heavy, adj. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

heavy adj.

1. respectable.

1549		T. Chaloner (trans.) Erasmus Praise of Folie (1509) 96: I belue he [i.e. a bishop] could not chose but leade an heauie and carefull life.
1849		G.G. Foster N.Y. in Slices 34: You may find the red flag of Peter Funkism flying in [...] ‘heavy’ quarters, where it is generally supposed that transactions are bona fide.
1861		J. Hollingshead Ragged London 27: ‘He’s brought up a heavy family,’ said the old woman, ‘and never asked nobody for anything.’.
1866		Wild Boys of London I 123/2: The heavy toff was about to speak to Lucy.

2. in lit. uses [the weight of one’s purse or wallet, or the gun].

(a) wagering a great deal of money, e.g. upon a prizefight or horserace.

1828		‘A Flat Enlightened’ Life in the West I 285: Cantwell .—‘Do you go to Ascot next week?’ The Major.—‘O ! certainly, I’m heavy for the gold cup’.
1828		‘A Flat Enlightened’ Life in the West II 29: Harry.— Are you heavy upon the fight, sir?’ [...] Hellite [...] ‘Not wery. I bets the hodds’.

(b) (US) in possession of a great deal of a commodity, usu. money; flush.

1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 9/1: The clerk [...] drew from a drawer and sheet-iron box and returned the change. This gave our ‘chum’ a fine opportuniy of ‘grannying’ the ‘peter,’ and noticing where it was returned to, and whether it was ‘heavy’ or not.
1879		Atlanta Constitution 9 Mar. 1/2: Atlanta is rather heavy on slang.
1904		‘Number 1500’ Life In Sing Sing 261: We got a country jug on our first touch, but the box wasn’t heavy enough for five.
1927		D. Hammett ‘The Big Knockover’ Story Omnibus (1966) 278: Larrouy’s [...] had been heavy with grifters who were threats against life and property.
1931		G.S. Schuyler Black No More (1971) 100: It’s the other crowd that’s holding the heavy jack.
1936		R. Chandler ‘Guns At Cyrano’s’ in Red Wind (1946) 233: The big guy can’t be so dough-heavy as he used to be.
1949		F. Brown Dead Ringer 89: A fat man in a tux was the heavy player.
1956		‘James Updyke’ [W.R. Burnett] It’s Always Four O’Clock 75: ‘This Stu—he’s okay,’ said Walt. ‘He’s heavy with loot, Frank says.
1960		C. Cooper Jr Scene (1996) 15: He might be heavy with drugs. Maybe we ought to pull him in.
1960		Mad mag. Apr. 33: Writers like me got no eyes for all that heavy bread.
1977		B. Davidson Collura (1978) 162: John was a high-class wheeler-dealer in heroin [...] He operated on the ‘heavy’ level of wholesaling.
1983		J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 152: ‘I am right now not what you’d call heavy in the kick [...] I’m so broke’.
1984		W. Murray Tip on a Dead Crab 159: ‘Did Gloria gamble a lot?’ [...] ‘I heard she was at the heavy tables, too. Baccarat, mostly.’.
1999		J. Ridley Everybody Smokes in Hell 63: His watch, a Movado, was heavy on the gold.
2016		Guardian 5 Apr. 36/3: She was heavy on discipline.

[1797		‘T.B. Jr’ Pettyfogger Dramatized I ii: Really, Mr. Sly, wine is now become so heavy an article, that it is hardly within the reach of a trademan’s enjoyment].
1898		Omaha Dly Bee (NE) 15 Nov. 5/3: There is a heavy deal about to close near here [...] I have a private tip that it is ‘Pete’ work [...] where knockout drops are used.
1900		Sporting Times 2 June 1/5: He won the Viceroy’s Cup with Metallic, which was backed for a heavy stake.
1914		H. Hershfield Abie the Agent 4 Mar. [synd strip] I must make him think I’m making heavy wages.
1929		B. De Beck Barney Google [comic strip] $25,000. Boy!! That’s heavy dough.
1935		J. Conroy World to Win 204: A guy with a reputation can dash off any sort of crap and sell it for heavy money.
1947		B. Schulberg Harder They Fall (1971) 18: Those overgrown boys who get in the heavy dough because they can sock.
1952		(con. 1920s) ‘Harry Grey’ Hoods (1953) 90: They say he has heavy kupper [i.e. money]. He lends out thousands [...] every day.
1965		J. Thompson Texas by the Tail (1994) 9: Hustling the heavy scores kind of drained a man dry.
1977		S. Berkoff East in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 60: Mum and dad meanwhile in deathly lock of wrath from heavy bingo economic loss.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 172: You know that Fat Dog was rich, don’t you, Augie? Loaded. Heavy bread.
1995		J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 112: Heavy earner was that little scam.

