Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US campus) an exceptional student.

1896		W.C. Gore Student Sl. in Cohen (1997) 19: freak n. A student who is exceptionally proficient in a given subject.
1900		E.H. Babbitt ‘College Words and Phrases’ in DN II:i 36: freak, n. A student who is exceptionally proficient in a given subject.

2. (US, also freako) an offensively eccentric or crazy person, also attrib.

1890		Bird o’ Freedom 1 Jan. 3/2: To my great sorrow and indignation, this scrumptious symphony in cheap serge was accompanied by a male freak, who looked as if his mother had bought him ready made at a Christmas bazaar at so much a foot.
1900		Marvel XIV:358 2: Look here, you bearded freak.
1911		Grey River Argus (NZ) 28 Dec. 7/3: The t‘ar baby’ knocked him out in sixteen rounds [...] while he got two newspaper decisions against the coloured freak.
1918		B. Fisher ‘Mutt and Jeff’ [comic strip] In bed with your clothes on, eh? Up to the attic for you, you freak.
1924		‘Sapper’ Third Round 574: Old goodman is a pretty fair freak, but he does wash.
1934		Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves 189: Gussie, [...] now doubtless looked upon in the neighbourhood as the world’s worst freak.
1940		O. Strange Sudden Takes the Trail 143: Curious is puttin’ it mild – yo’re a freak.
1952		P. Larkin letter 1 Oct. in Thwaite Sel. Letters (1992) 190: The Lake District was quite pretty, but loused up with numerous freaks tricked out in the cast off clothes of the AEF.
1959		D. Niland Big Smoke 96: Suddenly a billy-cart screeched at his nerves, and he jerked around to see it, driven by a nine-year-old freak in goggles.
1964		H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 29: Dont touch me Harry, you big freak.
1971		D. Goines Dopefiend (1991) 11: Porky was just a fat freak with good dope.
1980		R. Dahl Twits (1982) 69: Those two fearful frumptious freaks eat Bird Pie every week for supper!
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 107: I meant the little space freak.
1999		Indep. Rev. 20 July 8: Hello freako! I hear you say.
2000		Guardian Rev. 14 Jan. 5: A white freak taking out whites.
2010		J. Ellroy Hilliker Curse 4: A neutral parent would have cropped out the freako little boy.
2020		(con. 1991-94) W. Boyle City of Margins 14: [L]ook at his kid out there. A fucking freak.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 88: Intel and shit have got half of freak-o, Commo, gay and weird-o L.A. hot-wired and filmed.

3. an obsession.

1906		A.H. Lewis Confessions of a Detective 136: Inspector Val examined track after track, to make certain that Settle, in some crazy or criminal freak, had not maneuvered a return by walking backward.
1952		K. Amis letter 8 Sept. in Leader (2000) 291: What’s this freaka windbreaka freak about finding out whether [Pee Wee] Russell’s alive or dead?
1968		T. Wolfe Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1969) 13: Freak referred to styles and obsessions, as in ‘Stewart Brand is an Indian freak’ or ‘the zodiac—that’s her freak’.

4. an obsessive; usu. in comb. (see -freak sfx).

1853		R.S. Surtees Mr Sponge’s Sporting Tour 22: The old ladies [...] alone looked on the hound freak with other than feelings of approbation.
1900		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 7 Apr. 3/1: [of obsessive gamblers] I must have got daffy from mixing up with freaks [...] Another freak [...] was and inveterate faro gambler.
1906		implied at -freak sfx
1978		R. Price Ladies’ Man (1985) 50: I was no freak for money.
1980		(con. 1975) W. Sherman Times Square 277: He’s a freak for booze.
1998		Hip-Hop Connection Dec. 13: I’m a freak for beats.

5. one who enjoys non-standard sexual practices.

1899		letter in Dly Times (New Brunswick, NJ) 7 Oct. 5/3: [We] settled in one of the parks for a good sleep, but the ‘Jersey Freaks’ thought we were intruding, and they started to make impressions upon us, so we walked until daybreak.
1922		E. Paul Impromptu 33: It was understood that the ‘heavies,’ being less in demand, had to entertain the rough men, the freaks, and those that were so drunk that they were hard to handle [HDAS].
1937		‘Boxcar Bertha’ Sister of the Road (1975) 178: The big money is in the ‘queer’ guys. And what freaks some of ’em are!
1958		H. Greenwald Call Girl 132: What do you mean so-called respectable members of society? they’re the worst freaks (perverts) of all.
1960		C. Cooper Jr Syndicate (1998) 109: I labeled you a pantie freak.
1977		C. McFadden Serial 25: He was just your ordinary sadomasochist freak.
1985		E. Leonard Glitz 151: She decides to do some business there and gets a freak wants to ball her hanging off the fucking balcony or some fucking thing.
1999		J. Ridley Love Is a Racket 241: You want to watch me masturbate? You want to pee on me or something? You a freak . . . ’cause that costs more.
2004		L.L. Meyer No Paltry Thing 200: That’s the kind of pain-freak you don’t want to hang out with in your golden years.
2012		‘Dutch’ ? (Pronounced Que) [ebook] He continued to piss in her face [...] she was actually enjoying it. The bitch is a freak! Shameeq thought.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 44: ‘Jimmy, do you know why you’re a freak?’.

