crack, n.⁷ — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

crack n.⁷

[SE by late 1990s. Its strength, alleged addictiveness and destructive popularity have made it a source of social disruption. Unlike its powdered form, cocaine, known as ‘the rich man’s drug’, crack, for all that it has many middle-class devotees, is very much a drug of the ghetto and the housing estate, bringing the effects of cocaine to an underclass market]

1. (drugs) a purified and potent form of cocaine; a mixture of cocaine, baking powder and water, which is smoked rather than sniffed; crack is heated and the resultant pellets are smoked through a small glass pipe.

1985		N.Y. Post 8 Aug. 21: A powerful new form of cocaine – which produces the effects of ‘freebasing’ without its fiery risks – was discovered last night during a police raid on a Bronx narcotics den. ‘This stuff is safer to handle, but just as deadly in its addictive qualities,’ Bronx Narcotics Unit Lt. John Creegan said of the new cocaine product called ‘crack.’ ‘It can be smoked in a pipe and gives the same effect as freebasing without going through the old process of purifying it with ether and alcohol where you run the risk of setting yourself on fire.’.
1992		T. Williams Crackhouse 9: Pieces of this mass called ‘base’ or ‘freebase,’ are then chipped off. The substance makes a crackling sound when it is smoked, which accounts for its other name [...] crack is often precooked and mixed with other, cheaper chemicals.
1994		G. Disher Crosskill [ebook] The yuppies [...] used coke, the deros [...] used crack.
1999		Guardian G2 4 Aug. 17: Ol’ Dirty Bastard got himself arrested with 20 vials of crack about his person.
2001		(con. 1990s) in J. Miller One of the Guys 47: ‘My mom smokin’ crack and she act like she didn’t wanna be part of my life’.
2009		L. McIlvanney All the Colours 320: Maitland would be free to ply his dubious trades – smack, crack, rackets and girls.
2017		G. Gilmore Headland [ebook] ‘Whatever you need, mate. Charlie, crack, pills, smack, G, P, ice or black’.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 47/1: crack n. 2 cocaine that is refined and processed into chunks or rocks to be smoked in a glass pIpe device.
2023		Rayman & Blau Riker’s 8: I’m going through it ’cause I haven’t been able to get my crack, haven’t been able to get my medication.

2. (N.Z. prison) heroin.

1999		D. Looser ‘Boob Jargon’ in NZEJ 13 28: crack n. Heroin.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 47/1: crack n. 1 heroin.

In compounds

crack attack (n.) [play on McDonald’s hamburger’s coinage Mac attack, a sudden craving for a hamburger; note WWI Aus. milit. Bass attack, a drinking bout, a play on Bass ale]

(drugs) a sudden craving for crack cocaine.

1992		T. Williams Crackhouse 148: crack attack strong physiological craving for crack-cocaine or free base.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 6: Crack attack — Craving for crack.
2002		D. Zaitch Trafficking Cocaine 80: Despite many predictions [...] an overwhelming 'crack attack' on the European streets did not occur .

crack babe (n.) [babe n. (3)]

(US) a girl or woman who swaps sex for crack cocaine.

1993		A. Rodriguez Spidertown (1994) 51: He was going to find himself a woman, but the streets were empty. No Suarez Twins, no crack babes.
2002		P. Allatson Latino Dreams 151: She was never a ‘crack babe’ or a ‘putona’ [...] She has befriended Amelia, but is in no danger of replicating Amelia's particular sexual history.

crack baby (n.)

1. the child of an addict of crack cocaine.

1991		Cooper & Wright New Jack City [film script] I have a crack baby. He was born blind.
1995		(con. 1985–90) P. Bourjois In Search of Respect 283: It was a crack baby, so it stayed in the hospital.
2012		J. Hoberman Black & Blue 78: The ‘crack baby’ panic that erupted during the late 1980s was an event of this kind.

2. a general term of abuse; someone irritating.

1993		A. Rodriguez Spidertown (1994) 15: I know some real nice girls, gentle an’ juicy, not crack babies.
1998		Eble Campus Sl. Apr. 3: crackbaby – someone who is constantly hyperactive.

crack bitch (n.) [bitch n.¹ (1a)]

(UK black) a female crack addict.

