mission, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

mission n.

[ext. of SE mission, ‘the commission, business, or function with which a messenger, envoy, or agent is charged’ (OED); the specific allusion is to the introduction to episodes of the TV series Star Trek (from 1966); the overall inference is of the seriousness of such an activity]

(drugs)

1. a search for drugs, esp. for crack cocaine or cocaine.

1992		T. Williams Crackhouse 123: Monica likes to go out on missions to find Scotty.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 15: Mission — Trip out of the crackhouse to obtain crack.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 42: I’d end up on missions — tried to bribe a chemist one time to get a few Temazepam.

2. a binge on crack cocaine.

1994

R.P. McNamara Times Square Hustler 82: Users quickly develop an insatiable appetite for crack, and three-to-four day binges or ‘missions’ [...] become common.

3. (UK black) a journey, an excursion.

2016

A. Wheatle Crongton Knights 2: Most of our parents banned any misions out of the ends after dark.

In phrases

on a mission

1. (US black gang) searching for, in pursuit of, performing any gang-related activity, esp. killing members of a rival gang or simply penetrating their territory.

1988		Ice-T ‘Power’ 🎵 I’m on a mission mackin hard as a hammer.
1993		Dr Dre ‘Rat-a-Tat-Tat’ 🎵 California, back in and on a mission, makin a point / ain’t no fuckin’ competition.
2002		Cypress Hill Sl. Gloss. 🌐 on mission: to be determined to do something.
2011		S. Kelman Pigeon English 113: A gang can be for good things [...] me and Partick Kuffour [...] were always going on fine missions.

2. (drugs) looking for and/or bingeing on drugs.

1986		Eble Campus Sl. Oct. 4: on a mission – out of touch with reality.
1986		S.F. Chronicle 2 July 6: (Factiva) Cocaine sold as free-base is called ‘hubba’ or ‘ready rock,’ they said. When it is mixed with marijuana and smoked, it becomes ‘fry daddy’ or ‘chewy.’ When you go out to buy cocaine, you’re on ‘a tweek mission.’.
1993		Snoop Doggy Dogg ‘Gz Up Hoes Down’ 🎵 I mob to the beach, on a mission for my DJ Warren G.
1995		(con. 1985–90) P. Bourjois In Search of Respect 79: Let me tell you about one time when I was on a mission [crack binge]. I wanted a blast.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 16: On a mission — Searching for crack and/or being high on crack.

3. (US campus) in search of.

1989

P. Munro Sl. U. 31: We’re on a mission for a cool bar and some fine dudes.

SE, referring to a mission house, in slang uses

In compounds

mission squawker (n.)

(US tramp) a mission evangelist.

1923		N. Anderson Hobo 217: They are unanimous in their opposition to the ‘sky pilots’ and the ‘mission squawkers’.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 129: Mission Squawker. – An evangelist.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

mission stiff (n.) [stiff n.¹ (5a)] (US)

1. a missionary worker.

1904

‘Number 1500’ Life In Sing Sing 256: Mission Stiff. Missionary.

2. a convert.

1904		‘Number 1500’ Life In Sing Sing 256: Mission Stiff. a convert.
1910		U. Sinclair Samuel the Seeker 205: ‘A mission stiff,’ repeated the other. ‘One of the guys that gets repentance!’.

3. (also jesus guy, mission bum, mission kid) a tramp or vagrant who frequents charitable missions, looking for hand-outs, food and shelter, esp. one who pretends conversion.

1909		W.H. Davies Beggars 46: Then there is the mission stiff [...] if he was in any place where there was no mission-room he would be likely to starve.
1910		J. Sullivan ‘Criminal Sl.’ in Amer. Law Rev. LII (1918) 891: A convict who works the churches and is insincere in his profession of religion is called a ‘mission stiff.’.
1912		Wash. Herald (DC) 18 Mar. 10/2: Washington’s ‘underworld’ is composed of [...] fallen women [...] joy riders, and mission ‘bums’.
1923		N. Anderson Hobo 98: L.D., forty-five years old, is a typical so-called ‘mission bum’. He has not been known to work for eight months. During winter he is always present in some mission. [Ibid.] 103: The Mission Stiff who preys upon the missions. He will often submit to being converted for his bed and board.
1926		W.H. Davies Adventures of Johnny Walker 55: The mission stiff is greatly despised.
1930		‘Dean Stiff’ Milk and Honey Route 58: You may hang on to the good life for a time, while your erstwhile companions in sin dub you a ‘mission stiff’. [Ibid.] 208: Jesus guy — A mission stiff. Sometimes called a faith man.
1944		O. Ferguson ‘Vocabulary for Lakes, [etc.]’ AS XIX:2 103: Most sailors who have come through the lean times have bummed up and down the country. They are mission stiffs or box-car sailors;.
1956		F.O. Beck Hobohemia 21: Not all bums are mission stiffs but all mission stiffs are bums; and bums are the best patrons of rescue missions.
1967		(con. 1920s) J. Thompson South of Heaven (1994) 3: The men had been drifting in [...] jailbirds, misson stiffs, hoboes.
1968		L. Wolf Voices from the Love Generation 127: You don’t get a lot of winos in the dance halls [...] You don’t get a lot of Mission kids in the dance halls.
1991		(con. 1920s) O.D. Brooks Legs 84: These facilities [...] made Chicago a haven for hobos, tramps, oddballs, mission stiffs, home guards and cripples.

4. attrib. use of sense 3.

1976

H. Garner Legs of the Lame, and Other Stories 29: How’d you get this mission-stiff job anyways, delivering bills for some phony politician?