Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US Und.) to make substantial amounts of money through crime.

1973

E. Bunker No Beast So Fierce 31: Willy explained that Joe had been doing ‘good’, which was a criminal euphemism for making ‘good’ money illegally.

1. used as a term of address, esp as the popular form of address among users of Citizen’s Band radios.

1942		Delta Democrat Times (Greenville, MS) 22 Apr. 4/3: She had been given several pairs of socks by a man she named as ‘Good Buddy’.
1956		N. Algren Walk on the Wild Side 10: Don’t need to run, goodbuddy.
1966		R. Stone Hall of Mirrors (1987) 126: Hey who are you goodbuddy?
1976		C.W. McCall ‘Convoy’ 🎵 on Black Bear Road [album] Well, mercy sakes, good buddy, we gonna back on outta here, so keep the bugs off your glass and the bears off your...tail. We’ll catch you on the flip-flop. This here’s the Rubber Duck on the side. We gone. ’bye, ’bye.
1983		(con. 1970) S. Wright Meditations in Green (1985) 19: Study the finished print with a magnifying glass, good buddy, you don’t always see what you get.
2000		C. Cook Robbers (2001) 286: We’re safe here, good buddy.

2. a CB radio user.

1977

1977 World Book Year Book 267: Overcrowding, which can turn ‘good buddies’ into nasty rivals. CBers are supposed to limit calls to five minutes and those who do not are called ‘ratchet jaws’.

3. (US) a homosexual.

1985

W. Safire Look It Up 150: The term good buddy has for several years been used as a derogatory synonym for the more pejorative terms applied to homosexuals.

(US) high-quality marijuana.

1958

H. Ellison Web of the City (1983) 36: You wanna get a little up tonight? I hear Boy-O got a little good-cut on him.

a smart person, who ‘knows a thing or two’; thus good-doing, smart, knowledgeable.

1914		Sport (Adelaide) 26 June 4/1: Jack A. is a good doer with the Halbury tabby .
a.1955		‘Kitty Barrett’ in D. Wepman et al. Life (1976) 53: You need a good-doing bitch like me to boost your stable.
1982		Barr & York Sloane Ranger Hbk 158: good doer n. Probably doesn’t do good, but has a good appetite and is healthy.

(Aus.) an attractive young woman.

1941

Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl.

see separate entry.

(drugs) fentanyl.

2001		ONDCP Street Terms 10: Goodfellas — Fentanyl.
2003		Community Counseling and Resource Center 🌐 ‘Designer Drugs’: MPPP – New heroin, Tango and Cash, Goodfella.

(US und.) a member of the US Mafia.

1991

B. McCarthy Vice Cop 182: ‘Now there’s three of them in on it. Each one is a good fellow, a made guy’.

(US) a girlfriend.

1926		Blind Lemon Jefferson ‘Got the Blues’ 🎵 Lord, I think I heard my good gal calling me / Hey hey, my good gal calling me.
1930		Jimmie Rodgers ‘Blue Yodel’ 🎵 My good-gal loves me, / Everybody knows, / And she paid a hundred cash dollars, / Just bought me a suit of clothes.
1943		Ma & Jimmy ‘Make Me a Pallet on your Floor’ 🎵 Make me a pallet, baby, a pallet on your floor/ So when your good gal comes she will never know.

see great gas under great adj.³

(drugs) marijuana.

1975		Hardy & Cull Drug Lang. and Lore.
1977		S.N. Pradhan Drug Abuse.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 10: Good giggles — Marijuana.

1. a prostitute, a wanton.

1611		R. Cotgrave Dict. of Fr. and Eng. Tongues n.p.: Gaultiere – A whore, punke, drab, queane, gill, flirt, strumpet, cockatrice, mad wench, common hackney, good one.
1937–84		Partridge DSUE (1984) 486/1: good girl [...] C.18–20; ob.

2. (US black) a girlfriend, a female partner.

1939

T. McClennan ‘Brown Skin Girl’ 🎵 Friend don’t never let your good girl fix you like this woman got me (how’s she got you did).

1. (US prison) anything seen as admirable, useful, easy etc.

1931–4

D. Clemmer Prison Community (1940) 332/2: good go, n. Something easily successful, a good break in life; a comfortable job in prison.

2. (drugs) the right amount of drugs for the money paid.

