Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US Und.) imprisoned.

1859

Matsell Vocabulum.

2. (US campus) a general pej., of poor quality, unfashionable, unappealing, stupid, weak, bizarre.

1871		L.H. Bagg Four Years at Yale 47: Sick, bad, inferior, disgusting, contemptible.
1915		R. Lardner ‘Alibi Ike’ in Coll. Short Stories (1941) 45: You ought to keep the doll with us and he’d make Cobb’s figures look sick.
1937		Duckett & Staple ‘Double Feature’ in N.Y. Age 5 June 7/1: The dance was a killer, Jack. Bobby Miller really came oninstead of handing out some sick musical jive.
1970		D. Mitchell Thumb Tripping (1971) 177: Hey Jesus, this is sick.
1982		J. Sullivan ‘A Touch of Glass’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] Well don’t you think it’s a bit sick you know – a cat playing a song about a dog?
1987		G.A. Fine With the Boys 175: The Iowan male subculture [...] uses ‘moron’ rather than calling someone ‘sick’.
1989		P. Munro Sl. U. 170: sick bad, of poor quality; strange; gross; stupid, uncool.
1999		Guardian G2 18 June 5: It’s sick. You have to forget your ego and you just talk about how tired you are all the time.
1999		Observer Screen 10 Oct. 2: Oh, LA is one sick city, and the sooner the Big One hurtles the whole town into the Pacific the better.

3. annoyed, worried, disgusted, often with undertones of jealousy.

1887		G. Devol Forty Years a Gambler 28: We won the bank roll, which made the Frenchman very sick.
1897		‘Mark Twain’ Tom Sawyer, Detective 89: Well, it made our lawyer look pretty sick; and it knocked Tom silly, too.
1900		Sporting Times 9 June 3/3: I reckon Tommie and Archie feel slightly sick that I’m not howling any over that seven pound four, eh?
1908		‘O. Henry’ ‘A Tempered Wind’ in Gentle Grafter (1915) 185: They all had Golconda stock and looked as sick as you please.
1911		J. Masefield Everlasting Mercy 12: Time! There was Bill, and I felt sick / That luck should play so mean a trick.
1927		(con. 1910s) S. Lewis Elmer Gantry 260: He was expected everywhere to tell of ‘brave death in the cause of the Lord.’ He was very sick about it.
1931		D. Runyon ‘Tobias the Terrible’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 108: Then I can go back to Erasmus and make Joe Trivett look sick.
1932		(con. 1910s) J.T. Farrell Young Lonigan in Studs Lonigan (1936) 56: She [...] passed him on his right, making him look quite sick.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 252: Man, we got some records back there by a guy [...] called James P. Johnson that’ll make them all look sick.
1949		Wodehouse Mating Season 121: I imagined that she would be as sick as mud.
1954		Wodehouse Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit 93: That fellow Cheesewright makes me sick.
1965		N. Dunn Talking to Women 32: nell.: What do you think makes you get sick of people? kathy.: Habits – bad habits.
1992		in R. Graef Living Dangerously 58: I was gutted, well sick.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 11: He was sick and I could see it on his face.

4. (US) mentally disturbed, psychopathic, esp. in a sadistic way.

1955		C. Himes ‘Daydream’ in Coll. Stories 364: ‘You are sick, son,’ I said to my smiling reflection. After a moment I added, ‘But that isn’t anything to worry about. We are all sick. Sicker than we know’.
1963		J. Rechy City of Night 179: Fairies and nymphos and sick, sick cops.
1967		J. Breslin World of Jimmy Breslin (1968) 13: ‘I think you’re sick.’ [...] ‘No, I’m not. I just hate those people.’.
1968		L. Wolf Voices from the Love Generation 29: The norm is sick.
1970		(con. 1950s) H. Junker ‘The Fifties’ in Eisen Age of Rock 2 (1970) 100: As the get-well card said: I’m glad you’re sick, but I’m sorry you’re ill.
1974		(con. 1960s) R. Price The Wanderers 14: So you’re the sick sonovabitch who did that.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 22: Sick — some of them guys is sick.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 85: Jesus Christ. I always knew he was sick. But this.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 210: You’re a lot sicker than belly Blast can cure with whips.
1995		C. Hiaasen Stormy Weather 15: That was the sickest thing I ever saw.
1996		P. Howard The Joy (2015) [ebook] Mad Frankie is one sick fucker.
1999		Indep. 24 Sept. 4: Hirst exhibition ‘sick stuff’ says Mayor Giuliani.
2000		Hip-Hop Connection Jan./Feb. 34: He’s a sick motherfucker who should be murdered in a public square.
2004		T. Winton ‘Boner McPharlin’s Moll’ in Turning (2005) 287: The fucking creep! The miserable, sick bastard.
2011		S.J. Watson Before I Go to Sleep 334: ‘You’re sick,’ I say. ‘How fucking you dare you! Of course I loved him!’.
2020		D. Winslow ‘The San Diego Zoo’ in Broken 126: [A] wacko, a sick headcase [...] who wanted to see what would happen if you gave a handgun to a chimp.

