Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) an animal hide, used as money in early 19C California.

1840		R.H. Dana Two Years before the Mast (1992) 91: They have no circulating medium but silver and hides — which the sailors call ‘California bank notes’.
1848		Californian 12 Apr. 2/3: The good old Governor has been retrenching the expenses of the military and [...] vessels dealing in California shin plasters (bullock hides) have brought that stock 50 per cent. below par [DA].

(US black/gambling) a show bankroll in which one large-denomination note is exhibited on the outside, concealing a quantity of small bills; thus California roller, one who carries such a ‘bankroll’.

1953		‘John Eagle’ Hoodlums (2021) 47: ‘This is no California bankroll. Two tens around a lemon’.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 112: A phony bankroll — a wad of money with a maybe large bill on top and a few singles in the middle (and sometimes paper on the bottom) — is variously called a California bankroll, a nigger’s bankroll or a Chicago bankroll.
1992		D. Pinckney High Cotton (1993) 140: I would come to no good among the no accounts, burrheads, shines, smokes, charcoals, dinges, coons, monkeys, jungle bunnies, jigaboos, spagingy-spagades, moleskins, California rollers, Murphy dogs, and diamond switchers.

(US) newspapers, when used by tramps as a substitute for blankets.

1915		Morn. Tulsa Dly World (OK) 13 June 19/3: Tucson blanket — A newspaper used to sleep on .
1926		N. Klein ‘Hobo Lingo’ in AS I:12 650: California blankets — newspapers, when used for sleeping purposes.
1930		‘Dean Stiff’ Milk and Honey Route 201: California blankets – Newspapers when used to sleep on.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1964		(con. 1920s–40s) in J.L. Kornbluh Rebel Voices.
2000		(con. 1940s–60s) Décharné Straight from the Fridge Dad 193: Tucson blanket A newspaper, the usual item of hobo bedding, also known as a California blanket.

1. as Californian breakfast: a cocktail and a shoeshine.

1888

St Paul Daily Globe (MN) 29 July 4/4: ‘A Californian breakfast’ [...] ‘What’s that?’ ‘A cocktail and a shoe shine’.

2. an orange and a cigarette.

1999		J. McQuain English: American Style 57: CALIFORNIA BREAKFAST an orange and a cigarette.
2013		(ref. to 1962) R. Hendrickson God Bless America [ebook] California breakfast. A derogatory expression that, according to a January 1962 Western Folklore article, means ‘a cigarette and an orange’.

(US) a noose, used for hangings.

1942		Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Sl.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

(drugs) cocaine.

1976		in J.S. Martin Dict. CB Ling o.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 5: California cornflakes — Cocaine.
2013		T. Dorsey Riptide Ultra-Glide 22: Coke [...] Mayan mist, Bolivian blizzard, Inca telegram, California cornflakes [etc].

(US) an outside privy.

1970

in DARE.

(US) makeshift ‘socks’ made from sacks or similar rags.

1923		H.W. Wheeler Buffalo Days 98: I left my boots drying near the fire and from an old grain sack manufactured a pair of ‘California moccasins.’.
1936		R.F. Adams Cowboy Lingo 35: When the cowpuncher bound up his feet with sacks to keep them from freezing [...] he called such sacks his ‘California moccasins.’.
1968		R.F. Adams Western Words (2nd edn) 51/1: California moccasins A cowhand’s name for sacks bound about the feet to prevent them from freezing.

(US) makeshift ‘socks’ made by wrapping the feet in sacks, often flour sacks, over which boots can then be put on.

1952

(con. 1870s) W. Walker Injun Summer 78: Plodding over clods in their ‘California overshoes.’ (California overshoes are made by folding a tow sack cornerwise, setting the foot so the corner will fit neatly behind the calf of the leg; and the two extra corners are left to tie a firm knot after wrapping rightly [sic] around the foot.).

(US) a deck of cards.

1852		W. Kelly Diggings of Calif. 57: But by far the greater number were engaged in the study of the ‘California prayer-book’ [DA].
1932		(con. c.1850) M. Hamilton ‘Calif. Gold-Rush English’ in AS VII:6 430: A deck of cards was called a ‘Californian prayer-book’.
1942		R.G. Lillard Desert Challenge 143: Friends asked forgiveness after violent disagreements and proposed a congenial session, with a ‘California prayer-book’ [DA].
1968		R.F. Adams Western Words (2nd edn) 51/1: California prayer book A gambler’s name for a deck of cards.

see California banknote

(US) makeshift ‘socks’ made from sacks or other rags.

1907		‘The Broken-Hearted Leaser’ in Lingenfelter et al. Songs of the Amer. West (1968) 148: I’ve worn gunnysacks for overalls, and ‘California socks’.
1941		G.E. & B.J. Dane Ghost Town (1948) 4: A man didn’t ever have to go without socks if he had a couple of flour sacks. He’d put his foot on the sack near one end and he’d fold the corners and the front end over the top of his foot, and then he’d bring the other end up in back over the heel and wrap it around his ankle and leg and pull his boot on over it; and that was called the ‘California sock.’.

(US) of a motorist, running a stop sign.

1978		oral testimony in Lighter HDAS I 349/1: California stop.
1986		W. Safire N.Y. Times Mag. 11 Dec. 6: California stop, frequently localized as Hollywood stop, is what many readers identify as the slight slowing down of a motorist surreptitiously jumping an octagonal stop sign [HDAS].
2003		posting www.faqs.org 🌐 10 Sept. [Internet] How much is the fee for a California stop, (driving violation)??

(drugs) LSD.

1977		L. Young et al. Recreational Drugs.
1981		D.E. Miller Bk of Jargon 337: California sunshine: LSD.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 5: California sunshine — LSD.

(US) a large knife.

1856		W.G. Simms Eutaw xii. 142: His [...] hunter-knife [...was] a most formidable weapon only inferior in size and weight to the modern ‘California toothpick’ [DA].
1942		R.G. Lillard Desert Challenge 142: Men cut each other with ‘California toothpicks’ [DA].

(US) a woman whose husband has joined the California Gold Rush (started in 1849).

1850		Life in Boston (MA) 27 Apr. n.p.: Wonder what P. means by playing the gallant to the California widow.
1851		Manchester Spy (NH) 12 Apr. n.p.: [headline] Chariety for California Widows.