diseases; a beastly, unsavoury, old groaning, grunting, wheezing wretch.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Animal, a Fool. He is a meer Animal, he is a very silly fellow.
1830		J.B. Skillman N.Y. Police Reports 141: John Smith, a disgusting animal, works one or two hours in a day and then gets drunk on what he receives.
1843		Bellew Memoirs of a Griffin I 20: Ensigns Gorman and O’Shaughnessy, two fine ‘animals,’ that had recently been caught in the mountains of Kerry.
1866		Wild Boys of London I 36/2: Blessed if I don’t get yer kicked out, yer great hanimal; you oughter be ashamed to walk about like that.
1888–94		‘Walter’ My Secret Life (1966) VI 1279: We are not married, I’m his mistress, and I wonder he has not told you, the animal.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 28 Jan. 1/1: The animal who received £50 last week for informing on his fellow-countryman should [...] ‘retire from society’.
1896		Regiment 30 May 134/1: [of Brazilian soldiers] The introduction of most of these quasi-animals into the army is made from the prisons where they pose, or repose, as thieves and murderers.
1905		R. Beach Pardners (1912) 12: In the far corner was another animal in knee panties.
1910		C. Meredith Peggy of Cape Town 61: Mostert became in turn an ‘animal,’ [...] ‘brute’ and ‘skunk’.
1922		R. McAlmon ‘The Fast Girl’ in A Hasty Bunch 133: Don’t you kiss me, you animal.
1927		(con. 1918) J.W. Thomason Red Pants 42: Pipe down, you animals.
1940		S. Lister Mistral Hotel (1951) 149: Betty has found herself a fine-looking animal who’s in such a bad way that he’s gnawing her right shoulder on the dance floor.
1953		T.A.G. Hungerford Riverslake 2: What a flaming animal!
1969		L. Yablonsky Hippie Trip 145: One day I saw two of those hippie animals screwing in the park – right in the open!
1972		P. Fordham Inside the Und. 118: One, at least, is an ‘animal.’.
1981		J. Wambaugh Glitter Dome (1982) 62: You can’t believe it. They’re animals!
1989		(con. 1960) P. Theroux My Secret Hist. (1990) 177: He’s an animal.
2000		M. Collins Keepers of Truth 22: Both of them animals if you ask me ...
2005		P. Temple Broken Shore (2007) [ebook] The Caine animals won’t touch me [...] Because my cousins would kill them.
2018		C. Hammer Scrublands [ebook] ‘Raped that beautiful girl. Fuckin’ animal’.

2. a public house, whose sign shows a lion, bull, bear or other creature [the original animal was the elephant at the Elephant and Castle in south London].

1909

J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.

3. (US campus) a young woman, esp. a promiscuous one.

1915

R. Bolwell ‘College Sl. Words And Phrases’ in DN IV:iii 231: animal, n. [...] A girl, usually of doubtful repute.

4. a police officer.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 21/1: low: from ca.1919.

5. (orig. US) a physically strong man, a ‘tough guy’, a hired thug.

1953		K. Tennant Joyful Condemned 49: That big animal of a Mort hadn’t any more sense than to give the girls away.
1960		P. Rabe Murder Me for Nickels (2004) 69: I thought that if my own animals would stay out of the way another few minutes, I could swing the rest.
1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 70: Animal A strong, often offensive male.
1976		P. Conroy Great Santini (1977) 315: I want you to be a goddam animal from the time that whistle blows to start that game to the time the buzzer goes to end it.
1983		A. Payne ‘Get Daley!’ Minder [TV script] 61: Does all his business on the phone, uses a bunch of animals to run errands.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 431: You’re an animal.
1999		J. Cameron Brown Bread in Wengen [ebook] One of his animals hit me. Fucking Christ.
2000		P. Temple Dead Point (2008) [ebook] The animal smashes the window with a sledgehammer.
2002		C. Stella Jimmy Bench-Press 15: Mangino, a twice-convicted strong arm guy not afraid of going back. A real animal.
2009		P. Temple Truth 56: Ivan’s an animal [...] Smack addict and an animal.
2017		T. Pluck Bad Boy Boogie [ebook] ‘I’m gonna need soldiers [...] I could use an animal like you’.
2017		A. Parks Bloody January 35: ‘Nairn was an animal. He asked you to touch your toes you’d do it, say thanks afterwards’.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 494: Security animals were frankly amateur-night. Average weight 19 stone, average collar 20 inches: too much bulk not enough stealth.

6. (orig. US) a passionate sexual partner.

1931		(con. 1910s) C.W. Willemse Behind The Green Lights 162: He turned and addressed a beautiful young girl in the bed, he called out, ‘Hey, animal, didn’t I tell you to get up!’.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 12: animal A woman of easy morals.
1965		C. Brown Manchild in the Promised Land (1969) 315: I’ll turn you on to a freak; she is a stone animal.
1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 70: Animal A sexually attractive person, male. A sexually expert male.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 21: animal 1. sexually aggressive person ‘That girl’s a real animal once she gets goin’!’.
1999		K. Sampson Powder 57: This time she was animated like he’d never seen her before. She was an animal.
2006		G. Pelecanos Night Gardener 22: This broad was an animal.

7. a wild, crazy person.

1958		R. Prather Scrambled Yeggs 53: ‘You animals,’ she said, ‘why don’t you behave?’.
1964		Current Sl. (1967) I:4 3/1: Animal, n. A highly emotional person.
1977		G.F. Newman A Prisoner’s Tale 136: I never done no boy in, you fucking animal ...
1987		‘Joe Bob Briggs’ Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In 138: We’re not going down there to get donkey book-ends, you bimbo [...] We’re going down there to become Animals.
1990		in D. Campbell That Was Business, This Is Personal 20: Smalls was now with a sort of wild bunch from Ealing. Animals, really. Morons.
1997–2000		Da Bomb 🌐 1: Animal: Ugly; vulgar; sexually aggressive person.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 52: The animals running things on the streets now, they’d kill for an extra ten cents on the dollar.

8. (orig. Aus.) an unpleasant person.

1942		R. Chandler High Window 195: I made a mistake calling you in the first place. That was my dislike of being played for a sucker, as you would say, by a hard-boiled little animal like Linda.
1952		(con. 1944) Wilder & Blum Stalag 17 [film script] 3: Get up, Animal!
1974		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell Plays Solomon (1976) 11: ‘Bleeding animals,’ Abrey growled, ‘I’d chase ’em back up their bloody banana trees, no messing.’.
1993		I. Welsh Trainspotting 276: Can’t you control these animals? one ay the Aussie women sais.

9. (US campus) a male student seen as sexually unsophisticated by his female peers.

1969

Current Sl. IV:1.

10. (US campus) an athlete.

1963		Dundes & Schonhorn ‘Kansas University Sl.: A New Generation’ in AS XXXVIII:3 169: A college athlete: animal.
1972		Eble Campus Sl. Oct. 1: animal — an athlete, especially one interested only in sports.
1996		Eble Sl. and Sociability 69: In college slang an animal is an ‘athlete.’.

11. (drugs) LSD [? it makes some users behave wildly].

1977		S.N. Pradhan Drug Abuse.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 2: Animal — LSD.

12. a psychopath.

1992

S.L. Hills Tragic Magic 144: The PC block is where you have not only your rats but also the weak inmates – soft guys [...] and some of your animals are kept in protective custody – guys who can’t be put in the regular prison population.