5. (orig. US) morbid, depraved, e.g. a sick sense of humour.

1961		H.S. Thompson in Proud Highway (1997) 305: When they did a sick little ditty called, ‘Happy Landings, Amelia Earhart,’ there was a distinct odor of Lenny Bruce.
1966		R. Stone Hall of Mirrors (1987) 181: You’re sick man [...] you’re fucking depraved, old boy.
1967		L. Bruce Essential Lenny Bruce 132: I don’t want to be referred to with those sick comics, and Lenny Bruce is the sickest of them all.
1975		(ref. to 1958) A. Goldman Lenny Bruce 214: Lenny [...] was playing into the image of the sick comic [...] the sick comics were the big pop-culture phenomenon of the fall of 1958.
1977		G.F. Newman Villain’s Tale 183: It was like some sick joke against themselves.
1987		‘Joe Bob Briggs’ Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In 61: Night of the Living Dead (1968): [...] banned in several cities because it’s sick.
1993		I. Welsh Trainspotting 181: The Sick Boy is going round tae Marianne’s the night for some sick fun. Doggy style must certainly be on the menu.
1999		Guardian Weekend 26 June 3: Selling pornography in sweet shops [...] I think it’s such a sick and stupid thing.
2006		E. St Aubyn Mothers Milk 229: Two pot-bellied policemen training an Alsatian to tear apart any sick fucks who thought to disturb the peace.
2020		C. Hiaasen Squeeze Me 40: ‘I decapitated it with a machete.’ ‘That’s some sick shit’.

6. (also sic) excellent, first-rate [on the bad = good model].

1983		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 5: sick – unbelievably good: The Fleetwood Mac concert was sick.
1986		D. Fallowell Satyrday 25: I hope this party’s going to be sick [...] I fancy something really brilliant and sick.
1987		Eble Campus Sl. Oct.
1997		Eble Campus Sl. Apr.
1997–2000		College Sl. Research Project (Cal. State Poly. Uni., Pomona) 🌐 Sick (adj.) Awesome, neat, cool.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 106: Youthspeak for something good can range through zesty, mad, sick and bad.
2001		Guardian G2 3 Aug. 3: They was ... the nuts [...] heavy, large, sick.
2002		50 Cent ‘Wanksta’ 🎵 I got the sickest vendetta, when it come to the chedda, (uh huh) / Nigga, you play with my paper, you gon meet my baretta.
2002		Teen Lingo: The Source for Youth Ministry 🌐 sick adj. sick describing an extremely good trick in an extreme sport ‘That was a sick ollie over the stairs braw!’.
2005		A. Swartz ‘Sweet, Tight and Hella Stupid’ in S.F. University High School Update Mar.–Apr. 2: sick – tight.
2006		1Xtra [BBC radio] One of the sickest hip-hop gigs in 2006.
2010		BBC News ‘Report on Teenage Slang’ 11 Mar. [radio] sick = very good.
2010		C. Hiaasen Star Island (2011) 34: Yeah, just Cherish. Is that sick or what?
2011		J. Cornish Attack the Block [film script] 45: PEST You know what man? [...] I’m shitting myself innit. But at the same time... [...] This is sick.
2016		C. Eble (ed.) UNC-CH Campus Sl. Spring 2016.
2016		Guardian Guide 21 May 11/2: I committed myself to being a sick guy, a sick performer.
2019		www.verywellfamily.com/a-teen-slang-dictionary 10 Mar. 🌐 Sic - Something that is cool.
2020		G. Krauze Who They Was 6: Gotti is saying you’re sick fam, proper bigging me up to Tyrell.