Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US, also gymp) a cripple, esp. a crippled beggar; thus as a nickname.

1894		Herald (Los Angeles) 28 Oct. 9/1: Fat Jack O’Connor [...] ‘Gimp’ Watson, ‘One-eyed’ Wallace and a whole raft of boarding-house runners and dive keepers.
1911		T.A. Dorgan ‘Daffydills’ in El Paso Herald (TX) 8 Sept. 8: Gimp Connely [...] yelled If the chauffeur went blind could the taxi?
1917		W.Y. Stevenson At the Front in a Flivver 30 July 🌐 I’m sorry to lose old ‘Gymp’.
1920		F. Packard White Moll 218: The slickest dip New York ever knew [...] Angel Jack, alias the Gimp.
1938		Gilbert ‘The Gimp and His Girlfriend’ in Brookhouser These Were Our Years (1959) 122: There was something about the Gimp [...] He walked with a limp.
1947		N. Algren Neon Wilderness (1986) 133: Watch me pass up that peg-leg gimp.
1959		W. Burroughs Naked Lunch 20: Ever see a hot shot hit, kid? I saw the Gimp catch one in Philly.
1966		H.S. Thompson Hell’s Angels (1967) 13: Little Jesus, the Gimp, Blind Bob, Gut.
1971		J.D. Horan Blue Messiah 130: ‘Stop acting like a stupid Irish gangster. Do you have to be like the cripple?’ ‘The Gimp?’.
1986		L. Heinemann Paco’s Story (1987) 148: Well god damn, the gimp caught me.
1990		(con. c.1970) G. Hasford Phantom Blooper 181: The doctors and nurses call the amputees ‘amps’ or ‘ampies.’ The amputees, perhaps more in tune with reality, accept no slack, and prefer to call themselves ‘gimps’.
1996		J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 155: [H]e is indeed absolutely innocent and, being a one-eyed gimp, wouldn’t be much of a chance in any sort of stoush .
2003		N. Green Angel of Montague Street (2004) 259: ‘Everybody calls him Special Ed.’ ‘Cute. Was he a gimp?’.
2013		J. Stahl Bad Sex on Speed 14: She looked at you like you were some kind of cripple. A sex-gimp.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 641: Marcus, now a two-walking-sticks gimp, arrived for the funeral.

2. (US) a limp.

1925		Flynn’s 31 Jan. 306/2: Gimp, a lame leg [DU].
1938		D. Runyon ‘Madame La Gimp’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 239: She walks with a gimp in one leg.
1965		J.L. Herlihy Midnight Cowboy (1968) 128: I’ll have to walk a lot, and with this gimp, it takes time.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 127: This juror walks with a gimp, he’s mad at the world.
2006		J. Ridley What Fire Cannot Burn 35: It was walking without the gimp, the gimp that advertised [...] there was something wrong with him.

3. (orig. US) a fool.

1924		Hecht & Bodenheim Cutie 22: A gimp like you takes my appetite away for a week.
1945		Baker Aus. Lang. 130: Fools of one kind and another [...] gammy, gazob, gimp and gup.
1999		Indep. on Sun. Real Life 19 Sept. 5: Angry complaints about ‘gimps in bin-liners’ spoiling the enjoyment.
2000		Wylie ‘Lover Boy’ 🎵 You gimp you geek you frog you freak / You stink you’re slime you’re out of time.

4. (orig. US campus) a weakling, an inadequate; also as adj.

1979		D. Gram Foxes (1980) 119: ‘God, what a gimp,’ grumbled Annie.
1989		P. Munro Sl. U.
1996		Eble in Campus Sl. Mar.
1999		Eble Campus Sl. Apr. 3: gimp – small, thin (insulting): ‘Those are some gimp arms’.
2000		N. Griffiths Grits 310: She’s bein chatted up by some tall gimp inner hooped rugby shert.
2001		D. Jenkins Money-Whipped Steer-Job 167: They were throwing off, losing games to gimps, and they didn’t care because they were too rich.
2020		G. Armstrong Young Team 48: ‘Don’t hit me, Kenzie, big man... phfft, nappy full.’ ‘Fuckin gimps, man.

5. in sado-masochism, a person dressed all in leather or rubber, incl. the face; also in attrib. use.

1993		Tarantino & Avery Pulp Fiction [film script] 103: The Gimp is a man they keep dressed from head to toe in black leather bondage gear.
1999		Roger’s Profanisaurus 3 in Viz 98 Oct. 15: gimp n. One who likes rubberwear.
2000		N. Barlay Crumple Zone 133: The Samuel L. Jackson evangelical gangster trip and the adrenaline shot to the heart and the rednecks with the gimp and so on.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 319: Around his neck he has a dog collar and lead [...] looks like he’s in some mad gimp scene that got out of hand.
2012		H. Acosta ‘Doing the Job’ in ThugLit Dec. [ebook] Unlike Tommy’s gimp-like mask, mine had openings for my nose, eyes, and mouth.

6. (UK juv., also gimp-ass) a fool; a toady.

1983		R. Price Breaks 426: Over my head was a photo of gimp ass Roy Z [...] What a yutz.
2001		N. Barlay Hooky Gear 167: He thought it . . . would be a laugh, go Arno with a half-smile. Me an you up . . . here. The 2 gimps.
2001		OnLine Dict. of Playground Sl. 🌐 gimp n. 1) An excessively stupid or unpleasant person. 2) Someone who sucks up to a teacher and does well at school.
2006		G. Malkani Londonstani (2007) 12: U fuckin gimp.
2017		hubpages.com ‘Roadman Slang 4 Jun. 🌐 Gimp- a fool.