1955		H. Braddy ‘Narcotic Argot Along the Mexican Border’ in AS XXX:2 87: GOOD GO, n. phr. A fair amount for the money paid.
1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972).
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 10: Good go — Proper amount of drugs for the money paid.

(Aus.) the facts, the essential information.

1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. of Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: good guts. Information.
1948		S.L. Elliott Rusty Bugles I i: Got any good guts on replacements?
1957		‘Nino Culotta’ They’re a Weird Mob (1958) 61: I’m not mistaken, mate. Just givin’ yer the good guts, that’s all. Just lettin’ yer know wot yer lettin’ yerself in for.
1965		W. Dick Bunch of Ratbags 196: Give us the good guts on her.
1968		S. Gore Holy Smoke 15: I tried to give ’em the good guts of the Creation once.

a friendly individual, male or female, esp. if on one’s side; often in pl. as one of the good guys.

1926		J. Tully Jarnegan (1928) 148: He was a card and a good guy.
1938		W. Winchell On Broadway 1 Dec. [synd. col.] She is no miser or piker. A good-time Charlie and a ‘good guy’ better describes her.
1950		R. Starnes And When She Was Bad 173: ‘I want to [...] see that the good guys win this one’.
1967		(con. 1950s) McAleer & Dickson Unit Pride (1981) 220: I ain’t gonna pull rank on you, but what do you wanna do with your prisoner, good guy the gook there?
1979		G. Stewart Leveller 240: I still hung on to my ‘good guy’ image.
1981		A. Weller Day of the Dog 46: Two smaller men, one of whom is the supposedly good guy. He never slaps the victim around, but talks gently to him.
1986		S. King It (1987) 350: He liked her, in short, because she was a good guy.
1992		P. Earley Hot House 226: [of prison officers] ‘This is all a big game,’ Lacy said [...] ‘They try to beat us and we try to beat them. Sometimes the shitheads win and sometimes the good guys win’.
1993		B. Moore Lex. of Cadet Lang. 170: usage: (when one’s own side scores a goal): ‘That’s one for the good guys!’.
2000		Gav CX Mag. Jun. 🌐 Dave decides to blow his lucky 30p in the bandit. And proceeds to win £15. Bastard. But he halves it with me. Good guy.

(US black) soft, wavy hair, as opposed to tighter black-style curls; ext. to an attractive body.

1932		Walter Vincson ‘Don’t Wake It Up’ 🎵 They have good hair, they may look neat, but when you take off their shoes / You can smell their stinking feet.
1949		Dan Burley ‘Back Door Stuff’ 11 June [synd. col.] [P]retty little things [...] invariably concentrate on the lads with good hair.
1958		Murtagh & Harris Cast the First Stone 89: He was seventeen and dicty-looking with his good hair and light complexion.
1967		A. Baraka Tales (1969) 73: Some stuck-up boy with ‘good’ hair.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 24: [S]he had this thing about being white—kept talking about the kid having good hair.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 141: There was still an appreciation of the woman (or man) who had good hair (hair that is loosely curled or wavy and approximates Caucasian hair texture).
1996		Eble Campus Sl. Sept. 3: good hair – an attractive body (not just hair): ‘Man, she sure got good hair’.
1998		Source Oct. 56: When Black people sing the praises of ‘good hair’ or reduce each other’s achievements to ‘acting white’.
2002		J. Ridley Conversation with the Mann 18: Her hair had no kink. It was wavy and near shoulder-length, what back then got called ‘good hair’.

(orig. US Und.) a trustworthy, admirable person.

1927		‘Jargon of the Und.’ in DN V 448: Good head, A kind-hearted person, one charitably disposed to tramps.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 88: Good Head: One favourably inclined or kindly to tramps. One to be trusted, or a charitable person.
1942		R. Chandler High Window 188: ‘Especially gents like Alex Morny, who don’t like private detectives.’ ‘Morny’s a good head,’ Eddie Prue said coldly.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 84/1: Good head. 1. A respectable girl; a virgin; a girl, not necessarily virtuous, but loyal and discreet in underworld matters. 2. A likeable and trustworthy person; a good fellow.
1966		F. Elli Riot (1967) 108: He wouldn’t back down from a fight, that made him a good-head.
1978		J. Webb Fields of Fire (1980) 135: The Colonel’s a good head, Snake. Gave me a ride out here on his chopper.
1985		T. Wolff ‘The Poor Are Always With Us’ in Back in the World 77: ‘Dave’s a good head,’ Groves went on. ‘I admit he’s not that great with the general public, but he’s okay’.

