Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (Aus.) to dismiss from a job.

1902		Ade Forty Modern Fables 23: If any one had to be Speared, they preferred that it should be some Dead Card who wore Congress Gaiters and Throat Warmers.
1936		‘Banjo’ Paterson Shearer’s Colt 27: Didn’t he spear [dismiss] you for cutting a plateful of meat off one of them stud rams?
1945		Baker Aus. Lang. 63: To [...] spear a man, to fire him.

2. (Aus.) to throw, usu. to throw out of a pub, dancehall etc.

1975		Bulletin (Sydney) 26 Apr. 46: The fucking hack-ups fell out of the roof and the whole fucking place got into the act. [...] I got speared through the front door. Fuck. It was wild.
1985		R.G. Barrett You Wouldn’t Be Dead for Quids (1989) 31: Les was going to belt him but decided against it and just speared him into the crowd.
1990		R.G. Barratt ‘Keystone Cops’ in What Do You Reckon (1997) [ebook] [T]he publican speared the shearer out the door amidst plenty of noise.

3. (US, also toss the spear) to beg, to obtain through begging.

1915		Lincoln (NE) Daily News 2 Aug. 3-A: By de time he makes de street an’ starts f’r home he’s so shy o’ gum an’ cigaret change dat w’en a macer [...] tosses him de spear he’s bellerin’ murder inside o’ him because he’s been so soft on de perduce wit’ his fr’en’s.
1923		‘Gila Monster Route’ in N. Anderson Hobo 195: They had mooched the stem and threw their feet, / And speared four bits on which to eat.
1927		C. Samolar ‘Argot of the Vagabond’ in AS II:9 390: To make the grade or connect is to get the amount of money one is after. Spear is another word for connecting.
1927		‘Jargon of the Und.’ in DN V 464: spear, To beg.
1930		G. Milburn ‘Gila Monster Route’ in Hobo’s Hornbook 159: They had piped the stem and threw their feet, / And speared four bits for something to eat.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 202/1: Spear. To cadge, as drinks in a saloon.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 819: spear – To obtain.

4. (US prison) to arrest.

1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 178: Spear.– [...] to arrest.
1936		San Quentin Bulletin in L.A. Times 6 May 7: SPEAR, to arrest.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

5. (US Und.) to pickpocket.

1982

in J. Ciardi Good Words (1987) 218: Spear. [...] To pick a wallet.

6. (Aus. prison, also spear in) to put something or someone in a person’s way.

1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Spear. To put something somebody’s way. As in ‘to spear in some tobacco’.
1993		Smith & Noble Neddy (1998) 205: Not one bit, but the cunt will spear one of the younger guys in to load you.

7. (US) of a man, to have sexual intercourse.

2024

C. Stella Joey Piss Pot 248: ‘Good actors. There’s a redhead in [Succession] I would mind spearing I was younger’.