(d) armed.

1987		(con. 1970s) J. Pistone Donnie Brasco (2006) 376: I’ll come running. You want me heavy, just say, ‘Come heavy’.
1999		Observer Screen 1 Aug. 6: Heavy: packed carrying a weapon.
2006		D. Winslow Winter of Frankie Machine (2007) 127: You and Mike, get your asses here, quick [...] And come heavy.
2017		D. Winslow The Force [ebook] Malone watches them walk toward him [...] Knows they’ll be heavy, too.

3. (US) of an object or idea, portentous; remarkable in a positive or negative way.

1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 313/2: The scale of charges: Friendly letter ... 0s. 6d. [...] Very ‘heavy’ (dangerous) ...3s. 0d.
1871		L.H. Bagg Four Years at Yale 45: Healthy and heavy, are used as sarcastically complimentary epithets.
1886		‘Lady Kate, the Dashing Female Detective’ in Roberts et al. Old Sleuth’s Freaky Female Detectives (1990) 14/2: He’s a high-toner; only goes in on heavy jobs.
1914		H. Hershfield Abie the Agent 15 Apr. [synd. cartoon strip] He uses heavy words and I don’t comprehend him.
1961		H. Ellison Rockabilly (1963) 65: Go to bed, kid [...] We’ve got a heavy one tomorrow.
1976		P. Theroux Family Arsenal 65: ‘What if you were rich?’ Brodie laughed and cupped her breasts and squeezed them. ‘Heavy!’.
1984		C. White Life and Times of Little Richard 178: They were scared of me cos my homosexuality was so heavy they could see it in my eyes.
1991		B. Hamper Rivethead (1992) 177: ‘The thing he liked best about them [newspaper columns] was that they were —’ ‘Right on?’ I moaned. ‘Actually he used the word heavy.’.
2003		BlazinParadise ‘Blazing Squad Language’ 🌐 Heavy – Good.
2015		P. Doyle (con. 1969-1973) Big Whatever 24: ‘Jesus fucking shit! [...] This [i.e. a drug robbery] is so heavy’.
2018		(con. 1963) L. Berney November Road 242: ‘With every decision we create a new future,’ Leo said. ‘We destroy all other futures.’ ‘That’s heavy, Leo,’ Guidry said.

4. fig. uses in negative senses.

(a) ponderously dignified; stern, repressive, unbending; esp. as heavy father, heavy uncle.