(Aus./N.Z.) something agreeable, pleasant; usu. in phr. that’s good ink.

1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl.
1948		Sun. Times (Perth) 7 Mar. 14/3: [headline] Punters Get the Good Ink.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 52/1: good ink agreeable; eg ‘He’s the good ink, that lad. Heart of gold, slaves his guts out, no trouble to anyone.’ Obs.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

(Aus.) admirable, trustworthy; desirable; in an advantageous position; also as n. (cf. good iron! ).

1895		Bulletin 9 Feb. n.p.: Oh she’s a good iron, is my little clinah; / She’s my cobber an’ I’m ’er bloke.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Jul. 13/4: He was good iron, if weather-marked a bit; and he did work for the State which not a man in ten thousand could have done so well, if at all.
1903		‘Dads Wayback’ in Sun. Times (Sydney) 15 Feb. 5/6: ‘It was not armor they [i.e. early Aus. immigrants] carried about with ’em, though it wos good iron all right’.
1914		Sport (Adelaide) 31 Jan. 10/2: What, Buller, finished up at Wallaroo? Thought you were good iron up there .
1936		(con. 1830s–60s) ‘Miles Franklin’ All That Swagger 267: ‘Sure it’s come-aisy, go-aisy,’ Grandfather remarked. ‘And that is “good-iron wingey!” till there’s a stoppage in the come-easy part,’ added William.

(N.Z.) a wise or sensible action.

2003

McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 91: good leave, a Judicious action.

(orig. US) an attractive person, usu. a woman.

1894		Harper’s Mag. Mar. 498: She‘s a good-looker [...] although they say she’s gone off a little lately .
1904		Ade ‘The Fable of Successful Tobias’ in True Bills 26: Tobe used to go out every New-Year’s Day to meet the Good-Lookers and fuss around with them, for those were his Salad Days.
1912		Ade Knocking the Neighbors 126: Wilbur was a Good-Looker with raven Pompadour and large snappy Eyes.
1917		W.Y. Stevenson At the Front in a Flivver 5 Mar. 🌐 Only one good-looker aboard and the Captain has already nailed her --- curses!
1924		S. Scott Human Side of Crook and Convict Life 225: You are a good-looker. If you can do the work I’ll give you a trial.
1937		J. Curtis There Ain’t No Justice 59: The girl was a good-looker and well-dressed.
1950		N. Cassady letter in Charters (1993) 199: I saw she was better than handsome, a real good-looker.
1957		P. Beveridge Inside the C.I.D. 83: ‘What did you think of Mrs. Ransom?’ ‘A good-looker but tough.’.
1960		H. Ellison ‘Memory of a Muted Trumpet’ in Gentleman Junkie (1961) 107: He turned back to the good-lookers who hung on his every word.
1963		(con. 1944) L. Glassop Rats in New Guinea 177: A real good-looker [...] Just like her ole man.
1976		R. Hoffman Getting Divorced from Mother and Dad 3: If only I could find a good-looker with brains and a sense of humor.
1985		K. Oe Crazy Iris 146: You’re such a good looker now that I’d forgotten what you were like when you were little.
1996		J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 226: [T]he 25-year-old good-looker, who’d ‘officially’ given her acting career the flick [...] was now rumoured to be about to reverse that tricky decision.
1997		Raicu & Grewell Transitions: Lives In America 194: Gracie could be one elegant good looker when she set her mind to it.
2003		B. Watson Life’s Not All Wine and Roses 1: A good-looker, well-educated, coming from a reputable, comfortably-off family.

see luck n.

1. a boon companion, a roisterer; an admirable person, defined according to context.

