Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to spend, to squander.

1889		Referee 19 May in Ware (1909) 111/2: I am utterly unable to understand the unhealthy state of mind of a young follow of one or two and twenty who in little more than a twelvemonth loses between three and four hundred thousand pounds, and who now rushes to ‘do in’ every spare fiver or tenner that comes into his possession.
1895		Truth (Sydney) 5 May 6/4: Millionaire Barney Barnoto [sic] [...] made his millions, and is now ‘doing in’ some of it in England racing.
1898		Binstead & Wells Pink ’Un and Pelican 182: He is [...] ‘doing in’ his health and his brass with the daughters of the horse-leech.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 9 June 15/1: He had been ‘doing-in his bit’ at the pub. when the township went off its head over the relief of Mafeking.
1903		A. Binstead Pitcher in Paradise 203: Seeing his fellow-workmen — Jewish bakers all of them — consistently doing in a portion of their weekly wages.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 31 Jan. 1/1: In addition to doing all his ducats another Tommy was jostled for all his jewellery.
1915		C.J. Dennis ‘A Spring Song’ in Songs of a Sentimental Bloke 15: Jist ’eadin’ ’em, an’ doin’ in me gilt.
1918		C.J. Dennis ‘The Homeward Track’ in Backblock Ballads 33: When we’ve done our little cheque in, and the township’s at our back.
1930		N. Lindsay Redheap (1965) 103: ‘Out half the night, home all hours. Does in his coin as he please’ .
1937		J. Curtis There Ain’t No Justice 12: If you do get hold of some money you’re like all the others round this way. Do it all in at the dogs or buy pigeons.
1959		F. Norman Fings II i: Fred’s ’aving a grand openin’ night tonight an’ ’e thought you might like to come along and do in a few fifties.
1968		S. Gore Holy Smoke 26: He done in the whole issue on sheilas and bombo.
1977		(con. 1961) J. Rosenthal Spend, Spend, Spend Scene 17: I expect his missus’ll do it in for him.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 37/1: do, do in to spend all one’s money, often recklessly.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

2. to steal; to rob.

1896		A. Morrison Child of the Jago (1982) 100: Him as done the sparks in from Regent Street for nine centuries o’ quids.
1906		E. Dyson Fact’ry ’Ands 19: He’s done Magill in fer ’er little bit.
1914		E. Dyson Spats’ Fact’ry (1922) 31: That’s the bloke all right. That’s the spotter what done me in.
1924		G.H. Lawson Dict. of Aus. Words And Terms 🌐 DO IN – To defraud.

3. (UK und.) to pawn.

1899

Sketch (London) 22 Feb. 18: ‘They had done it in at the “Spank” an’ we divides up six quid (sovereigns), fer it was a nice red lot ’.

4. to kill, to murder.

1906		Marvel 17 Nov. 469: I’ve done a man in for that very ring!
1916		C.J. Dennis ‘The Push’ in Moods of Ginger Mick 37: Becos a crook done in a prince, an’ narked an Emperor, / An’ struck a light that set the world aflame.
1918		L.N. Smith Lingo of No Man’s Land 29: DOING-IN Killing, as ‘we are doing-in the Huns’.
1924		S. Scott Human Side of Crook and Convict Life 37: You didn’t know I was a murderer, did you? That’s the second fellow I’ve done in.
1930		R. Whitfield Green Ice (1988) 45: He’s lined up the gent that did Dot in.
1940		D. Maurer Big Con 201: When I see a rat [...] I want to do him in.
1950		C. Harris Three-Ha’Pence to the Angel 35: There was all-night parties every other night and ’alf the time it ended up in murder and turf and someone wanting to do someone in.
1963		N. Dunn Up the Junction 20: She don’t really care. I’d do meself in!
1977		J. Rosenthal Spend, Spend, Spend Scene 78: The police took away Keith’s shotguns in case I tried to do myself in.
1999		N. Cohn Yes We Have No 106: The notoriety did him in. Killed him sure as hanging.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 163: Kinky didn’t go over [...] Someone did him in.
2016		D. Whish-Wilson Old Scores [ebook] ‘I heard it was them who did your boy in’.
2019		C.D. Rosales Word Is Bone [ebook] He looked hard, man. [...] Like the next man they meet could be the one to do them in.

5. (Aus.) to defeat.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 318/1: Aus. C.20.

6. to break off, to abandon; to miss a train.

c.1895		Harrington & LeBrunn [perf. Marie Lloyd] And the Leaves Began to Fall 🎵 In a forest, for the hour was getting late / Both the maiden and her swain thought ’We'll do in our last train’.
1901		A. Binstead More Gal’s Gossip 118: All this delay and flummery over a paltry threepennyworth of oil [...] came precious near causing me to do in an appointment I had with a very dear old legal friend.
1904		‘Dryblower’ ‘His Quest’ in Sun. Times (Perth) 3 Apr. 4/7: You’ve done the rattler in today, you ain’t got Buckley’s ’ope.