1549		T. Chaloner (trans.) Erasmus Praise of Folie (1509) 103: [F]or the moste parte [Fortune] is heauie maistresse, and contrarious to these wysemen, whereas to fooles on the other syde she dealeth hir giftes so largely.
1827		W. Clarke Every Night Book 75: Egerton, who plays the white handkerchief heavy business.
1827		John Bull q. in High Life in London 23 Dec. 5/2: These very heavy gentlemen, the Edinburgh reviewers, dreaming for the first time in their lives of bishoprics, and chancellorships.
1836–7		Dickens Pickwick Papers (1999) 48: Rum fellow — does the heavy business — no actor — strange man — all sorts of miseries — dismal Jemmy, we call him on the circuit.
1849		Thackeray Pendennis I 283: Those parts in the drama, which are called the heavy fathers, were usually assigned to this veteran, who, indeed, acted the heavy father in public, as in private life.
1853		‘Cuthbert Bede’ Adventures of Mr Verdant Green (1982) I 48: He took an affectionate farewell, of his son, somewhat after the manner of the ‘heavy fathers’ of the stage.
1850		Life in Boston & N.Y. (Boston, MA) 27 Apr. n.p.: The heavy tragedian, who ‘does’ the Roman conquereors, and heroic parts generally.
1855		Broadway Belle (NY) 1 Jan. n.p.: the great prize play / Cast Heavy old Mother - - - Mrs. B—s.
1862		Urbana Union (OH) 25 June 3/2: S. Ramsey [...] is a Leiut. Colonel of the 45th. He will make a ‘heavy’ officer in more respects than one.
1866		Sportsman 13 Oct. 2/1: Notes on News [...] Are his feelings those of [the] ‘heavy father’ of over-the-water theatres; or of that curious avuncular relation [...] a ‘Dutch uncle’.
1882		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 9 Sept. 3/3: There is no such thing as a ‘heavy villain’ known in the company [...] . All the men are saints and all the women are angels.
1884		Sporting Times 2 Feb. 1/4: ‘What — run through your money already?’ said the heavy father.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 9 May 9/1: Flemming is a sound actor – a little pompous, perhaps – but, if he continues to develop in the centre and elsewhere, there is nothing before him but long years of the ‘heavy-father’ business.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 17 June 4/5: Mr Dangar, the ‘heavy father’ of the ‘raw material’ industry.
1894		Mirror of Life 7 Apr. 9/1: [A]mong [her roles] being the title-role in ‘Naughty Titania,’ [...] principal boy and principal girl in the ‘Virtuous Heroine,’ a heavy lead, and ragged boy.
1901		‘Hugh McHugh’ John Henry 28: I just sat there and bit my nails like the heavy villain in one of Corse Payson’s [...] dramas.
1907		Sun. Times (Perth) 10 Mar. 1/1: A local actor-r-r-r has been shorn of his glory [when] the heavy villain got him shick and bore him to a barber.
1909		Wodehouse Mike [ebook] [I]t was his duty to be [...] the Heavy Elder Brother to Mike.
1915		H. Hershfield Abie the Agent 8 Sept. [synd. cartoon strip] Do you think, Reba, that the ectress what played the heavy work, was clever in that emotion scene?
1919		Wodehouse Damsel in Distress (1961) 164: I know what you’ll be saying to yourself the moment my back is turned. You’ll be calling me a stage heavy father and an old snob and a number of other things.
1925		Wodehouse Carry on, Jeeves 178: It was during the day that I found Freddie, poor old chap, a trifle heavy as a guest.
1953		R. Chandler Long Good-Bye 71: He was a guy who talked with commas, like a heavy novel. Over the phone anyway.
1978		R. Price Ladies’ Man (1985) 177: I was out of a job. This was serious stuff. Come on, Kenny, let’s get heavy here.
1999		Indep. Rev. 21 July 12: I don’t want to be a heavy mummy.
2009		Financial Times Weekend Mag. 10–11 Jan. 41/1: I don’t want to get heavy about this but what is fun for dogs and their owners can be life or death for wild creatures.

(b) thuggish, violent, unpleasant.

1833		‘The Beak and Trap to Roost are Gone’ in Swell!!! or, Slap-Up Chaunter 48: Lush’d heavy coves with queerish stamps.
1841		W.L. Rede Sixteen String Jack I iii: You’re werry good in the fancy line — in the light part of our business — such as robbing a kinchin of it’s coral, filching an old lady’s redicule [...] But you von’t do for the heavy line — that is, vhere the pops are at vork.
1933		W.R. Burnett Dark Hazard (1934) 31: I was going to give it you when I came in, but the boss got heavy, so I didn’t.
1938		D. Runyon ‘The Three Wise Guys’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 403: The Dutchman is mobbed up with a party of three very classy heavy guys.
1955		‘Blackie’ Audett Rap Sheet 130: Any of the boys in town that’s heavy enough for something like this?
1978		A. Maupin Tales of the City (1984) 108: This couple waltzed in and took a seat in the middle of a heavy biker contingent.
1983		J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 33: The frightening visage of none other than Heavy Harold.
1989		(con. 1950s–60s) in G. Tremlett Little Legs 103: If he doesn’t bite, then you start to get a bit more heavy.
1996		(con. 1964-65) B. Thorpe Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 41: Once you’ve spent any time around heavy people, your survival radar [...] gets fine-tuned.
1998		Guardian 5 Sept. 6: They’re heavy, very heavy [...] When they kill people down here, they really kill them – you know, nine bullets in the head.
1999		R.G. Barrett Wind & Monkey (2013) [ebook] [I]f they tried anything heavy, he’d kick them both in the nuts.
1999		D. Looser ‘Boob Jargon’ in NZEJ 13 32: heavy adj. Violent, threatening.
2000		Guardian G2 11 Apr. 6: You were a bit heavy with those two guys.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 86/1: heavy adj. 1violent, threatening.
2004		(con. 1960s-70s) T. Taylor Top Fellas 69/2: I was from Footscray and there was a lot of heavy guys around.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 20: It’s more to do with having heavy geezers look down [...] so as to avoid your gaze.
2016		D. Whish-Wilson Old Scores [ebook] ‘That’s all fine, but what if I need to get heavy? There’s four of them, and they won’t just hand it over …’.
2019		D. Winslow Border [ebook] ‘I was wondering iof you could do some work’ [...] ‘Anything,’ Eddie said, hoping it wouldn’t be too heavy. He catches a murder beef in here, his deal with the feds is gone.
2020		G. Armstrong Young Team 5: ‘He runs aboot wae heavy gangsters’.
2023		D. Whish-Wilson I Am Already Dead 217: ‘Just a burg? No heavy stuff?’.