1595		‘W.S.’ Lamentable Tragedie of Locrine III iv: I but heare you goodman Oliuer?
1608		Dekker The Belman of London C2: What though a Prating Constable, or a red nos’d beadle say to one of vs, Sir Goodman Rogue, if I serued you well I should see you whipped through the towne.
1610		Rowlands Martin Mark-all 13: Why then should you bee so spitefull goodman Saunsbell to inueigh against vs poore soules.
c.1626		Dick of Devonshire in Bullen II (1883) IV i: Pray, goodman rascall, how long have he and you bene Brothers?
1633		Jonson Tale of a Tub I ii: Did you ever know ’un, goodman Clench?
1708		True Characters of A Deceitful Petty-Fogger et al. 11: At first he bowed towards the Altar, and now if their Worships are absent, to Goodman Webb, and Goodman Bland, and the best Yeomanry of the Parish.
1716		J. Addison Drummer III i: What Goodman Two-fold?
1721		‘The Sick Wife’ Pleasures of Coition iii: Her Husband’s Company she quits, / And throws herself on Bed, / The Good-Man, careful for n’own Dear, / Limps after to her Chamber.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Good man, a word of various imports, according to the place where it is spoken: in the city it means a rich man; at Hockley in the Hole, or St. Giles’s, an expert boxer; at a bagnio in Covent Garden, a vigorous fornicator; at an alehouse or tavern, one who loves his pot or bottle; and sometimes, though but rarely, a virtuous man.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

2. a gaoler.

1721–2

Woodrow Hist. ii 636: The goodman at the Tolbooth came to him in his chamber, and told him he might save his life, if he would sign the petition [F&H].

a general term of approval, whether of people, things or events.

1973		Newsweek 23 July 27: Bradley is good news on many levels.
1981		G.V. Higgins Rat on Fire (1982) 51: ‘See?’ Proctor said. ‘That is why rats’re good news.’.

(US/Sth) a submisssive black person who is happy in adopting the steroetypes allotted them by racist/white supremacist society.

1941

Warner, Junker & al. Color & Human Nature 118: Mrs. Evans is what some southern white persons would call ‘a good nigger.’ So definite is the personality that her rural southern background gave her that she implicitly believes in the superiority of white blood, and she easily adjusts in an inferior social position.

(Aus.) the honest truth, true facts.

1919		W.H. Downing Digger Dialects 27: good oil — See oil.
1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. of Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: good oil. ‘True information.’.
1949		L. Glassop Lucky Palmer 47: It’s the early bird that catches the good oil.
1951		(con. 1941) E. Lambert Twenty Thousand Thieves 212: As soon as he gets the good oil on the Cups double, he’ll send it over.
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 84: Coming from anyone else but O’Donnell I mightn’t have taken any notice, but that little shifty-eyed bastard usually had the good oil.
1960		A. Buzo Front Room Boys in Four Aus. Plays (1970) 60: Get back to work or I’ll dob you in to Hendo, and that’s the good oil.
1977		(con. 1941) R. Beilby Gunner 167: Why would I want to have you on? It’s dinkum, I tell you, the good oil.
1985		B. Humphries Traveller’s Tool 30: Shit-scared of going to Australia until I gave them the good oil.
1996		S. Maloney Brush-Off (1998) 133: Faye also wanted the good oil on the Cabinet reshuffle.
2008		N. Drayson Birds East Africa 80: If you want the inside information on what the elected members are up to [...] the good oil, that is where you find them .
2016		D. Whish-Wilson Old Scores [ebook] Swann was asked to stick around and pump the journos; even better, get the good oil from an ex-colleague.

see separate entry.

see under people n.

see even shake under shake n.¹

see separate entries.

see under sick n.

1. hard liquor.

1810		‘Nothing like Grog’ in A Garland of New Songs (56) 3: A cann of good stuff, had they twigg’d it, / Would have set them for pleasure agog.
1821–6		‘Bill Truck’ Man o’ War’s Man (1843) 362: You sha’nt want plenty of the good stuff to keep the wind out of your stomachs.
1933		S. Walker Night Club Era 212: [T]he police, who removed the body after examining seventeen quarts of ‘good stuff’ back of the bar.
1946		W.P. McGivern ‘Manchu Terror’ in Goodstone Pulps (1970) 27/1: He bought me a drink when I came in as a rule. The good stuff.
1954		J. Steinbeck Sweet Thursday (1955) 93: The boys request the pleasure of your company at their joint tomorrow aft. to drink a slug of good stuff.
1969		in Current Sl. IV:3–4 (1970).

2. (US drugs, also bad stuff) effective, high-quality, pleasant drugs.