7. in fig. use, to kill off; of food, to finish.

1901		Bulletin (Sydney) 7 Dec. 19/1: Bill wades in till he’s done-in 11 of them [i.e. eggs].
1906		Marvel 7 July 670: That blooming Spikey has done me in.
1916		J. Buchan Greenmantle (1930) 175: We drank to the health of Prince Rupprecht, the same blighter I was trying to do in at Loos.
1923		Wodehouse Leave it to Psmith (1993) 494: Still, it’s done me in. I tried once or twice, but I couldn’t seem to make the cards behave no more, so I quit.
1933		E.A. Robertson Ordinary Families 120: [of a boat] Done the old Pig in [...] Well, it doesn’t matter, she wouldn’t have lasted another season anyway.
1946		I. Bolton Do I Wake or Sleep in N.Y. Mosaic (1999) 16: It was this passion to paint that finally did her in.
1955		J. Morrison Black Cargo 188: I did the job in. Very nearly did Neville in, too!
1961		H.S. Thompson letter 19 Oct. in Proud Highway (1997) 289: Because they will do me in, McGarr, just as they’ll do you in [...] and finish us all off in a blaze of shit and oppression.
1974		Galton & Simpson ‘And So To Bed’ Steptoe and Son [TV script] We’ve done a bottle in already. I didn’t come here to booze.
1998		L. Stringer Grand Central Winter (1999) 65: He [...] had done-in the other arm scrambling over razor wire.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 225: The charlie does the appetite right in.

8. to make an error, to fail in some way.

1903		A. Binstead Pitcher in Paradise 31: Gawd’s trooth! you don’t mean to say as you’ve been an’ done the train in, gents?
1951		Cusack & James Come in Spinner (1960) 317: I can’t see it frightening off your son of a Lord even if he finds out you did the Government in for a few thousand.

9. (Aus.) of an individual, to wear out, alienate someone’s affection.

1914

Sport (Adelaide) 29 May 3/3: They Say [...] That Ted D. should pay more attention to his tabby, or he might do her in.

10. to wear out, to exhaust.

1982		P. Theroux London Embassy 152: I’ve done my back in I don’t know how many times.
1987		(con. 1967) E. Spencer Welcome to Vietnam (1989) 28: He is a tough son of a bitch, but a year in Nam has done him in.
1999		Scotland on Sun. Mag. 7 Nov. 19: My head’s done in with it.
2001		G. Pelecanos Right As Rain 12: That Sherman Coles pickup do you in?
2003		Bug (Aus.) July 🌐 Now, I am not the only league writer who knows it was dress code what done in Fatty Vautin and blunted the future of Peter Sharp.

11. to beat up.

1916		Liverpool Dly Post 7 Nov. 8/6: They were met by the Seales, one of whom said, ‘Get hold of anything, and do them in’.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 557: I’ll do him in, so help me fucking Christ!
1929		(con. 1914) Hall & Niles One Man’s War 77: Mimi’s restaurant had been ‘cleaned out’ by the Boche. After they had eaten all they could hold, they ‘did in’ the fixtures.
1960		H. Pinter Caretaker Act I: I could have got done in down there.
1978		R. Caron Go-Boy! 195: Yeah, I’ve got to do you in.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 62: Somebody would light into him, then everybody else sprang and we’d do him in.
2000		Indep. Rev. 23 May 5: You said you’d bash them and do in their dollies if they failed to learn.
2010		K. Richards Life 51: I had a lucky break where I did a bully in by total sheer luck.
2020		G. Armstrong Young Team 54: They set aboot me, done us right in.

12. of machinery, objects, to break or damage.

1925		N. Lucas Autobiog. of a Thief 160: He had, in the words of the bard, ‘done his gear-box in.’.
1938		X. Herbert Capricornia (1939) 289: Pretty crook. Done in the bearing of the steam-chest valve too.
1977		J. Rosenthal Spend, Spend, Spend Scene 91: I did the car in a few hundred times.

13. (drugs) to consume.

1963

M. Braly Shake Him Till He Rattles (1964) 102: Lee asked if she had any pills. She shook her head. ‘No, we did in the last of them.’.

14. to damage, to injure.

1986

C. Bowles G’DAY 20: Mr Foster is on compo. He claims he did his back in. Actually he's just having a bit of a bludge.

15. (Irish) to overcome emotionally.

2017

L. McInerney Blood Miracles 90: [E]ven after fucking her, her bare breast was doing him in.