1997		C. Newland Scholar 293: Art, Johnny and Teresa, a local crackbitch, approached.
2011		S. Speight Child of a Crackhead II 12: Take this crack bitch and tell your daughter I want to bust a nut tonight and to bring her ass over here if she want you to get high.

crack diet (n.) [a minimal diet, high on sugar, that is preferred by regular crack users]

(drugs) a few sweets and a soft drink.

1992

T. Williams Crackhouse 148: crack diet inexpensive cookies or pastries and the smallest available container of juice.

crack gallery (n.) [shooting gallery n. (1)]

(drugs) a place where users of crack cocaine congregate to buy and smoke the drug.

1989		(con. 1982–6) T. Williams Cocaine Kids (1990) 136: crack gallery a place where crack is both bought and used.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 6: Crack gallery — Place where crack is bought and sold.
2011		R. McCammon Blue World n.p.: Ques pulled the cab into the trashstrewn parking lot, and he spoke his first impression: ‘Place is a crack gallery, folks’.

crack head (n.) [-head sfx (4)]

1. (drugs) a smoker of crack cocaine.

1987		Masters of Ceremony ‘Cracked Out’ 🎵 It was the same old same old crackheads out walking.
1994		R.P. McNamara Times Square Hustler 89: Crack-heads, man, they be scandalizin’ theyself chasin’ the pipe.
1997–2001		Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 crack head n 1. someone addicted to crack cocaine. 2. someone who acts like they are addicted to crack cocaine; STUPID. (‘She is such a crack head.’).
2006		E. St Aubyn Mothers Milk 122: The captain of the First XI is now a crack-head.
2010		Codella and Bennett Alphaville (2011) 189: Crackheads go to the can’t hide it, can’t hold a job [...] level much faster than junkies.
2013		T. Robinson Hard Bounce [ebook] ‘Maybe the crackhead was just about to suck off big boy’s dick, here’.
2021		S.A. Crosby Razorblade Tears 14: He knew when a crackhead was going to try to stab him for a bag.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

2001		C. Stella Eddie’s World 93: Some ignorant crackhead nigger moving H for the west side Dominicans.
2007		C. Goffard Snitch Jacket 45: Stone crackhead psycho killer.
2008		G. Pelecanos Way Home (2009) 87: His crackhead mother died young and he got moved to foster homes.
2015		P. Beatty Sellout (2016) 121: The wave riders’ crack-and hophead skeletons, tweaked on sunrise.

3. an idiot.

1996		Eble Campus Sl. Sept.
1997–2001		Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 crack head n 1. someone addicted to crack cocaine. 2. someone who acts like they are addicted to crack cocaine; STUPID. (‘She is such a crack head.’).

crack ho (n.) [ho n.¹ (2)]

(US black) a woman who will offer sex in return for crack cocaine.

1996		Vibe Apr. 67/2: I want to work with you, but I ain’t coming out of the box in a Spike Lee joint playing no crack ho!
2002		(con. 1998–2000) J. Lerner You Got Nothing Coming 25: Cain’t a muthafucka get some A-condition? It be hot as a crack ho’s mouth up in here!
2011		C. Christensen Ascension I 275: My mother was a crack ho, I mean seriously, a prostitute. She sold whatever she could for drugs.

crack house (n.) (also crack den)(drugs)

1. a place where crack is processed from base cocaine.

1986		Ebony Oct. 140/2: Al Sharpton and members of his National Youth Movement paint an ‘X’ on a ‘crack’ house to symbolize the deaths of young people who died from the purified cocaine that was made and sold there.
1989		(con. 1982–6) T. Williams Cocaine Kids (1990) 51: Dominicans are by far the majority among dealers who operate cocaine and crack houses in New York City.
1992		V. Headley Yardie 107: I know where you can find lab [...] You know . . . a crack house.
2013		T.F. Dunham ‘Soul Collection’ in ThugLit July-Aug. [ebook] [T]he crackhouse—an abandoned row home where we met our customers.

2. a room or whole house in which users gather to take crack cocaine.

