Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to attempt a dangerous, foolhardy stunt, esp. a dive or leap and esp. one that ends in failure; in fig. use, to take a chance.

1899		W.J. Kountz Billy Baxter’s Letters 76: All of a sudden old K. C., who had been leaning over farther and farther, did a Brodie out of his chair and lit on his eye.
1909		T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 20: All we can remember is doing a brodie from some window.
1913		‘Lord Ballyrot in Slangland’ in Tacoma Times (WA) 3 July 4/4: This Cholly guy wants to do a Brodie off the rattler!
1917		Day Book (Chicago) 13 Jan. 17/1: He was eating poached eggs [...] once in a while [...] he’d let some egg do a ‘Steve Brody’ off the knife and spear it with his mouth.
1918		J.N. Hall High Adventure 34: Tell him I know it was my fault. Tell him I ‘took a Steve Brody’.
1921		Wodehouse Three Men and a Maid Ch. ii: Wotcha do a Brodie for off’n that ship? I didn’t see it myself, but pa says you come walloping down off’n the deck like a sack of potatoes.
1938		D. Runyon ‘Princess O’Hara’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 432: The King cannot drive them through Central Park without doing a Brodie off the seat.
1940		J. Archibald ‘No Place Like Homicide’ in Popular Detective Apr. 🌐 Gendarmes grabbed Satchelfoot just as he was about to do a Brodie off the Queensboro Bridge.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 238: throw a brodie To make a failure of a criminal act.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 34/2: Brodie. [...] 3. A long chance; a gamble. ‘Take a brodie on this trick (theft). If the score (theft) clicks we’re in (nicely situated).’.
1967		Maurer & Vogel Narcotics and Narcotics Addiction (3rd edn).

2. to commit suicide, esp. to throw oneself off a building or bridge or jump out of a window.

1902		Democrat & Chron. (Rochester, NY) 6 July 19/3: Prevented a Suicide [...] Seaman attempted to do a ‘Brodie’ off Vincent street bridge [...] but was seized going over the rail by Policeman Ireland.
1926		Times Dispatch (Richmond, VA) 17 Oct. 7/7: Throwing a Brodie — Coommitting suicide.
1928		J. Callahan Man’s Grim Justice 39: He was scared to death. I thought he was going to do a Brodie.
1933		Ersine Und. and Prison Sl.
1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS.

3. (US) in fig. use, to ‘take a jump at’, to attempt.

1909

Chickasha Dly Exp. (OK) 12 Aug. 4/3: Come on, you mutts now, with the dive, / And do the Brodie at this fiction.

4. lit. or fig., to fall.

1909		Leavenworth Post (KS) 22 Oct. 7/2: We will hear on one side how Jeff will make Johnson ‘do a brodie’ act over the ropes.
1912		Topeka State Jrnl (KS) 13 Dec. 11/2: Cy Morgan, the Cross Roads cutup of the Athletics, was another [...] to take a Brodie out of the majors.
1944		J. Archibald ‘Skip Tracer Bullets’ in Popular Detective June 🌐 That ledge was two hundred feet [...] above the concrete, and if he took a Brody, they would clean him up with a rake and a mop.

5. (US) in boxing, to lose a fight through a knockout.

1911		Winnipeg Trib. 3 Feb. 6/3: I winged him on the beezer [...] and made him do a Brodie through the floor into the coal bin.
1912		Arkansas Dly Traveler 2 Sept. 7/5: Saylor dancing all over his gymnasium shoutitng to the camp birds that at last a man has been found who could make Raymond Bronson ‘do a Brodie’.

6. for a boxer to lose a fight deliberately, to ‘take a dive’.

1910		Dly Times (Wilson, NC) 17 June 7/2: Think of the money they would have to hand Johnson to ‘do a Brodie’ [...] Why, they would have to slip him at least $200,000.
1919		Arizona Republican (Phoenix, AZ) 7 Nov. 13/2: Miller attempted to take a Brodie soon after the second round started, but Referee Jack Douglas refused to start the count.
1941		J. Archibald ‘Alibi Bye’ in Popular Detective June 🌐 ‘Mickey Finlan, wasn’t supposed to lick Palsy, because Mickey won the last time.’ [...] ‘Hy got nice odds on Mickey as he was supposed to do a Brodie.’.

7. to fail, to slip back into bad habits.

1912		St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) 27 May 12/2: The Cardinal players figure that the Reds will fall back to fourth place [...] The Cards also think that Chicago will do a brodie while they have little hope for the Phillies.
1928		J. Callahan Man’s Grim Justice 174: I was doomed to take a Brodie sooner or later.
1947		E. Condon We Called It Music 217: ‘The act did a Brodie’.

8. (US prison) to escape.

1960

(con. 1950-1960) R.A. Freeman Dict. Inmate Sl. (Walla Walla, WA) 18: Brodie – escape. ‘Moe did a Brodie, so that count is one short’.

9. (also throw a Brodie) to have a metaphorical fit.

1928

J. Callahan Man’s Grim Justice 262: The chief’ll throw a Brodie when he hears this. [Ibid.] 287: I nearly did a Brodie when he told me that he [...] would pay me one hundred dollars a week.

1. to commit suicide by jumping from a high point.

1927		H.C. Witwer Classics in Sl. 30: Goin’ down to the dock she pulls a Brodie into the drink, thusly endin’ all.
1943		Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 18 Sept. 19/1: And who is this mythical, mysterious cat / That drives ’cruits into pulling a ‘Brodie’.

2. (US) to fail.

1949

Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).