heavy adj.
1. respectable.
 | (trans.) Erasmus Praise of Folie (1509) 96: I belue he [i.e. a bishop] could not chose but leade an heauie and carefull life. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | 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. | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Ragged London 27: ‘He’s brought up a heavy family,’ said the old woman, ‘and never asked nobody for anything.’. | |
| 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.
| 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’. | |
| 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.
| 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. | |
| Atlanta Constitution 9 Mar. 1/2: Atlanta is rather heavy on slang. | |
| Life In Sing Sing 261: We got a country jug on our first touch, but the box wasn’t heavy enough for five. | |
| ‘The Big Knockover’ Story Omnibus (1966) 278: Larrouy’s [...] had been heavy with grifters who were threats against life and property. | |
| Black No More (1971) 100: It’s the other crowd that’s holding the heavy jack. | |
| ‘Guns At Cyrano’s’ in Red Wind (1946) 233: The big guy can’t be so dough-heavy as he used to be. | |
| Dead Ringer 89: A fat man in a tux was the heavy player. | |
| Scene (1996) 15: He might be heavy with drugs. Maybe we ought to pull him in. | |
| Mad mag. Apr. 33: Writers like me got no eyes for all that heavy bread. | |
| Collura (1978) 162: John was a high-class wheeler-dealer in heroin [...] He operated on the ‘heavy’ level of wholesaling. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | (con. 1959) Up the Cross 152: ‘I am right now not what you’d call heavy in the kick [...] I’m so broke’. | |
| Tip on a Dead Crab 159: ‘Did Gloria gamble a lot?’ [...] ‘I heard she was at the heavy tables, too. Baccarat, mostly.’. | |
| Everybody Smokes in Hell 63: His watch, a Movado, was heavy on the gold. | |
| Guardian 5 Apr. 36/3: She was heavy on discipline. |
(c) of money, substantial.
| [ | | 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]. |
| 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. | |
| Sporting Times 2 June 1/5: He won the Viceroy’s Cup with Metallic, which was backed for a heavy stake. | |
| Abie the Agent 4 Mar. [synd strip] I must make him think I’m making heavy wages. | |
| Barney Google [comic strip] $25,000. Boy!! That’s heavy dough. | |
| World to Win 204: A guy with a reputation can dash off any sort of crap and sell it for heavy money. | |
| Harder They Fall (1971) 18: Those overgrown boys who get in the heavy dough because they can sock. | |
| (con. 1920s) Hoods (1953) 90: They say he has heavy kupper [i.e. money]. He lends out thousands [...] every day. | |
| Texas by the Tail (1994) 9: Hustling the heavy scores kind of drained a man dry. | |
| East in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 60: Mum and dad meanwhile in deathly lock of wrath from heavy bingo economic loss. | |
| Brown’s Requiem 172: You know that Fat Dog was rich, don’t you, Augie? Loaded. Heavy bread. | |
| Vinnie Got Blown Away 112: Heavy earner was that little scam. |
(d) armed.
| (con. 1970s) Donnie Brasco (2006) 376: I’ll come running. You want me heavy, just say, ‘Come heavy’. | |
| Observer Screen 1 Aug. 6: Heavy: packed carrying a weapon. | |
| Winter of Frankie Machine (2007) 127: You and Mike, get your asses here, quick [...] And come heavy. | |
| 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.
| (con. 1840s–50s) London Labour and London Poor I 313/2: The scale of charges: Friendly letter ... 0s. 6d. [...] Very ‘heavy’ (dangerous) ...3s. 0d. | |
| Four Years at Yale 45: Healthy and heavy, are used as sarcastically complimentary epithets. | |
| ‘Lady Kate, the Dashing Female Detective’ in et al. Old Sleuth’s Freaky Female Detectives (1990) 14/2: He’s a high-toner; only goes in on heavy jobs. | |
| Abie the Agent 15 Apr. [synd. cartoon strip] He uses heavy words and I don’t comprehend him. | |
| Rockabilly (1963) 65: Go to bed, kid [...] We’ve got a heavy one tomorrow. | |
| Family Arsenal 65: ‘What if you were rich?’ Brodie laughed and cupped her breasts and squeezed them. ‘Heavy!’. | |
| 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. | |
| 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.’. | |
| ‘Blazing Squad Language’ 🌐 Heavy – Good. | |
| (con. 1969-1973) Big Whatever 24: ‘Jesus fucking shit! [...] This [i.e. a drug robbery] is so heavy’. | |
| (con. 1963) 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.