1992		in R. Graef Living Dangerously 98: There’s quite a few crack houses opening up — that’s somewhere they sell crack with guns and dogs so they don’t get ripped off.
1993		E. Richards Cocaine True 22: Harold’s apartment is a crack den, where people come in to smoke.
2000		Quad-City Times (Davenport, IA) 29 Nov. A2/3: Lake [...] went into the earby apartment building [...] ‘a known crack house’.
2007		W. Ellis Crooked Little Vein 3: It’s almost a point of honor to live near a crackhouse.
2011		G. Knight Hood Rat 194: Cambuulo had a crack-house closure served on it a few years aqgo.
2011		G. Hayward Corruption Officer [ebk] cap. 2: Fredis asked me to go with him to one of his other spots — crack houses.
2015		P. Beatty Sellout (2016) 6: A slow saunter past the White House, Phoenix House, Blair House, and the local crackhouse.

crack mama (n.) [mama n. (1)]

(US campus) a crack-addicted black woman; thus, derog., any black woman.

1997		Da Bomb Summer Supplement 4: Crack mama (n.) {Highly offensive; derogatory} Literally, a homeless, crack-addicted African American woman. This term can be used to refer to any African American woman.
2000		Mia X ‘Ghetto Livin’’ 🎵 I pity all them babies born from crack mama’s / But I’m a mama too.
2009		K.D. Reid He Got Me Pregnant on Purpose 105: By now, I may look like a ‘crack-mama,’ and I will even allow you to refer to my ‘baby’ as a ‘crack-baby’.

crack monster (n.) [-monster sfx]

1. (US drugs) a habitual user of crack cocaine.

1985		T.R. Houser Central Sl. 16: crack monster [...] ‘Dudes be slangin’ to all them crack monsters.’.
1998		M. Baker Bad Guys 23: She was a crack monster, didn’t weigh but 110 pounds.
2005		N. Miller Fight Within 22: I was out of control, a complete crack monster.

2. a woman who exchanges sexual favours for a dose of crack cocaine.

1985

T.R. Houser Central Sl. 16: crack monster A girl, usually ugly, who is in such desperate need of cocaine, that she will ‘give-it-up,’ i.e., go to bed with someone, for a little crack.

crack spot (n.)

(drugs) an area where people can purchase crack cocaine, but do not smoke it.

1989		(con. 1982–6) T. Williams Cocaine Kids (1990) 136: crack spot a place where crack is sold but not used.
1998		L. Stringer Grand Central Winter (1999) 62: It would be like the crack spots. Just cop and go.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 7: Crack spot — Area where people can purchase crack; place where crack is sold, but not used.
2012		‘Dutch’ ? (Pronounced Que) [ebook] I ain’t no stick-up kid! [...] I ain’t never stuck up no crack spot!

crack whore (n.) [SE crack whore, a woman who prostitutes herself to sustain a crack cocaine addiction]

(US campus) a general pej., there is no need for drug use to be involved.

[1990		M. McAlary Crack War (1991) 68: A crack whore nicknamed Princess [...] had turned up [dead].
2000		W.T. Vollmann Royal Family 542: This too is the crack whore’s philosophy.
2001		Eble Campus Sl. Fall 3: CRACK-WHORE – person unworthy of respect or esteem.
2010		V.J. Gotastory Year of the Crack Mom 200: They said they saw Jarvis going to the crack house all the time and that you was a crack whor.
2017		D. Winslow The Force [ebook] The baby that some crack whore dropped into the bathtub.

In phrases

crack up (v.)

(drugs) to smoke crack cocaine.

1992		R. Price Clockers 444: You crack up today? You hit the peace pipe?
2000		M. Manning Get Your Cock Out 26: Mince cracked-up, the popping crystals turning into white smoke which he pulled deep into his lungs.

on crack (adj.)

(US campus) crazy, ridiculous, of behaviour or a situation.

1998		Eble Campus Sl. Nov. 4: on crack – ridiculous. ‘I have 3 exams in 24 hours. It’s so on crack.’.
2014		D.B. Flowers Bangs 203: He sized himself up in the mirror—Buffalo Bill on crack, he thought—and swaggered out of the store an into the laughter of his traveling companions.

crack n.7

In compounds

In phrases

crack n.⁷