Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also bird) an African slave en route from the place of capture to their destination; thus blackbird-catcher n., a slaver or slave ship; blackbird-catching n., the slave trade; also as v.

1832		Charleston Courier in Wade Slavery in the Cities (1964) 22 May n.p.: [Like] ‘A rookery [...] with so many blackbirds around it.’.
1837		‘Plunder Creek’ in Bentley’s Misc. Feb. 127: ‘Shut your ugly beak, you croaking blackbird!’ interrupted the American.
1859		Morn. Chron. (London) 6 Sept. 3/3: ‘Never mind, Tom, It’s only two blackbirds and you’ll soon make it up.’ The two blackbirds, translated, signify two negroes.
1867		W.H. Smyth Sailor’s Word-Bk (1991) 104: Black Birds. A slang term on the coast of Africa for cargo of slaves. Black-Bird Catching. The slave trade.
1869		Oreals Indep. Standard (Irasburgh, VT) 12 Oct. 1/5: From a regular trader to a blackbird catcher and from that to a pirate [...] ‘How would you like to go a blackbird-ketching?’ ‘What’s that,’ says I. ‘Why, goin’ to the Guinea coast for niggers’.
1873		W.H. Thomes Slaver’s Adventures 54: I was within two days’ sail of the coast of Cuba, with five hundred blackbirds on board.
1887		(ref. to 1836) Davis Recoll. Sea-Wanderer’s Life 179: We soon negotiated for about 1,100 ‘birds’ (blackbirds) of whom two-third were stout adults, the remainder consisting of women and full-grown boys .
1897		S.F. Call 3 May 7/4: It is from these islands that the ‘blackbird catchers’ employed by the sugar planters of New South Wales [...] procure the men.
1899		Boy’s Own Paper 8 Apr. 439: I told Wilson that he had no business to bring a well-educated lad like you to mix up with the blackbird catching.
1983		(con. 1880s–90s) I.L. Allen Lang. of Ethnic Conflict 45: ‘Black’ and Terms Modified by It: [...] black-bird [late 19th century].

2. (Aus.) an Aborigine; thus blackbird shooting n., the killing for ‘sport’ of Aborigines by white settlers.

1865		London Society Dec. 448/1: Men travelling up country used to provide themselves with [...] a kind of ‘licence to shoot blacks’ [...] The sport-loving traveller would frequently indulge in what [...] he called ‘blackbird shooting’. [AND].
1893		S. Newland Paving Way 131: Squatting won’t pay [...] nor is it an agreeable occupation, when attended with frequent black-bird shooting on a large scale [AND].
1909		E. Waltham Life and Labour in Aus. 71: This generally meant [...] extensive preparation for a day’s ‘Blackbird’ shooting.

3. (also bird) a forced labourer from the Pacific islands, e.g. a Melanesian or Polynesian; thus blackbird-catching, blackbird-hunting.

1869		P.A. Taylor Colony of Qld. and Alleged Slave Trade 11: Ships went to the New Hebrides to ‘catch blackbirds’, and they caught them by utter deceit for three years’ engagements.
1871		Narrative of the Voyage of the Brig Carl [pamphlet] They were going to take a cruise round the islands ‘black-bird’ catching.
1872		in Argus 21 Dec. (Supplement) 2/1: They were not going pearl-fishing, but blackbird-hunting. It is said you should have evidence as to what blackbird-hunting meant. [...] What did he allude to? To get labourers honestly if they could, but, if not, any way?
1881		Chequered Career 180: The white men on board know that if once the ‘blackbirds’ burst the hatches [...] they would soon master the ship.
1888		W.B. Churchward Blackbirding In The South Pacific 77: When all was over, we took the few birds we had caught down to the boats. [Ibid.] 126: We next searched through house after house [...] tying up all the blackbirds we found.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 18 Feb. 5//3: Blocking The Blackbirds. A truth reporter met three Kanaka sailors, natives of Savage Island [etc.].
1900–10		Stephens & O’Brien Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 17: BLACK-BIRDS: a name for Polynesian labourers.
1906		Sun (NY) 16 Sept. 34/3: Sometimes the blackbirds would rise and attempt to murder the ship’s company [...] especially when the blackbirds came from the same island.
1916		J. London ‘The Princess’ Complete Short Stories (1993) III 2463: I ran in cargoes of kinky-heads from Malaita, in the Solomons until I had twelve hundred of the blackbirds putting in cane.

4. attrib. use of sense 3.

1900

Bulletin (Sydney) 13 Jan. 14/3: A Queensland black-bird captain tells of a curious form of funeral rite current in Santo, New Hebredes.

5. a black person, usu. as in derog. context.

1897		Ade Pink Marsh 194: She’s got mo’ feathehs ’an any otheh blackbuhd ’at eveh flew ’long Deahbohn Street.
1903		A. Adams Log of a Cowboy 355: There were about a dozen entries and only one blackbird in the covey.
1917		Van Loan ‘Modern Judgment of Solomon’ in Old Man Curry 264: We ain’t any kind of friends [...] and that goes for every blackbird that eats out of his hand.
1927		(con. 1918) J.J. Niles Singing Soldiers 122: On their heels that gray October day came an army of blackbirds – American negroes.
1930		J.W. Johnson Black Manhattan 212: Early in 1928 Lew Lewis produced Blackbirds of 1928 at the Liberty Theatre.
1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1954		(con. 1920s–30s) J.O. Killens Youngblood (1956) 564: One cracker said to another cracker, ‘I ought to have my shotgun. You sure would see some black birds scatter’.
1959		H. Bloom Transvaal Episode 51: You can get your blackbird location constables to bring them in here [...] No white police in the location. [Ibid.] 220: Now, blackbird, you know all the people in this location.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 288: So you’re that slick blackbird who flew the coop.
1971		I. Faust Willy Remembers 52: The blackbirds have an extra inch in their Achilles tendon giving them a terrific advantage.

6. (US) a black child.

1903

A. Adams Log Of A Cowboy 355: There were about a dozen entries and only one blackbird in the covey.

7. (US black, also black ball) a dark-complexioned black person.

1980

E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 30: Expressions like coal bin, black bird, midnight [...] are used both playfully and pointedly to characterize extreme blackness. [Ibid.] 229: black ball, black bird Especially dark-complected black person.

8. (drugs) strong (20mg) capsules of amphetamine.

1974		J. Robinson Bed/Time/Story 216: Black birds. Black bombers. one of the few truly great pills. Sleek Biphetamine 30’s. Pure black capsules [HDAS].
1975		Hardy & Cull Drug Lang. and Lore.
1977		L. Young et al. Recreational Drugs.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 3: Black birds — Amphetamine.
2005		E. White My Lives 280: Hopped up on blackbirds, yellow jackets, PCP and joints sprayed with angel dust.