bingo, n.¹ — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

bingo n.¹

[? B for brandy + Yorks. dial. stingo, strong ale (OED) or SE binge (DSUE)]

brandy or any hard liquor.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Bingo, c. Brandy.
1719		A. Smith Lives of Most Notorious Highway-men, etc. (1926) 202: Bingo, Brandy.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 11: Bingo—a dram of any sort.
1828		Lytton Pelham III 327: The old girl has lushed so well at the bingo, that she sleeps as if her next morrow was the day of judgment.
1830		Lytton Paul Clifford I 58: His bingo was unexceptionable; and as for his stark-naked, it was voted the most brilliant thing in nature.
c.1838		G.W.M. Reynolds ‘The House Breaker’s Song’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 122: From morn till night we’ll booze a ken, / And we’ll pass the bingo round.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
1859		‘Scene in a London Flash-Panny’ Matsell Vocabulum 98: Well, Bell, here’s the bingo—sluice your gob! But who was the cull that peached?
1861		T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxford (1880) 365: Some soda water with a dash of bingo clears one’s head in the morning.
1861		Vanity Fair (N.Y.) 9 Nov. 216: Kinchins and cullies, all must have their bingo.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 34/2: Among those who called in at the Royal Mortar for their ‘bingo’ were several officers belonging to the military stationed in Dover.
1868		J.D. McCabe Secrets of the Great City 359: The Detectives’ Manual gives a glossary of this language, from which we take the following specimens [...] Bingo. – Liquor.
1872		G.P. Burnham Memoirs of the US Secret Service 98: ‘Take another “snifter”, Bill,’ suggested Drake, pouring out half a tumbler full of the bingo.
1881		Trumble Sl. Dict. (1890).
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 1: Bingo - Brandy (old cant).

In derivatives

bingoed (adj.)

(UK society) drunk.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 80/2: since late 1920s.

In compounds

bingo-boy (n.)

1. a male lover of brandy.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Bingo, c. Brandy. Bingo-boy, c. a great Drinker or Lover thereof.
1719		A. Smith Lives of Most Notorious Highway-men, etc. (1926) 202: Bingo, Brandy; Bingo-Boy, a great drinker, or lover thereof.
1725		New Canting Dict.
1750–1882		B.M. Carew Life and Adventures.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
c.1850		Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict.
1889–90		Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant.

2. a gin-drinker.

1737, 1759, 1760, 1776

Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. n.p.: bingo-boy a great Geneva Drinker.

3. (US gang) a drunkard.

1859		Matsell Vocabulum 11: bingo-boy A drunken man.
1868		J.D. McCabe Secrets of the Great City 359: The Detectives’ Manual gives a glossary of this language, from which we take the following specimens [...] Bingo boy. – A drunken man.
1881		Trumble Sl. Dict. (1890).
1946		in Life mag. (in Wentworth & Flexner 1960).
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 23: bingo-boy A drunk.

bingo-club (n.)

1. a set of rakes whose favourite tipple is brandy.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Bingo, c. Brandy; […] bingo-club. c. a set of Rakes, Lovers of that Liquor.
1719		A. Smith Lives of Most Notorious Highway-men, etc. (1926) 202: Bingo, Brandy; [...] Bingo-Club, a set of rakes who are lovers of that liquor.
1725		New Canting Dict.

2. a club of gin-drinkers.

1737, 1759, 1760, 1776

Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. n.p.: bingo-club, a Club of Geneva Drinkers.

bingo-mort (n.) (also bingo-mot(t)) [mort n.¹]

a female lover of brandy.

1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: bingo-mort a Female-Drunkard, a She-Brandy-Drinker.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict.
c.1750–1882		B.M. Carew Life and Adventures.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 11: Bingo-mott.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 5: Bingo mot – a female dram drinker.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum.
1868		J.D. McCabe Secrets of the Great City 359: The Detectives’ Manual gives a glossary of this language, from which we take the following specimens [...] Bingo mort. – A drunken woman.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

bingo n.1

In derivatives

In compounds

bingo n.¹