1891		Bird o’ Freedom (Sydney) 18 Apr. 3/1: A heavy masher at the Garrick the other night made himself ridiculous in the bar.
1942		Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Sl.
1959		J. Blake letter 14 May in Joint (1972) 135: Too perishing heavy.
1969		N. Cohn Awopbop. (1970) 246: A fad for ‘heavy’ groups (i.e. groups who played incessant twelve bar blues, as loudly and crudely as possible).
1975		D. Goines Inner City Hoodlum 80: What the fuck happens when we get heavy with these bitches, man?
1980		Jackson & Christian Death Row 211: They got a lot of masturbation freaks in there. They’re heavy. I mean heavy: five or six times a day.
1995		J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 60: Jimmy, he wasn’t that heavy on account of he was never my mate, only Vinnie though you never could let go.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 386: It got especially heavy with kinky Cornelius Vander, Reader in Meme Signification Legitimacies. He was always buying me what you might call super-bedroom clothes.

(d) intense, urgent, busy.

1933		J.T. Farrell Gas-House McGinty 297: Boy, it’s heavy today. I’m groggy from answerin’ telephones.
1939		P. Cheyney Don’t Get Me Wrong (1956) 58: I am doin’ a bit of heavy guessin’ an’ hopin’ that I am goin’ to come out right.
1960		Kerouac letter 20 Apr. in Charters II (1999) 252: My karma’s pretty heavy as I’m loaded down with sickness now.
1978		L. Kramer Faggots 365: This is pretty heavy.

(e) of words, a situation or an atmosphere, shocking, frightening, threatening.

1914		H. Hershfield Abie the Agent 31 July [synd. cartoon strip] Why don’t Tarkovitz send me the $5 he owes me [...] I’ll write him a heavy letter.
1921		Jerry on the Job [comic strip] How come all the heavy gab, Mr. Givney???
1929		C. Coe Hooch! 104: That’s pretty heavy talk [...] In our society when you say ‘double-cross’ you say a lot.
1936		R. Chandler ‘Goldfish’ in Red Wind (1946) 153: ‘It’s heavy,’ I told her. ‘Get set.’.
1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972).
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 171: A friend of mine got him out of some heavy shit.
1983		S. King Christine 25: I suppose that if the emotional vibrations in the room hadn’t been getting so heavy, I might have found it funny.
1993		I. Welsh Trainspotting 49: Stevie was oblivious to the heavy vibes.
1995		J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 4: You get in heavy bother Roy’s your man.
2000		J. Hawes Dead Long Enough 178: Heavy!
2000		R.G. Barrett Leaving Bondi (2013) [ebook] ‘That Knox cat must’ve been toting some heavy vibes’.
2007		D. McDonald Luck in the Greater West (2008) 61: Sorry, I know it’s [i.e. drug-dealing] probably heavy for you.
2014		S.A. Cosby ‘Grandpa’s Place’ in ThugLit Sept. [ebook] ‘I know that shit was dangerous’ [...] ‘Anything Cutter is involved with tends to get heavy’.
2019		C. Hammer Silver [ebook] ‘You shitting me? Murder? Here? [...] How heavy is that?’.

(f) physically menacing.

1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 95: Last night they got real heavy on me.
1996		J. Cameron It Was An Accident 198: So they decided they had to go in heavy.

5. fig. uses in positive senses.

(a) (US) of a person, powerful, wealthy, influential, popular.