| (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. | |
| Every Night Book 75: Egerton, who plays the white handkerchief heavy business. | |
| 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. | |
| 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. | |
| 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. | |
| 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. | |
| Life in Boston & N.Y. (Boston, MA) 27 Apr. n.p.: The heavy tragedian, who ‘does’ the Roman conquereors, and heroic parts generally. | |
| Broadway Belle (NY) 1 Jan. n.p.: the great prize play / Cast Heavy old Mother - - - Mrs. B—s. | |
| 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. | |
| 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’. | |
| 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. | |
| Sporting Times 2 Feb. 1/4: ‘What — run through your money already?’ said the heavy father. | |
| 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. | |
| Truth (Sydney) 17 June 4/5: Mr Dangar, the ‘heavy father’ of the ‘raw material’ industry. | |
| 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. | |
| John Henry 28: I just sat there and bit my nails like the heavy villain in one of Corse Payson’s [...] dramas. | |
| 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. | |
| 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? | |
| 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. | |
| Carry on, Jeeves 178: It was during the day that I found Freddie, poor old chap, a trifle heavy as a guest. | |
| Long Good-Bye 71: He was a guy who talked with commas, like a heavy novel. Over the phone anyway. | |
| Ladies’ Man (1985) 177: I was out of a job. This was serious stuff. Come on, Kenny, let’s get heavy here. | |
| Indep. Rev. 21 July 12: I don’t want to be a heavy mummy. | |
| 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.
| ‘The Beak and Trap to Roost are Gone’ in Swell!!! or, Slap-Up Chaunter 48: Lush’d heavy coves with queerish stamps. | |
| 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. | |
| Dark Hazard (1934) 31: I was going to give it you when I came in, but the boss got heavy, so I didn’t. | |
| ‘The Three Wise Guys’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 403: The Dutchman is mobbed up with a party of three very classy heavy guys. | |
| Rap Sheet 130: Any of the boys in town that’s heavy enough for something like this? | |
| Tales of the City (1984) 108: This couple waltzed in and took a seat in the middle of a heavy biker contingent. | |
| (con. 1959) Up the Cross 33: The frightening visage of none other than Heavy Harold. | |
| (con. 1950s–60s) in Little Legs 103: If he doesn’t bite, then you start to get a bit more heavy. | |
| (con. 1964-65) Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 41: Once you’ve spent any time around heavy people, your survival radar [...] gets fine-tuned. | |
| 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. | |
| Wind & Monkey (2013) [ebook] [I]f they tried anything heavy, he’d kick them both in the nuts. | |
| Guardian G2 11 Apr. 6: You were a bit heavy with those two guys. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 86/1: heavy adj. 1violent, threatening. | |
| (con. 1960s-70s) Top Fellas 69/2: I was from Footscray and there was a lot of heavy guys around. | |
| Viva La Madness 20: It’s more to do with having heavy geezers look down [...] so as to avoid your gaze. | |
| 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 …’. | |
| 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. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Young Team 5: ‘He runs aboot wae heavy gangsters’. |
(c) intense, passionate, either physically or emotionally.
| Bird o’ Freedom (Sydney) 18 Apr. 3/1: A heavy masher at the Garrick the other night made himself ridiculous in the bar. | |
| Amer. Thes. Sl. | |
| letter 14 May in Joint (1972) 135: Too perishing heavy. | |
| Awopbop. (1970) 246: A fad for ‘heavy’ groups (i.e. groups who played incessant twelve bar blues, as loudly and crudely as possible). | |
| Inner City Hoodlum 80: What the fuck happens when we get heavy with these bitches, man? | |
| Death Row 211: They got a lot of masturbation freaks in there. They’re heavy. I mean heavy: five or six times a day. | |
| 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. | |
| 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.
