Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. angry, frustrated; of an animal, vicious.

1857		F.L. Olmsted A Journey Through Texas 78: ‘Ill,’ for ‘vicious.’ ‘Is your dog ill?’.
1905		J.W. Carr ‘Words from Northwest Arkansas’ in DN III:i 83: ill, adj. Cross ‘The dog’s ill’.
1981		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 4: ill – angry, annoyed.
2000		Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 ill Definition: to be ugly, fucked up or wrong. Example: Yo son, hoe be ill, you best ditch da bitch.
2012		C. Eble (ed.) UNC-CH Campus Sl. 2011 6: ILL — rude, angry, in a bad mood: ‘Nicholas was ill all day after his fight with Courtney’ .

2. aggressive, offensive, bad.

1979		Sugar Hill Gang ‘Rapper’s Delight’ 🎵 A time to break and a time to chill / to act civilized or act real ill.
1988		Ice-T ‘Heartbeat’ 🎵 Try to get ill and serve you boy.
1999		Dr Dre ‘Murder Ink’ 🎵 Resume the wifey boo shit, cause yo my man don’t know / that his bitch is straight ill, servin ass with fo’fo’.
2000		Guardian Guide 1–6 Jan. 17: You gotta name pit bulls ill names like Killer or Bitch. Call it Daisy? Not a pit bull.

3. (also illy) on the bad = good model, wonderful, first-rate.

1987		C.I.A. ‘My Posse’ 🎵 Crenshaw is where I chill, / Never ever sick but always ill.
1987		LL Cool J ‘.357 – Break It On Down’ 🎵 Illy ill fire-starter hittin harder than King Kong.
1996		Tribe Called Quest ‘Baby Phife’s Return’ 🎵 Represent the Zulu Nation with illy rap creations.
1998		Source Oct. 22: Bone has [...] proved themselves to be the illest and most unique rap group out today.
2002		‘Touré’ Portable Promised Land (ms.) 161: We Words (My Favorite Things) [...] Baad. Ill. Dope.
2002		LL Cool J ‘After School’ 🎵 Body so illy she make a grown man silly.
2008		A. Wheatle Dirty South 52: His older brother’s got an ill ride.
2012		J. Díaz This Is How You Lose Her 97: My brother had never been the most rational of agents but this one was the ill zinger.

4. unattractive.

1997

Eble Campus Sl. Apr.