1842		Buckingham Eastern & Western States of America I 181: The congregation is not numerous, but it is said to contain some ‘very heavy men,’ by which is meant wealthy .
1872		G.P. Burnham Memoirs of the US Secret Service 82: ‘Bill Gurney,’ one of the heaviest coney men in America.
c.1880		F.McGlennon [perf. Kate Harvey] ‘You Fancy Yourselves, Do You!’ The girls you treat say, ‘Sweet! sweet!’ / And think you are a heavy toff.
1893		P.H. Emerson Signor Lippo 83: There was a lot of toffs there – some heavy toffs too, noblemen.
1902		Guilelmensian (Williams Coll.) 289: Once upon a time there was a Freshman [...] For a room-mate he went up against a Heavy Sport.
1905		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘Scenic’ Sporting Times 11 Feb. 1/4: The swagger ‘heavy gent’ said grandly, ‘You can bet / That it was that episode which pulled us through’.
1923		T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 44: Lamping Della’s heavy lover as he listens to salad talks while waiting to take her to dinner.
1928		M. West Pleasure Man (1997) II i: Say, where’s that heavy lover on the bill? That big boudoir man.
1938		M. Rand ‘Clip-Joint Chisellers’ in Ten Story Gang Aug. 🌐 They played heavy roles in the affairs of the Pink Kitten clip joint.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 93/1: Heavy, a. Having a considerable sum of money, as a victim about to be robbed.
1969		R.L. Keiser Vice Lords 14: ‘So one day some of the Maypole Lords came across Garfield Park and took some money from Jesse’s little brother. Jesse, he was one of the heavy [important] Monroe Lords. We had to do something’.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 20: All the heavy people knew it was coming off.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 241: heavy [...] 2. Important.
1986		R.G. Barrett Real Thing 10: His dim-witted brother had tried to kill one of the most popular and heaviest men in Sydney.
1991		B. McCarthy Vice Cop 118: A ‘goulash house’ was a place that would have drinks and gambling and women. That was the old Mafia term for the after-hours clubs [...] Very heavy people inside’.
1995		Francis-Jackson Official Dancehall Dict. 24: (H)eavy 1. influential.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 111: These guys are very heavy and shrewd.
2012		L. Berney Whiplash River [ebook] ‘My boss he is a heavy man [...] muy poderoso’.

(b) popular, in demand.

1877

W.G. Hunt [perf. George Leybourne] ‘Captain Cuff’ 🎵 I lounge about at parties / I’m ‘heavy’ at the Ball, / By Jove, the Captain never has / To decorate a wall.

1922

M.E. Smith Adventures of a Boomer Op. 46: I’m not near as heavy for that Anaconda country as I was.

(d) meaningful, important, emotionally strong; a general intensifier, esp. loved by late 1960s hippies and radicals, varying as to context.

1924		P. Marks Plastic Age 124: [He] talked to me quite a while, shot me a heavy line of dope.
1934		F. Tuohy Inside Dope 111: The women can go quite mad [...] on the other hand, some cases develop contrary symptoms, just getting heavy and bemused.
1942		W.R. Burnett Quick Brown Fox 46: ‘Got a heavy date, that boy. Hot pants is what he got. Wait till he gets hooked up and the wife presents him with a couple of kids. He’ll cool off’.
1954		M. Rubin ‘Gold Ring’ in Margulies Back Alley Jungle (1963) 101: I sort of stepped forward and raised my hand, like I wanted to make a heavy confession.
1966		T. Keyes All Night Stand 122: The congo is very heavy gear.
1969		H. Rap Brown Die Nigger Die! 59: I attended a lot of meetings in D.C. where brothers talked some heavy shit.
1977		C. McFadden Serial 15: I’m on a really heavy trip right now.
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 181: ‘What can you tell me about this Florida project?’ [...] ‘It’s heavy.’ ‘Heavy.’ ‘Very heavy.’.
1993		I. Welsh Trainspotting 132: Hey, likesay, fuckin heavy man.
2000		C. Cook Robbers (2001) 248: Heavy dude. Probably used hallucinogenics, kept it quiet.
2012		M. McBride Frank Sinatra in a Blender [ebook] The only thing he understood was that Telly must be involved in something heavy.

(e) (US/W.I.) physically attractive, sexy.

1939		P. Cheyney Don’t Get Me Wrong (1956) 108: Customers who have a date with some heavy blonde that they wanta keep quiet.
1970		A. Young Snakes (1971) 99: Heavy little chick.
2001		Eve. Standard Mag. 23 Feb. 27: Looking as heavy (cool) as their icon Mary J. Blige is an expensive and time-consuming business.

(f) of a thing or situation, intellectual, highbrow.

1941		D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam Star-News 7 June 13: Joe [...] dug the above spiel in one of the heavy snitchpads the other righteous-bright.
1962		(con. 1950s) H. Simmons Man Walking On Eggshells 190: He explained the whole operation to Raymond [...] ‘Yeh, man, that’s heavy. That’s about as cool as you could ask for anything to be,’ Raymond said.
1973		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 2: heavy – substantial, thought-provoking: Sartre’s Nausea is really heavy.
1999		Guardian Rev. 25 June 11: She reads rubbish. ‘Who wants to wade through the heavy stuff?’.

(g) (US black) wonderful, amazing, admirable.