| Gas-House McGinty 297: Boy, it’s heavy today. I’m groggy from answerin’ telephones. | |
| 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. | |
| letter 20 Apr. in Charters II (1999) 252: My karma’s pretty heavy as I’m loaded down with sickness now. | |
| Faggots 365: This is pretty heavy. |
(e) of words, a situation or an atmosphere, shocking, frightening, threatening.
| 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. | |
| Jerry on the Job [comic strip] How come all the heavy gab, Mr. Givney??? | |
| Hooch! 104: That’s pretty heavy talk [...] In our society when you say ‘double-cross’ you say a lot. | |
| ‘Goldfish’ in Red Wind (1946) 153: ‘It’s heavy,’ I told her. ‘Get set.’. | |
| Underground Dict. (1972). | |
| Brown’s Requiem 171: A friend of mine got him out of some heavy shit. | |
| Christine 25: I suppose that if the emotional vibrations in the room hadn’t been getting so heavy, I might have found it funny. | |
| Trainspotting 49: Stevie was oblivious to the heavy vibes. | |
| Vinnie Got Blown Away 4: You get in heavy bother Roy’s your man. | |
| Dead Long Enough 178: Heavy! | |
| Leaving Bondi (2013) [ebook] ‘That Knox cat must’ve been toting some heavy vibes’. | |
| Luck in the Greater West (2008) 61: Sorry, I know it’s [i.e. drug-dealing] probably heavy for you. | |
| ‘Grandpa’s Place’ in ThugLit Sept. [ebook] ‘I know that shit was dangerous’ [...] ‘Anything Cutter is involved with tends to get heavy’. | |
| Silver [ebook] ‘You shitting me? Murder? Here? [...] How heavy is that?’. |
(f) physically menacing.
| Carlito’s Way 95: Last night they got real heavy on me. | |
| 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.
| 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 . | |
| Memoirs of the US Secret Service 82: ‘Bill Gurney,’ one of the heaviest coney men in America. | |
| [perf. Kate Harvey] ‘You Fancy Yourselves, Do You!’ The girls you treat say, ‘Sweet! sweet!’ / And think you are a heavy toff. | |
| Signor Lippo 83: There was a lot of toffs there – some heavy toffs too, noblemen. | |
| Guilelmensian (Williams Coll.) 289: Once upon a time there was a Freshman [...] For a room-mate he went up against a Heavy Sport. | |
| ‘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’. | |
| in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 44: Lamping Della’s heavy lover as he listens to salad talks while waiting to take her to dinner. | |
| Pleasure Man (1997) II i: Say, where’s that heavy lover on the bill? That big boudoir man. | |
| ‘Clip-Joint Chisellers’ in Ten Story Gang Aug. 🌐 They played heavy roles in the affairs of the Pink Kitten clip joint. | |
| et al. DAUL 93/1: Heavy, a. Having a considerable sum of money, as a victim about to be robbed. | |
| 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’. | |
| Carlito’s Way 20: All the heavy people knew it was coming off. | |
| Runnin’ Down Some Lines 241: heavy [...] 2. Important. | |
| Real Thing 10: His dim-witted brother had tried to kill one of the most popular and heaviest men in Sydney. | |
| 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’. | |
![[WI]](/static/img/flags/wi.png "West Indies") | Official Dancehall Dict. 24: (H)eavy 1. influential. | |
| Layer Cake 111: These guys are very heavy and shrewd. | |
| Whiplash River [ebook] ‘My boss he is a heavy man [...] muy poderoso’. |
(b) popular, in demand.
| [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. |
(c) (US/W.I.) enthusiastic.
| 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.
