Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to hang.

1894

(ref. to late 17C) Burnley Exp. 8 Aug. 4/8: The name of an Elizabethan hangman, called Derrick, was perverted for the purposes of metaphorical slang, and one writer at the time speaks of a man that would ‘derrick his dad!’.

2. to leave; to go.

1747		Life and Character of Moll King 12: You must tip me your Clout before I derrick, for my Blos has nailed me of mine.
1754		G. Stevens ‘A Cant Song’ Muses Delight 177: As I derick’d along to doss on my kin / Young Molly the fro-file I touted.

3. (UK Und.) to embark on an adventure.

a.1790		H.T. Potter New Dict. Cant (1795).
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1821		Flash Dict.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. n.p.: Derrick to, to set out on an enterprise.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
c.1850		Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict.
1914		(ref. to mid-19C) Wash. Post 11 Nov. Miscellany 3/4: Gone is the time when the ‘swell mob’ went out on the road or ‘derrick’ as they called it.

4. (US) to shoplift.

1934		Flynn’s 10 Nov. cited in Partridge DU.
1936		H. Corey Farewell, Mr Gangster! 278: Derrick – to shop lift expensive goods.

5. (US) to abandon, to get rid of.

1943

R.L. Bellem ‘Half-Size Homicide’ in Speed Detective Nov. 🌐 Now, wait [...] Derrick the double-talk.

6. (US) to take, to remove.

1970

E. Thompson Garden of Sand (1981) 324: To everyone’s surprise, the old moley man grudgingly derricked out the fat old purse from his hip pocket [...] and thumbed Bill out a single ten-spot.