1966		J. Mills Panic in Needle Park (1971) 33: Man, Buster had got the good stuff, I mean even in this panic he’s always got good stuff.
1967		P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 58: You gonna like thees pot. Eet’s good stuff. [Ibid.] 110: We’ve got some bad stuff, real down and we’re going high.
1973		E.F. Droge Patolman 138: [S]ome junkies [...] would always go back to where they [...] knew they would get good stuff, rather than take a chance with someone new.
1984		W.D. Myers Motown and Didi 156: There would be no high. No good feeling. None of it was ‘good stuff’.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 10: Good stuff — High potency drug, especially marijuana.
2004		B. Parris Making of a Legionnaire 194: We had been taught [...] how to give morphine injections, not forgetting to mark the casualty’s forehead with a large letter M [...] to let the medics [...] know that he has had a dose of the good stuff.

3. (US black) sexual sophistication.

1972		N. Heard To Reach a Dream 6: She got some good stuff, baby.
1983		R. Klein Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.].

4. success in a confidence trick, in deception.

1983

R. Klein Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.].

see separate entry.

see separate entries.

see separate entries.

see separate entry.

a common public house sign representing a woman without a head.

1772		Bridges Burlesque Homer (3rd edn) 230: Just at the side of Croydon Common, / He kept the sign o’ th’ Silent Woman / (A Silent Woman, Sir, you said! / Pray, was she drawn without a head?).
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Good woman, a non descript, represented on a famous sign in St. Giles’s in the form of a common woman, but without a head.
1790		‘Bumper Allnight. Esquire’ Honest Fellow 4: The sign of the Good Woman; one without a head.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 82/2: We [...] hired a hack to take us to a public-house kept by the head ‘cop’ of the town, called the ‘Quiet Woman,’ having as a sign the picture of a woman with her head cut off.
1873		Sl. Dict.

see separate entries.

1. (US black teen) fine, great.

1993		Daz Dillinger ‘Only For ’ 🎵 But it’s all good baby, you lose some, you gain some.
1995		L. Stavsky et al. A2Z 54/2: it’s all good – everything is going well.
1995		2Pac ‘Can U get Away’ 🎵 Don’t cry, it’s all good.
1996		Eble Campus Sl. Sept. 4: it’s all good – expression that things are working out fine.
1997–2000		Da Bomb 🌐 1: All good: Fine, great, terrific, okay. A slang is a slang; they’re all good.
2004		Dizzee Rascal ‘Flyin’’ 🎵 Would you call me a sell-out or would you say it’s all good?
2010		C. Hiaasen Star Island (2011) 47: I go with the flow. It’s all good.
2018		G. Gilmore Base Nature [ebook] Murdoch told Velis not to worry about it. Told him, ‘No worries’ and ‘You’re all good, mate’ and ‘She’ll be right’.
2018		J.-P. Jordan Joys of War 23: High pressure. High rewards. All good in the hood .
2021		P Howard Braywatch 80: I’m like, ‘I’m all good, Christian. I’m all good’.

2. indifferent [ext. of sense 1 to suggest rote agreement rather than actual enthusiasm].

2012

C. Eble (ed.) UNC-CH Campus Sl. 2011 1: ALLGOOD — indifferent, undiscerning: ‘The sorority sisters reacted ‘allgood’ to Jane’s critical remarks.’.

see under cassan n.

excellent, first-rate.

1700		T. Brown Amusments Serious and Comical (1744) III 91: There are some Quacks as Honest fellows as you would desire to Piss upon.
1984		Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 485/2: late C.17–early 19.

(US black) to be carried away by one’s enthusiasms while performing a task.

1970		A. Young Snakes (1971) 47: We all wanted to get good, split town, cut records ourselves.
2003		‘Ridin’ Shotgun’ n Muscle Car Power Mag. Issue 1 🌐 3: Don’t it get good to ya, do ya know what I mean?

(US) to find favour with.

1905		Ocala Banner (FL) 1 Sept. 6/6: Come to Ocala, Brother Metropolis, and get good.
1929		W.R. Burnett Little Caesar (1932) 150: ‘Yeah,’ said the look-out, eager to get in good.
1935		D. Lamson We Who Are About to Die 194: The kid wanted to get in good with his old man.
1951		J.D. Salinger Catcher in the Rye (1958) 92: You could tell she was just trying to get in good with me. So that I’d tell old D.B. about it.
1960		E. De Roo Big Rumble 68: You can get in good with Arline Kagen if you want to.
1977		(con. 1941) R. Beilby Gunner 136: We got in good with the Grecos, buyin’ eggs an’ veges an’ that.
1988		E. Caldwell Conversations 98: The reviewer likes to be in good with the advertisement department so he can be sure to get the advertising.
1999		G. Clark Cry, Wolf 19: He’s always goin’ on ’bout how yer in good with God.
2003		in T. Weaver Eye on Science Fiction 101: They probably wanted to use her in order to keep in good with Sinatra.

a phr. used of an admirable woman, as good as one might find.