| Plastic Age 124: [He] talked to me quite a while, shot me a heavy line of dope. | |
| Inside Dope 111: The women can go quite mad [...] on the other hand, some cases develop contrary symptoms, just getting heavy and bemused. | |
| 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’. | |
| ‘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. | |
| All Night Stand 122: The congo is very heavy gear. | |
| Die Nigger Die! 59: I attended a lot of meetings in D.C. where brothers talked some heavy shit. | |
| Serial 15: I’m on a really heavy trip right now. | |
| Skin Tight 181: ‘What can you tell me about this Florida project?’ [...] ‘It’s heavy.’ ‘Heavy.’ ‘Very heavy.’. | |
| Trainspotting 132: Hey, likesay, fuckin heavy man. | |
| Robbers (2001) 248: Heavy dude. Probably used hallucinogenics, kept it quiet. | |
| 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.
| Don’t Get Me Wrong (1956) 108: Customers who have a date with some heavy blonde that they wanta keep quiet. | |
| Snakes (1971) 99: Heavy little chick. | |
| 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.
| N.Y. Amsterdam Star-News 7 June 13: Joe [...] dug the above spiel in one of the heavy snitchpads the other righteous-bright. | |
| (con. 1950s) 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. | |
| Campus Sl. Mar. 2: heavy – substantial, thought-provoking: Sartre’s Nausea is really heavy. | |
| Guardian Rev. 25 June 11: She reads rubbish. ‘Who wants to wade through the heavy stuff?’. |
(g) (US black) wonderful, amazing, admirable.
| ‘Romeo’s Juliet’ in Sports Fiction Fall 🌐 This is the first chance I had to write to anyone except the heavy girlfriend. | |
| Black Jargon in White America 68: heavy adj. 1. nice; favorable; enjoyable; pleasant. | |
| 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. | |
| Tryst 152: Wow, man, out of sight, too much, heavy. | |
| 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.
| Ghost Squad 95: I planned to put Master Jeff up for identification in connection with a heavy house-breaking. | |
| 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.
| 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. | |
| Current Sl. I:2 3/2: Heavy, adj. Intelligent. | |
| We are the People Our Parents Warned Us Against 106: Leary’s a heavy cat. |
6. of a jail sentence, substantial, lengthy.
| Teen-Age Mafia 9: Studs like Whitey were [...] putting in heavy time in the slammer. | |
| Alice in La-La Land (1999) 150: They’ll pull heavy time and they won’t be young anymore. | |
| (con. 1950s–60s) in Little Legs 171: I was doing that heavy bird, that seven-year sentence. | |
| 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.
| 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.
| letter 3 June in Charters I (1995) 365: Who does he connect with for his heavy habit but Bill. | |
| Drugs from A to Z (1970) 116: heavy drugs hard narcotics. | |
| et al. Angel Dust 154: It is a heavy drug. | |
| (con. 1982–6) Cocaine Kids (1990) 50: Anthony was a big-time dealer and he had this customer buying heavy shit. | |
| 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. | |
| At End of Day (2001) 183: Sure I do a little weed [...] Nothin’ heavy, none of that shit, but weed? Everybody does. | |
| 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.
| ‘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. | |
| Teen-Age Mafia 8: Whitey had said that tonight he’d find a mark, pull a heavy score. | |
| 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. | |
| Alice in La-La Land (1999) 150: Pretty soon they’ll get caught doing something heavy. | |
| Angel of Montague Street (2004) 49: Was he into anything heavy? |
9. in sex, pertaining to sado-masochism.
| 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
(US campus) a very hard worker.
| 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. |
(N.Z. prison) a thug, sometimes used as an inmate’s bodyguard.
| 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. |
(US gay) sexual encounters between studiously masculine rather than effeminate male homosexuals.
| Rushes (1981) 17: It is the most popular of the ‘heavy cruising’ bars that pock the decaying area. |
see under game n.
(US Und.) a safe-blower.
| Big Con 174: Once a heavy-gee (safeblower) always a heavy. |
see heavy man n. (2)
see heavy man n.