1943		T. Thursday ‘Romeo’s Juliet’ in Sports Fiction Fall 🌐 This is the first chance I had to write to anyone except the heavy girlfriend.
1972		D. Claerbaut Black Jargon in White America 68: heavy adj. 1. nice; favorable; enjoyable; pleasant.
1976		R. Sabbag Snowblind (1978) 52: Ike was particularly heavy – it was said he could take any pair of legit dice, throw them in a bath tub, and get the number.
1989		M. Dibdin Tryst 152: Wow, man, out of sight, too much, heavy.
2003		Dizzee Rascal in Vice Mag. at Hyperdub.com 🌐 But for facts and getting information, it’s [the Internet] heavy.

(h) in criminal terms, substantial, highly remunerative; serious.

1959		J. Gosling Ghost Squad 95: I planned to put Master Jeff up for identification in connection with a heavy house-breaking.
1973		L. Shecter On the Pad 178: Very heavy case. The PR is still in the hospital. Almost died. Very heavy.

(i) (US black) of a person, highly intelligent.

1961		J.A. Williams Night Song (1962) 44: I don’t mean an ordinary preacher. He had all that bullshit behind his name, B.D. and D.D. Went to some seminary at Harvard. A real heavy cat.
1966		Current Sl. I:2 3/2: Heavy, adj. Intelligent.
1968		N. von Hoffman We are the People Our Parents Warned Us Against 106: Leary’s a heavy cat.

6. of a jail sentence, substantial, lengthy.

1926		Missouri Assoc. for Criminal Justice Missouri Crime Survey 512: [T]he public conscience becomes enraged and public sentiment demands not merely conviction but a heavy sentence.
1959		W. Brown Teen-Age Mafia 9: Studs like Whitey were [...] putting in heavy time in the slammer.
1987		R. Campbell Alice in La-La Land (1999) 150: They’ll pull heavy time and they won’t be young anymore.
1989		(con. 1950s–60s) in G. Tremlett Little Legs 171: I was doing that heavy bird, that seven-year sentence.
1992		P. Earley Hot House 325: ‘All of the inmates were doing heavy, heavy time, and they all wanted out’.

7. (US) in drug uses [ext. of sense 2a; the fig. ‘weight’ of the drugs].

(a) in possession of drugs.

1975

Sepe & Telano Cop Team 177: He’s got to go and re-up [...] He should be heavy around six o’clock.

(b) referring to a narcotic drug rather than a soft drug such as cannabis.

1952		Kerouac letter 3 June in Charters I (1995) 365: Who does he connect with for his heavy habit but Bill.
1969		R.R. Lingeman Drugs from A to Z (1970) 116: heavy drugs hard narcotics.
1979		H. Feldman et al. Angel Dust 154: It is a heavy drug.
1989		(con. 1982–6) T. Williams Cocaine Kids (1990) 50: Anthony was a big-time dealer and he had this customer buying heavy shit.
1994		Rebennack & Rummel Under A Hoodoo Moon 33: Shank began sending me out for heavier stuff than marijuana. [...] I knew about heroin, but I didn’t completely understand what it did.
2000		G.V. Higgins At End of Day (2001) 183: Sure I do a little weed [...] Nothin’ heavy, none of that shit, but weed? Everybody does.
2010		K. Richards Life 5: I wasn’t taking the heavy shit at the time; I’d cleaned up for the tour.

8. of a crime, important, large-scale.

1937		T. Thursday ‘Good Luck is No Good’ in Federal Agent Nov. 🌐 I tell Maggie McGill — that’s the dame I’m hot over — that I am booked for a heavy killing.
1959		W. Brown Teen-Age Mafia 8: Whitey had said that tonight he’d find a mark, pull a heavy score.
1974		G.F. Newman You Flash Bastard 106: The man was a prospect who didn’t as yet add up for Sneed: walking into a bank with a gun was heavy stuff, and he’d have thought a couple of poofs would have been able to come up with something more gentle for their earner.
1987		R. Campbell Alice in La-La Land (1999) 150: Pretty soon they’ll get caught doing something heavy.
2003		N. Green Angel of Montague Street (2004) 49: Was he into anything heavy?

9. in sex, pertaining to sado-masochism.

1979

J. Rechy Rushes (1981) 26: The dark-print handkerchief displayed like a banner in his back pocket, the heavy ring of keys, the tiny silver earring — all worn on his left side — proclaim his role as a dominant man in ‘heavy sex,’ a good ‘top-man,’ one of the best.

In compounds

heavy booker (n.)

(US campus) a very hard worker.