1937–84

Partridge DSUE (1984) 485/2: C.19–early 20.

an enthusiastic, skilful lover.

1890–1904

Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

(UK Und.) coins bearing the monarch’s head.

1797

‘T.B. Jr’ Pettyfogger Dramatized I iii: There’s only two of these good-looking pictures betwixt you and the Pillory, hand ’em over! [...] [note] Alluding to his Majesty’s Profile on a Guinea.

a derog. description of another person .

1598		Florio Worlde of Wordes n.p.: Dométa, an old worde for a shitten fellow, or goodman-turde.
c.1629		R. Brome City Wit V i: Why Goodman Fool, you Coxcomb, you Ninnihammer, you Clotpold Countrey Gentleman.

see separate entry.

(Aus.) a phr. used of one known as an enthusiastic eater.

1957		‘Nino Culotta’ They’re a Weird Mob (1958) 109: Jimmy got himself some bread and butter and an open tin of jam. ‘Yer good on the fang, mate,’ said Joe.
1987		Canberra Times (ACT) 1 Nov. 24/2: Dinner for two, that is, and this is where the trouble’s going to start, be cause the two, I presume, means Janet and myself. But I feel that my editor, who is also good on the fang, should be cut in.
1991		Canberra Times (ACT) 25 May 23/5: Ms Johansen is in full mush mode defining good on the fang (hearty eater), and haven’t got a pot to piss in (without money).

(UK Und.) easy to break into, usu. of a window.

1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 244: GOOD: a place or person, which promises to be easily robbed, is said to be good, as, that house is good upon the crack; this shop is good upon the star.
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks.

1. (US black teen) sexually available; usu. said by men when referring to a woman they presume they would be able to have sex with, e.g. babe’s good to go.

1834		‘A Rum-Un to Look At’ in Libertine’s Songster in Spedding & Watt (eds) I 136: Her charms folks may hook at, / She’s a rum-un to look at / But yet she’s a good von to go, to go, to go.
2001		Tenacious D ‘Explosivo’ 🎵 What’s the name of my girlfriend / I don’t know, / But she’s built like the shit / And she’s good to go, go, / She’s good to go, / She’s good to go.

2. (US black teen) used as a positive reply to ‘how are you?’.

1988		Real Roxanne ‘Bang Zoom’ 🎵 I’m good to go.
1992		D. Burke Street Talk 2 34: ‘Hey, homes [...] how ya living?’ ‘Yo G! Good to go, man.’.

3. (US) set to succeed, safe to proceed.

2005		R. Cea No Lights, No Sirens 157: ‘Rob, he clean?’ ‘Yeah, John, he’s good to go’.
2014		C. Eble (ed.) UNC-CH Campus Sl. Spring 2014 7: GOOD TO GO — likely to succeed: X: ‘I don’t know if I should ask her out.’ Y: ‘Dude, it’s good to go’.
2019		J.A. Struthers Appel 123: I quickly rechecked my magazine, nodded to El Wahidi that we were good to go, and we advanced .

a very unmelodious singing voice and therefore good only for begging.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew.
1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: The Cove has a bien Squawl to maund Bacon; i.e. He has a good Voice to beg Bacon; us’d to jeer a bad Voice, or an indifferent Singer.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. 1725].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1855		Wells Jrnl 28 Apr. 4/3: He has a good voice to beg bacon.

see under biz n.¹

see bad cess to you! under bad adj.

(US) an expression of approval or congratulation, well done! that’s wonderful!

1947		D.W. Hamilton ‘Pacific War Lang.’ in AS XXII:1 Feb. 55: good deal. Fine, glad to hear it, okay by me.
1989		P. Munro Sl. U. 95: You got enrolled in all the classes you wanted? Good deal!

see separate entry.

(US campus) a sarcastic response to the speaker’s announcement of some form of menial employment, i.e. what a good job! aren’t you lucky!