6. (US campus) a fool.

1900		E.H. Babbitt ‘College Words and Phrases’ in DN II:i 36: freak, n. Fool, blockhead.
1908		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘The Lure of the Lucre’ Sporting Times 1 Aug. 1/4: To bestow ’er fickle smiles an’ ’er false kisses on a freak / Who’ll be comin’ into money after Christmas.
1997		Eble Campus Sl. Apr. 3: freak – loser.

7. a person.

1906

S. Ford Shorty McCabe 39: He was a tall, skinny old freak, with a dyed mustache.

8. (orig. US black) an effeminate man, a male homosexual.

1934		Afro-American (Baltimore, MD) 6 Oct. 7/5: Many pansies [...] have nothing but the fact that they are freaks.
1951		D.W. Cory Homosexual in America 104: Best known among these words are fairy [...] freak.
1964		B. Jackson Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 148: Jim, you talk about freaks, man, they was there, / bulldaggers and punks from almost everywhere.
1977		E. Torres Q&A 155: Don’t put the knock on the gay freak squad.
1984		C. White Life and Times of Little Richard 194: They called you ‘sissy’ back then. Or ‘freak.’ Or ‘faggot’.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 198: I had always called gays ‘sissies’ and ‘freaks’.
2000		W. Shaw Westsiders 59: Santa Monica Boulevard, where all the gays clubs and bars are. ‘Freaktown’ is what Silas calls it.

9. an impotent man.

1949

N. Algren Man with the Golden Arm 28: The years of boozing would betray him and he would succeed only in showing her what a freak she had.

10. (US black, also freakette) a woman, usu. sexually aggressive and adventurous.

1955		W. White ‘Wayne University Sl.’ AS XXX:4 302: crazy freak [...] Girl, usually pretty. Often used to refer to a woman of loose morals. ‘That chick is a real cool freak.’.
a.1962		‘Duriella du Fontaine’ in D. Wepman et al. Life (1976) 45: When from the side, with a sexy stride, / Came a broad that looked like some boss freak.
1971		R.D. Pharr S.R.O. (1998) 212: ‘Maybe one day she’ll even be a slave to somebody’s dick since Sinman says all junkies is freaks anyways’.
1981		H. Gould Fort Apache, The Bronx 155: She was a freak, all right, a hot little mama after all.
1995		(con. 1985–90) P. Bourjois In Search of Respect 291: If I was a girl, I’d be a freak [nymphomaniac]; but I’d make the niggas pay.
2001		J. Stahl Plainclothes Naked (2002) 185: I’d love to blow some of this candy and go Rick James on her ass. Get freaky with the freakette.
2005		Jade LB Keisha the Sket (2021) 26: ‘gurl u a dutty freak u kno’.
2006		G. Pelecanos Night Gardener 68: Her eyes were lively and told him that she’d be a freak in bed.
2012		G. Pelecanos (con. 1972) What It Was 115: I got a freak waitin on me in the car.

11. a piece of bad luck.

1963

T.I. Rubin Sweet Daddy 12: What the hell, this bust was a freak.

12. (orig. US) a young person devoted to the ‘counter-culture’ or ‘alternative society’; by extension, a drug user [like many parallel usages on the bad = good model, the young people in question adopted the name, which is synon. with ‘extreme hippie n.² (3)’, after they had been branded as ‘freaks’ by their critics].

1960		in Thom Subterraneans [film script] This neighborhood’s filled with freaks – artists and bums [HDAS].
1967		Oz 7 28/2: Long-haired ‘freaks’ and minimally dressed ‘teenyboppers’.
1973		M. Scorsese Mean Streets [film script] 2: A longhaired ‘freak’ is about to shoot up.
1981		D.E. Miller Bk of Jargon 341: freak: One who uses drugs, particularly the hallucinogens or marijuana, as an important aspect of his life, and/or adheres to the associated life-style and manners.
1998		G. Burn Happy Like Murderers 151: Bikers, druggies, drongos, pseuds, freaks and students.

13. (US campus) an unattractive person.

1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 121: Freak An ugly person.
1989		P. Munro Sl. U.

14. a lesbian; a prostitute who deals with lesbian clients.

1972		Milner & Milner Black Players 42: Women who have lesbian tendencies or who cater to lesbians are called freaks.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 161: Expressions like real women for a heterosexual woman and freak for a lesbian are terms used among women.
1985		T.R. Houser Central Sl. 49: straight freak A lesbian who takes the male part.

15. (US campus) an extremely beautiful, good-looking woman, usu. but not always a member of one’s own peer group.

1986		Eble Campus Sl. Mar.
1997–2000		Da Bomb 🌐 11: Freak or Freaky: [...] 2. Gorgeous woman.
2002		Teen Lingo: The Source for Youth Ministry 🌐 freak n. 1. a very good looking female.