1965

Wisconsin State Jrnl 17 Jan. 1–2: A ‘heavy booker’ is one who studies a lot while one who does the opposite will probably go into a test ‘cold’ or unprepared.

heavy boy (n.)

(N.Z. prison) a thug, sometimes used as an inmate’s bodyguard.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 86/1: heavy boy n. an inmate who performs standovers and other extortion techniques, and may act as a personal bodyguard for a prestigious inmate.

heavy cruising (n.)

(US gay) sexual encounters between studiously masculine rather than effeminate male homosexuals.

1979

J. Rechy Rushes (1981) 17: It is the most popular of the ‘heavy cruising’ bars that pock the decaying area.

heavy game (n.)

see under game n.

heavy gee (n.)

(US Und.) a safe-blower.

1940

D. Maurer Big Con 174: Once a heavy-gee (safeblower) always a heavy.

heavy gun (n.)

see heavy man n. (2)

heavy guy (n.)

see heavy man n.

heavy hen (n.)

(US black/Harlem) a mature woman (as opposed to a young girl).

1944

D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 17: When the banter got through spieling, ole man, the heavy hen was ready to dust.

heavy hitter (n.) [baseball imagery]

1. an important, influential person, esp. in the world of business, politics or crime.

1979		E. Torres After Hours 6: The prestige of representin’ a former heavy hitter, which I was.
1982		P. Theroux London Embassy 35: Yarrow’s a heavy hitter.
1991		L. Bing Do or Die (1992) 10: A.C. Jones is considered to be one of the heaviest hitters on staff at Camp Kilpatrick.
2001		K. Sampson Outlaws (ms.) 7: No one can really expect to give the heavy hitters nicknames unless they confer it on themselves.
2011		G. Hayward Corruption Officer [ebk] cap. 13: At this time the heavy hitters were on deck, all sorts of Chiefs and Wardens and Investigation Department Representatives, all swarming in.
2013		K. Sampson Killing Pool 53: He rubbed shoulders with the A-team, the real heavy hitters of the crime world.
2013		T. Black ‘Killing Time in Las Vegas’ in Killing Time in Las Vegas [ebook] [I] realized I’d put the heavy-hitting intonation in there. I’d been blurting a lot recently.
2021		C. Hammer Opal Country 229: ‘Big-city power, a ring of influence, a dining club. Heavy hitters’.

2. (US) a violent criminal, a hired thug.

1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 20: His uncle was a [...] lieutenant with the Mulberry Street crew — a heavy hitter.
1982		G.V. Higgins Patriot Game (1985) 38: This guy’s a heavy hitter. He oughta get a punch inna mouth. He gets a polite question.
2023		Rayman & Blau Riker’s 65: You started your own gang here? Well, you’re not going to stay in this jail. We’re going to pack you up and send you [authors’ note to a jail] where all the heavy hitters are.

3. (US) a heavy drinker (but not necessarily an alcoholic) [hit v. (3b)].

1981		L. Block Stab in the Dark 86: ‘How come you quit the cops? Was it this stuff?’ [...] She waved a hand at the bottles. ‘You know. The booze.’ ‘Oh, hell, no [...] I wasn't even that heavy a hitter at the time’.
1983		J. Flaherty Tin Wife 40: Heavy hitter, juicer, yes; but never alcoholic. That was sick, not only sick but probably hereditary.

heavy job (n.)

(US Und.) a violent crime.

1937

(con. 1905–25) E.H. Sutherland Professional Thief (1956) 127: That decreases his chance of being identified in the showup for a heavy job (crime of violence).

heavy lard (n.) (US black)

any impressively, convincingly told story, true or otherwise.

1944

‘Jiver’s Bible’ in D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive.

heavy lump (n.) [pun on Sugar Hill n. (1)]

the fashionable area of contemporary Harlem, New York City, otherwise known as Coogan’s Bluff, between Amsterdam and Edgecombe Avenues, between 138th and 155th Streets.

1943		D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam News 9 Oct. 20: The banter [...] went to stash in the skull’s walk-back on the topside of the rockpile on the heavy lump.
1944		D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 140: Heavy lump — Sugar Hill.

heavy man (n.)

see separate entry.

heavy manners

see separate entries.

heavy merchant (n.)

see heavy n. (1)

heavy mob (n.)

see separate entry.

heavy number (n.)

see under number n.

heavy rackets (n.)

(US Und.) those forms of crime that depend on violence or coercion for their success.

