Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. an obsession.

1780		‘Roger Wittol’ An Incredible Bore 12: But since ’tis your strange unaccountable freak, / To come at the meaning of all that you speak.
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’.

2. (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.

3. (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.

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.
2018		E. Acevedo Poet X 4: ‘Especially knowing you church girls are all freaks’.

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.