Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US, also Alcatraz bait, bait, jailhouse bait, penitentiary bait) a young person, usu. a girl, who is under the age of sexual consent; having sex with such an individual is to invite a jail sentence.

1930		J.T. Farrell ‘Looking ’Em Over’ in Short Stories (1937) 48: She’s jail bait.
1931		Clara Smith ‘Ol’ Sam Tages’ 🎵 Remember if your gal is young, you’d better wait, / ’cause them’s the kind they call jailhouse bait.
1939		Howsley Argot: Dict. of Und. Sl. 37: penitentiary bait – a minor female.
c.1943		‘Bill O. Lading’ You Chirped a Chinful!! n.p.: Alcatraz bait: A girl under legal age limit.
1947		I. Shulman Amboy Dukes 23: A kid who was definitely jail bait.
1957		J. Braine Room at the Top (1959) 182: I love you [...] I’m not interested in little girls. Particularly not in jail-bait like that one.
1957		W.R. Burnett Underdog 48: ‘Say,’ said Clinch, how the hell old are you—on the square?’ [...] ‘I’ll be eighteen in November.’ ‘Christ! Jail-bait,’ said Clinch.
1957		C. Himes Imabelle 127: ‘Strictly penitentiary bait,’ he muttered angrily, thinking, It’s these high-yellow bitches like her that cause these black boys to commit so many crimes.
1961		J. Kirkwood There Must Be a Pony! 243: ‘Who-wee, Billy Jo, ain’t he cute?’ ‘Cutest lil’ ole jail bait I ever did see,’ Billy Jo squealed.
1964		M. Allison ‘One of These Days’ 🎵 I’m gonna stop this foollin’, hangin’ out with jailhouse bait.
1966		T. Keyes All Night Stand 16: Get out of that jailbait. She’s fourteen.
1970		T. Southern Blue Movie (1974) 147: Morty, that fucking chick is jail bait if ever I see it.
1977		C. Hope Ducktails in Gray Theatre Two (1981) 45: jimmie: How old’s that dolly, Howellsie? [...] howellsie (reluctantly): Fourteen. bo-bo (gives shout of laughter): Jailbait!
1985		B. Simon ‘Outers’ Born in the RSA (1997) 42: You’ll check when I bring Charmaine, jailbait man, fourteen years old, nice and fresh.
1995		L. Stavsky et al. A2Z 5/1: bait – n. an underage girl [...] Don’t hang with bait if you don’t want your ass in the lockup.
1998		K. Sampson Awaydays 30: The young girls in the Chelsea, though, they’re pure jailbait.
2004		T. Winton ‘Boner McPharlin’s Moll’ in Turning (2005) 258: If I was Boner’s jailbait then at least I had somebody.
2005		(con. 1950s) E. White My Lives 108: (of a boy) ‘I’m just seventeen now’ [...] ‘Gawd, real jailbait.’.
2012		Independent (London) 19 Oct. 🌐 Explicit pictures of unsuspecting women and girls on forums with names like ‘Jailbait’ [etc.].
2013		T. Robinson Hard Bounce [ebook] ‘I wouldn’t have dry-humped the jailbait against the wall [...] That’s inappropriate’.

2. (US) a young person who is (seen as) a troublemaker and thus likely to be sent to prison.

1934		in E.J. O’Brien Best Short Stories of 1935 206: He thinks you’re a railroad dick and if he answers he’s jail bait.
1940		S. Longstreet Decade 214: A rough fellow, an hard bit of jail-bait.
1957		Laurents & Sondheim West Side Story I vi: Lissen, jail bait, I licked you twice and I can do it again.
1979		J. Morrow Confessions of Proinsias O’Toole 90: What would O’Lig do with helicopters? Who in that load of jailbait could —.
2012		(con. 1980s) I. Welsh Skagboys 159: Nelly, whae’s goat another tattoo oan his coupon, an anchor oan the side ay his cheek! The daft cunt. —Fuckin jailbait, ah joke, pointin tae it.

3. attrib. use of sense 1.

2004		Mad mag. Sept. 15: Puberteena: Goddess of Jailbait Female Gymnasts.
2012		(con. 1980s) I. Welsh Skagboys 387: Two antsy jailbait chicks are outside the Central, beckonin us ower.
2012		M. Lacher On the Bro’d 18: [A] bunch were total high school chicks — so I couldn’t risk some jailbait situation.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 41: Gary Cooper and a jailbait jill jumped into that bugged bedroom.

4. in fig. use, dangerous; of people, attractive but dangerous.

1954		Gordon & Wood Jail Bait [film script] You know that gun is jail bait. I won’t go bail for you again [HDAS].
1977		‘John le Carré’ Honourable Schoolboy 162: [of racehorses] None of your jail-bait chestnut with a light mane and tail that take the women’s vote in every race.

5. (US) a charge of statutory rape; also attrib.

1961		E. Hemingway Islands in the Stream 25: I was telling Tom that I don’t know what they got you on but that it wasn’t jailbait.
1971		E. Sanders Family 51: To ward off possible jail-bait charges, the young Miss Lansbury carried around with her a to-whom-it-may-concern letter from her mother, OK-ing association with C.M.

6. in attrib. use, likely to lead to imprisonment.

2015		I. Welsh Decent Ride 35: There’s bams whae outline the maist pointless, ludicrous jailbait propositions, jist usually cause thir lookin die a bit ay adventure.
2018		I. Welsh Dead Man’s Trousers [35]: [of murder weapons] In a perfect world ah’d be able tae keep them, but thir jist jailbait.