Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. stupid, ignorant.

1932		E. Hemingway letter 5/6 Jan. in Baker Sel. Letters (1981) 351: Some shitfaced critic writes Mr. Hemingway retires to his comfortable library to write about despair.
1997		J. Birmingham Tasmanian Babes Fiasco (1998) 156: No kidding [...] a lot of shit-faced drunken S.P.A. yobs staggered on to the stage and sang, ‘Singin’ in the Rain’.

2. drunk, usu. excessively also as adv.

1963		Dundes & Schonhorn ‘Kansas University Sl.: A New Generation’ in AS XXXVIII:3174: Some of the less frequent, but apparently equally traditional, adjectives are: [...] shit-faced.
1969		E. Leonard Moonshine War 23: ‘The son of a bitch, he could get shitfaced and fall off his porch five times an evening and never say more’n ouch’.
1970		(con. 1950s) H. Junker ‘The Fifties’ in Eisen Age of Rock 2 (1970) 99: Getting [...] shit-faced, loaded, smashed, plowed.
1972		D. Jenkins Semi-Tough 197: Unfortunately—heh, heh—I was shit-face and don’t remember much.
1977		(con. 1965) P. Caputo Rumor of War 41: Williamson picked up the phone. [...] He tells me, ‘Lemmon, I am too shitfaced to go to Vietnam. Send somebody else’.
1982		G.V. Higgins Patriot Game (1985) 183: We’d [...] gotten absolutely shitfaced.
1989		(con. 1960) P. Theroux My Secret Hist. (1990) 118: God, are you shit-faced.
1989		D. Waters Heathers [film script] Okay, just as long as it’s not one of those nights when they get shit-faced and take us to a pasture to tip cows.
1989		B. Reed ‘Messman on C.E.’s Altar’ in Passing Strange (2015) 16: Messman was mentally stepping out of the cesspool of his miserable shit-faced existence.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 240: Mister Fab came back [...] shitfaced and still wearing the Ruger Redhawk .357.
1993		T. Jones Pugilist at Rest 219: I’m shitfaced and hung over at the same time.
1996		Eble Campus Sl. Sept. 5: shitty – drunk.
1997		C. Hiaasen Lucky You 75: They were shitfaced by the time the check came.
1999		R.G. Barrett Wind & Monkey (2013) [ebook] ‘[T]hey take gallons of piss with them so they can get completely shitfaced’.
2000		Guardian Weekend 29 Jan. 12: We’d go out and get absolutely shit-faced.
2004		Eble Campus Sl. Apr. 6: shitfaced – drunk.
2004		P. Howard PS, I Scored the Bridesmaids 128: Basically getting shit-faced and thowing the lips on any bird that came into my line of vision.
2008		R. Price Lush Life 444: ‘Are you too shitfaced for this?’ ‘No, I’m good’ .
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 202: Try being here at three in the morning [...] everyone outta their nut, shitfaced.
2015		S. King Finders Keepers (2016) 74: Not just a little loaded either - standing-up, falling-down shitfaced drunk.
2018		I. Welsh Dead Man’s Trousers 21: Shit-faced at altitude again.
2019		D. Winslow Border [ebook] Eddie could just sit in there and get pleasantly shit-faced.
2021		P. Howard Braywatch 39: The kid is [...] shit-faced.
2021		A. Parks April Dead 68: ‘Could have been an elephant in the club, I wouldn’t remember it. I was shit-faced’.
2022		J. Hannaham Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 259: ‘Can we just use the surveillance video to prove how shitfaced this guy is?’.

3. under the influence of cannabis; occas. other drugs (see cit. 2000).

1977		Eble Campus Sl. Apr. 3: shit-faced – [...] After three joints Bill was shit-faced.
1996		(con. 1964-65) B. Thorpe Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 214: ‘You look shitfaced [...] gotta eyes like two pissholes in the snow’.
1999		J. Poller Reach 15: She gave me a sweet albeit shitfaced smile.
2000		W.T. Vollmann Royal Family 492: One time on lithium I got so shitfaced.
2002		T. Dorsey Triggerfish Twist (2002) 87: ‘How do you feel?’ asked Bernie. Coleman looked slowly around the room. ‘[...] pie-eyed, glass-eyed, shit-faced, blue-faced, [...].’.
2005		B. Hare Urban Grimshaw 84: Two teenage girls were [...] smoking from a homemade bong [...] Both were completely shit-faced.
2009		P. Temple Truth 115: Saw her yesterday near the market [...] With streeters. Shitfaced.
2019		N. Walker Cherry 157: These were some fucking brownies. They tasted like straight weed: you could hardly taste anything else [...] We got shitfaced on these fucking things.

4. a general intensifier: total, complete.

1974		(con. 1960s) R. Price Wanderers 141: What could have been a shit-faced blast turned into a wake.
1977		(con. 1969) M. Herr Dispatches 44: At the bottom was the shitface grunt, at the top a Command trinity.
1999		T. Parker South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut [film script] Oh, you shitfaced cockmaster!
2000		T. Blacker Kill Your Darlings 229: Fuck off, Greg, you shit-faced lying little cunt.

5. depressed.

2011

G. Hayward Corruption Officer [ebk] cap. 1: People who had bet against him would [...] have shitface, upset facial expressions.

6. shocked.

1999

J. Cameron Brown Bread in Wengen [ebook] He went total shitfaced. [...] Reckoned he might get a ticker job on the fucking spot.