1989

P. Munro Sl. U. 96: You’re a cashier at Big Burger? Good future!

(US/Aus.) a mild expletive.

c.1855		J.F. Kelly Humors of Falconbridge 357: Good gravy, but don’t they?
1929		M. Levin Reporter 196: Good gravy! Were all of them insensible!
1960		W. Styron Set This House on Fire 316: Good gravy, Cass!
1977		T. Berger Who is Teddy Villanova? 49: ‘Good Gravy!’ he exclaimed.
1982		N. Keesing Lily on the Dustbin 24: Women used to let off steam domestically with a fine range of substitute expletives. ‘Holy Moses!’, ‘Holy mackerel!’, ‘great balls of fire’, ‘good gravy’, ‘jumping Jehosaphat’, and ‘muddy great buckets of pitch’.
2003		D. Burke Slangman Guide to Dirty Eng. 87: Another less popular version of this phrase [i.e. ‘good grief!’] is ‘Good gravy!’.

a general excl. of surprise and/or dismay.

1905		J. Wright EDD.
1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 10 Oct. 47/1: ‘There’s our blighted advertisers and our readers – Spare my grief! / But we’ve got to please the public!’ moaned the editor-in-chief.
1924		F.P. Adams So Much Velvet 41: Great grief! what stuff they used to stand for!
1942		R. Chandler High Window 197: Speak plainly, Mr Marlowe. I can stand plain talk.’ ‘Good grief, how plain do you want it?’.
1950		Dundee Courier 6 Nov. 3/6: Good grief, I thought, this is an invasion and we’re on the wrong side!
1961		Galton & Simpson ‘Economy Drive’ Hancock’s Half-Hour [TV script] Good grief, woman, this is sheer extortion!
1970		T. Parker Frying-Pan 22: I’ve been in the Prison Service [...] good grief, yes it’s getting on for twenty-one years.
1986		F. Taylor Auf Wiedersehen Pet Two 1: Good grief, was all he could think.
1996		J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 227: ‘If Gai Smith comes back here to us, I shall downright up and quit. Good grief’.
1999		Indep. Rev. 30 Aug. 1: Good grief, I exclaim.
2000		T. Blacker Kill Your Darlings 263: Her old-fashioned expletives. Goodness. Blimey. Sugar. Good grief.

a general excl. of approval, congratulations (cf. good iron ).

1894		Truth (Sydney) 3 June 1/7: Narra won of ’em sez anythin but ‘Straight wire,’ ‘My oath,’ and ‘Good iron’.
1901		Bulletin (Sydney) 7 Dec. 37/1: ‘I can tell you where to look, and, if you can find out for certain that the still is there, I’ll give you a half-share of the reward.’ ‘Good iron!’ says Jap, ‘but how am I to find out?’.
1908		G. Seagram Bushmen All 132: Not Mickey the Dart? Yes? Good iron!
1936		(con. 1830s–60s) ‘Miles Franklin’ All That Swagger 79: Good iron!

see separate entry.

(Aus./Irish) a general expression of approbation, thanks etc; also abbr. to good.

1906		Marvel 22 Dec. 640: Good on the ‘Little Baron’! – which was the name Gerald had come to be known by.
1910		Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Dec. 18/1: Get to ’im, Lad!... You’re on a blanky drink / If you can wooden ’im! Good on yer, Bert!
1919		Marvel 3 Mar. 5: Go it, Bodder! Good on you!
1926		K.S. Prichard Working Bullocks 146: Good on you, Red.
1941		K. Tennant Battlers 190: ‘I wouldn’t have nothing to do with the p’lice.’ ‘Good on you, missus.’.
1951		(con. 1941) E. Lambert Twenty Thousand Thieves 53: Good on you, mates!
1960		‘Nino Culotta’ Cop This Lot 177: Good on yer, matey. Didn’ see wot yer did, but ut worked.
1971		A. Buzo The Roy Murphy Show (1973) 131: Good on you, Charles.
1985		I. Murdoch Good Apprentice (2001) 519: ‘I could have any girl in London!’ ‘Good on you, Edward,’ said Harry.
1997		L. Davies Candy 22: Good on ya, mate.
2005		J. Cody Home for Christmas 1: Good on you, girl! Gimme a look!
2007		D. McDonald Luck in the Greater West (2008) 129: Fuckin good on ’im.
2021		P. Papathanasiou Stoning 43: ‘Good onya, son [...] your ol’ man would be proud’.