1937		(con. 1905–25) E.H. Sutherland Professional Thief (1956) 14: He may then become a beggar, a pimp, a steerer for some gambler, get into the heavy rackets, or try to grift single-handed.
1940		D. Maurer Big Con 1: It [i.e. confidence trickery] differs [...] especially from the heavy rackets.

heavy shot (n.)

(US black) an important, influential individual.

1939

D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam News 22 July 16: One of our ‘Heavy Shots’ and wife had an exciting adventure in the realm of intoxicating beverages.

heavy sledding (n.)

see tough sledding under tough adj.

heavy squad (n.)

see heavy mob n.

heavy stuff (n.) [stuff n. (5c)]

(drugs) drugs like narcotics, rather than tranquillizers, cannabis etc.

1969		R.R. Lingeman Drugs from A to Z (1970).
1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972).

heavy sugar (n.)

see under sugar n.¹

heavy swell (n.)

see separate entry.

heavy worker (n.)

see heavy man n.

SE in slang uses

In compounds

heavy baggage (n.) [they weigh down the man who is in pursuit of pleasure or focused on work; note milit. use heavy baggage, equipment that is not easily carried]

women and children.

1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: Also in a Canting Sense, the Children and Women who are unable, upon a March, to travel fast in Gangs of Gypsies and Strowlers, are by those called, The heavy Baggage.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc.

heavy brown (n.) (also brown gater droppings)

(UK Und.) brown ale.

1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 7: Brown gater droppings – heavy wet, heavy brown, beer. [Ibid.] 17: Heavy brown – beer.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open [as cit. 1835].

heavy cavalry (n.) (also heavy dragons, ...dragoons, ...horsemen)

bedbugs, lice etc.

1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict. 152: heavy dragoons, bugs, in contradistinction to fleas, which are light infantry.
1894		Westminster Gazette 15th Nov. 2/2: The nocturnal assaults of heavy cavalry, as well as light infantry issuing after dark from the cracks of an old wood bedstead [F&H].
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 35: Heavy Dragoons, bugs, Light Infantry, fleas.
1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks n.p.: Heavy dragons, fleas; lice; bedbugs; cockroaches.
1984		Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 544/1: heavy cavalry or dragoons or horsemen [...] Bugs, esp. bed-bugs; ca. 1850–1910.

heavy (cheer) (n.) [SE cheer, happiness, contentment, esp. as a result of drinking alcohol]

a mixture of porter and beer.

1821		Egan Boxiana III in DSUE (1984).
1864		‘Spectator’ Snoblace Ball 69: Strong concoted German beer / And floods of other ‘heavy cheer’ [HDAS].

heavy-duty (adj.)

see separate entry.

heavy-foot (n.) [identified as such by his shoes]

(US Und.) a plain-clothes detective.

1934		T. Minehan Boy and Girl Tramps of America (1976) 217: Then I [...] sock into the old heavy-foot himself.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 115: heavy foot A policeman.

heavy horsemen (n.)

1. Thames thieves who pose as dock-hands to enter ships and steal the cargoes.

1805		G. Barrington New London Spy 126: Heavy-Horsemen. Under the description of Heavy Horse is comprised that class of labourers called Lumpers, who are chiefly employed in the landing and discharging of ships and vessels in the River Thames. These never fail to provide themselves with habiliments, suited to the purpose of secreting whatever they could pilfer.
1832		Public Ledger 12 Nov. 3/3: All kinds of plundering on the river and its banks, on board shipping, barges, &c. Light horsemen, heavy horsemen, game watermen, lightermen, scuffle hunters, copemen, &c.
1839		(con. 1715) W.H. Ainsworth Jack Sheppard (1917) 153: Game watermen and game lightermen, heavy horsemen and light horsemen.
1840		Marryat Poor Jack 126: Light Horsemen – that’s a name for one set of people who live by plunder [...] Then we have the Heavy Horsemen – they do their work in the daytime, when they go on board as lumpers to clear the ships .

2. see heavy cavalry

heavy plodder (n.) (also heavy toddler)

(UK Und.) a stockbroker.

1821		W.T. Moncrieff Tom and Jerry I iv: Dukes and dealers in queer – heavy plodders and operators – noblemen, and yokels.
1822		Tom And Jerry; Musical Extravaganza 54: Heavy toddlers, or Plodders, stock brokers.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

heavy roller (n.)

see high roller n. (1)

heavy soul (n.) [its long-term effects]

(drugs) heroin.

1994

C. Major Juba to Jive 229: Heavy soul n. (1950s) heroin. Rare.

heavyweight

see separate entries.

heavy wet (n.)

see separate entry.

heavy whet (n.)

see heavy wet n.