(US black/Harlem) a mature woman (as opposed to a young girl).
| Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 17: When the banter got through spieling, ole man, the heavy hen was ready to dust. |
1. an important, influential person, esp. in the world of business, politics or crime.
| After Hours 6: The prestige of representin’ a former heavy hitter, which I was. | |
| London Embassy 35: Yarrow’s a heavy hitter. | |
| Do or Die (1992) 10: A.C. Jones is considered to be one of the heaviest hitters on staff at Camp Kilpatrick. | |
| Outlaws (ms.) 7: No one can really expect to give the heavy hitters nicknames unless they confer it on themselves. | |
| 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. | |
| Killing Pool 53: He rubbed shoulders with the A-team, the real heavy hitters of the crime world. | |
| ‘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. | |
| Opal Country 229: ‘Big-city power, a ring of influence, a dining club. Heavy hitters’. |
2. (US) a violent criminal, a hired thug.
| Carlito’s Way 20: His uncle was a [...] lieutenant with the Mulberry Street crew — a heavy hitter. | |
| Patriot Game (1985) 38: This guy’s a heavy hitter. He oughta get a punch inna mouth. He gets a polite question. | |
| 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)].
| 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’. | |
| Tin Wife 40: Heavy hitter, juicer, yes; but never alcoholic. That was sick, not only sick but probably hereditary. |
(US Und.) a violent crime.
| (con. 1905–25) Professional Thief (1956) 127: That decreases his chance of being identified in the showup for a heavy job (crime of violence). |
any impressively, convincingly told story, true or otherwise.
| ‘Jiver’s Bible’ in Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive. |
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.
| 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. | |
| Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 140: Heavy lump — Sugar Hill. |
see separate entry.
see separate entries.
see heavy n. (1)
see separate entry.
see under number n.
(US Und.) those forms of crime that depend on violence or coercion for their success.
| (con. 1905–25) 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. | |
| Big Con 1: It [i.e. confidence trickery] differs [...] especially from the heavy rackets. |
(US black) an important, influential individual.
| N.Y. Amsterdam News 22 July 16: One of our ‘Heavy Shots’ and wife had an exciting adventure in the realm of intoxicating beverages. |
see heavy mob n.
(drugs) drugs like narcotics, rather than tranquillizers, cannabis etc.
| Drugs from A to Z (1970). | |
| Underground Dict. (1972). |
see under sugar n.1
see separate entry.
see heavy man n.
SE in slang uses
In compounds
women and children.
| 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. | |
| , , , | | Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. |
| , , | | Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue. |
| Lex. Balatronicum. | |
| Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. |
(UK Und.) brown ale.
| Modern Flash Dict. 7: Brown gater droppings – heavy wet, heavy brown, beer. [Ibid.] 17: Heavy brown – beer. | |
| Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open [as cit. 1835]. |
bedbugs, lice etc.
| , , | | Sl. Dict. 152: heavy dragoons, bugs, in contradistinction to fleas, which are light infantry. |
| 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]. | |
| Aus. Sl. Dict. 35: Heavy Dragoons, bugs, Light Infantry, fleas. | |
| Und. Speaks n.p.: Heavy dragons, fleas; lice; bedbugs; cockroaches. | |
| DSUE (8th edn) 544/1: heavy cavalry or dragoons or horsemen [...] Bugs, esp. bed-bugs; ca. 1850–1910. |
a mixture of porter and beer.
| Boxiana III in DSUE (1984). | |
| Snoblace Ball 69: Strong concoted German beer / And floods of other ‘heavy cheer’ [HDAS]. |
see separate entry.
(US Und.) a plain-clothes detective.
| Boy and Girl Tramps of America (1976) 217: Then I [...] sock into the old heavy-foot himself. | |
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 115: heavy foot A policeman. |
1. Thames thieves who pose as dock-hands to enter ships and steal the cargoes.
| 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. | |
| 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. | |
| (con. 1715) Jack Sheppard (1917) 153: Game watermen and game lightermen, heavy horsemen and light horsemen. | |
| 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
(UK Und.) a stockbroker.
| Tom and Jerry I iv: Dukes and dealers in queer – heavy plodders and operators – noblemen, and yokels. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Tom And Jerry; Musical Extravaganza 54: Heavy toddlers, or Plodders, stock brokers. | |
| Modern Flash Dict. | |
| Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open. |
(drugs) heroin.
| Juba to Jive 229: Heavy soul n. (1950s) heroin. Rare. |
see separate entries.
see separate entry.
see heavy wet n.