Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (Aus./N.Z.) an Englishman; a British immigrant, esp. one newly arrived or still nostalgic for the ‘home country’.

1926		A.R.D. Fairburn letter in Edmond Letters (1981) Dec. 15: He is a ‘homey’ who came out to Australia, buggered up a grocery shop, and came on to Norfolk.
1926		Eve. Post (Wellington) 11 June 4/5: ‘Homey’ asks: ‘Does the Government guarantee the money of depositers?’.
1938		R. Hyde Nor the Years Condemn 165: Don’t break your neck on it, and don’t mind if you’re called a Homie. After all, what does it mean? Somebody from Home. A bit sissy, but it could be worse.
1948		D. Ballantyne Cunninghams (1986) 21: But this homey Simmons was a loudmouth with a big opinion of himself.
1953		Truth (Wellington) 8 Apr. 9: I have never felt any hostility towards any ‘homie’ or ‘pommie’ until recently [DNZE].
1959		G. Slatter Gun in My Hand 193: This joker’s wife, she was a Homey.
1960		R.M. Muir Word for Word 181: He knew the men still regarded him as a Homey, though it was well over thirty years since he’d left the Old Country.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 57/2: homey dismissive name for a person, usually a migrant, who nostalgically looks to Britain as home.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

2. (US black) a stay-at-home person.

1941		D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam Star-News 29 Mar. 13: A Lane is a Square, and a Square is a Homey and a Homey ain’t nowhere.
1944		D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 89: The Homey is on the lowest rung of the social ladder [...] The genuine hepcat has nothing but scorn and contempt for the ‘Homey.’ ‘How can he be so stupid.’ He’s a stay-at-home, he reads heavy books about the goings-on in the 14th and 15th Century, while drawing his breath in the 20th.

3. (orig. US black, also homie-g) an affectionate dimin. of homeboy n. (4), used as n. or form of address, also attrib.

1941		D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam News 8 Feb. 20: The Big Face had to let the homies in the king’s row lay their larceny.
1944		D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 12: At the same time, homey, I’m eating onions and wiping my eyes.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 100/1: Homey. (South; rare elsewhere, except among Negroes) A person from one’s neighborhood, home town, or State.
1957		‘Ed Lacy’ Lead With Your Left (1958) 10: Relax, homie, and tell me exactly what you saw.
1962		R. Hauser Homosexual Society 94: It was rather like a ‘homie’ (a normal man) with his queer friend — it’s all quite nice but when is it going to stop and what’s going to win the 2.30 tomorrow?
1967		C. Cooper Jr Farm (1968) 93: Little Junior came in [...] dragging along some of his Washington homies.
1973		M. Agar Ripping and Running 140: Hey man, don’t play all that man, he’s my homey.
1981		Maledicta V:1+2 (Summer + Winter) 265: He’s at ease with a hood or a homey, a friend from the same home town and neighborhood.
1993		Dr Dre ‘Fuck Wit Dre Day’ 🎵 Cause you lost all your homey’s love.
1997		N. Barlay Curvy Lovebox 46: Ma homies na mean.
1997		T.E. Ricks Making the Corps 154: ‘We stuck up for each other after that,’ Prish says. ‘He’s really just a straight-up homey-g thug.’ He means that as praise.
1998		Source Oct. 150: Neither Buddha nor his homie Prince [...] had seen it coming. [Ibid.] Nov. 112: Outside the West Coast, homie, you can dis it.
2000		N. Barlay Crumple Zone 166: You s’posed to be my homie an’ you teefed my story.
2006		G. Iles Turning Angel 234: The girl told us Cyrus was wearing a bulletproof vest. His homeys confirmed that.
2010		A. Steinberg Running the Books 6: Inmates exchange intricate handshakes and formal titles: OG, young G, boo, bro, baby boy, brutha, dude, cuz, dawg, P, G, daddy, pimpin’, nigga, man, thug thizzle, my boy, my man, homie.
2013		K. Shea ‘Having Chiqui’ in ThugLit July-Aug. [ebook] [T]he sharp-eyed alpha wolves left their tubby homey out of their precious plans.
2015		S. King Finders Keepers (2016) 140: Where you been, homie?
2018		E. Acevedo Poet X 51: ‘Homie, what makes you think you can ‘handle’ me, / when you couldn’t even handle the ball?’.
2021		S.A. Crosby Razorblade Tears 151: ‘We in too deep now, homie’.

4. (US campus) a partner in a casual sexual relationship.

1997–2000

Da Bomb 🌐 15: Homey, lover, friend: A noncommittal sexual relationship.

5. a relative.

1997–2001

Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 homey n [...] 2. a relative.

6. (US gang) a member of the same gang as oneself.

2001

(con. 1990s) in J. Miller One of the Guys 119: ‘Sometimes he cheat so I’m gonna put my homies before him’.