Green’s Dictionary of Slang

face n.

1. (US, also facial area) audacity, impudence.

[UK]Middleton & Rowley A Fair Quarrel II ii: I that had face enough to do the deed, Cannot want tongue to speak it.
[UK]Etherege She Would if She Cou’d I i: I admire thy impudence, I could never have had the face to have wheadled the poor knight so.
[UK]Etherege Man of Mode V i: I am amazed to find him here! How has he the face to come near you?
Defoe Shortest Way n.p.: You have butchered one king! Deposed another king! And made a mock king of a third! And yet, you could have the face to expect to be employed and trusted by the fourth [F&H].
[US]Spectator No. 566: A man has scarce the face to make his court to a lady, without some credentials from the service to recommend him [F&H].
[UK] ‘Extra-Ordinary’ in Bentley’s Misc. IV 500: Would Tom but try, the brutes must rue it; / I’m sure Tom has ‘the face to do it!’.
[UK]Sam Sly 12 May 3/3: [W]hy had you the face to tell him that you were the son of a wealthy gentleman.
[UK]F. Smedley Harry Coverdale’s Courtship 370: I can hardly suppose even Phil Tirrett would have the face to throw me over and ride for O’Brien.
[UK]J. Greenwood Little Ragamuffin 200: I wonder you’ve got the face to ask such a thing.
London Figaro 3 June n.p.: ‘Look at that girl in pink, Sancho,’ he said, ‘that’s Lord Rubric’s daughter. Ran away with the family organist—that’s he with her. I like their face, though, to come here; its awfully good.’ [F&H].
[Aus]Bulletin (Sydney) 13 Jun. 9/2: The two loungers were passing the G.P.O., when suddenly the handsome clerk, catching sight of a party coming the opposite way, hurriedly dragged his friend up Barrack-street, and exclaimed, ‘I couldn’t have the face to meet that man.’.
[US]Lantern (N.O.) 29 Jan. 2: He has the face to think he’s a masher.
[Aus]Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 237: Face, confidence, impudence, brass, etc.
[US]W.C. Gore Student Sl. in Cohen (1997) 16: face n. Audacity, impudence. facial area Same as ‘face’.
[Aus]E. Dyson Fact’ry ’Ands 214: Acourse I parted me arf jim — couldn’t have ther brick face t’ do less under ther circs.
[US]G.R. Chester Five Thousand an Hour Ch. xviii: ‘I knew it would be a deuced lot of bother for you,’ regretted Eugene apologetically. ‘It’s a lot of face in us to ask it. So crude, you know.’.
[Ire]Joyce Ulysses 698: Then he wrote me that letter with all those words in it how could he have the face to.
[UK]N. Barlay Crumple Zone 1: Today they’ve got real face. They’re standing — hangin’ more like — bang on my home run.

2. credit at a public house.

[UK]Hotten Sl. Dict.
[UK]Sl. Dict.

3. (US) the mouth, as a source of speech; in phrs. below.

4. (US) the mouth, as used for eating and drinking.

[US]E. Townsend Chimmie Fadden Explains 34: He trowed schooners down his face.
[US]Salt Lake Herald (UT) 19 Oct. 5/1: He’s weeding [the pocketbook] when he sees a grab all across the street leaning on a mush with a steamer in his face.

5. (US) a person, with ref. to interference, nosiness.

[UK]J. Baker Chinese Girl (2001) 191: And keep your face out of his business or you’re brown bread.

6. a general term of address, e.g. Hello, face.

[UK]Wodehouse Psmith in the City (1993) 58: ‘Sit down, fice!’ roared the pleasure-seekers.
[UK]Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves 205: ‘Hallo, face,’ I said.
[UK]E. Raymond Child of Norman’s End (1967) 36: ‘Hallo, Face!’ cried the others.

7. (Aus.) one’s personal appearance.

[Aus]Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl.

8. (US black) a stranger, esp. a white stranger.

[US]D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam News 8 Feb. 20: They figured it out that all clucks belong in the smoker or doing a mirror on the No 2 Face’s treads.
[US]Lou Shelly Hepcats Jive Talk Dict. n.p.: face: white man.

9. (US) fellatio or cunnilingus; usu. as get face or give face.

[US] (ref. late 19C) N. Kimball Amer. Madam (1981) 89: These items of sexual life had various names over the years. [...] If the guest was the active partner, he was muff-diving, a face-man, or after sea-food-mama.
W. Bisig Lessons for Teacher [ebook] You’ll mouth it, white girl! You gonna gimme some face else I’ll beat yo’ ass.
[UK]Indep. on Sun. Rev. 6 Feb. 24: Hey, I bet you give great Dutch face, right?

10. (US black) a white person.

[US] ‘Jiver’s Bible’ in D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive.

11. (US) a cosmetics kit, thus make-up.

[US]H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 50: [Lee] took a mirror from her pocketbook, examined her face then dove in her pocketbook and extracted her comb, cosmetics and hurriedly fixed her face [ibid.] 220: Im going to shower, dress and put a face on then we can go to Marys for a few drinks.
[US](con. 1965) E. Newton Mother Camp 83: Skip re-appears in ‘face’ but men’s clothes.
[UK]Indep. Mag. 12 May 62: Unless I’m going to a function or out to dinner, I don’t put a face on.

12. a person; esp. in police use, a known criminal.

[[US]Salt Lake Herald (UT) 19 Oct. 5/1: Who is Jimmy de Face? [...] He used to be a gope cracker, but four long stretches in the stir broke his heart and he’s a dead one now].
[US](con. 1948) G. Mandel Flee the Angry Strangers 45: I don’t want no Dills Hotel whore queerin the joint fer all the respec’bul faces.
[UK]F. Norman Bang To Rights 22: I eventually managed to catch up with this face I new.
[UK]F. Norman Guntz 52: While I was rabbiting to this face another face came in.
[UK]G.F. Newman You Flash Bastard 120: Sneed wasn’t interested in the flasher [...] Not even in the face who was selling pills to a head in the entrance to the underground station.
[UK]J. Sullivan ‘May the Force be with You’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] The face who dropped a microwave oven in the market! What did he look like?
[UK]Guardian Guide 12–18 June 89: Vic Dakin, a gangland face not a million miles away from Ronnie Kray.
[Ire]P. Howard Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightdress 251: Risteóir, there’s a new face on the landing.
[UK]J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 18: I see two faces from London queuing for their luggage.
[Scot]A. Parks To Die in June 184: Teddy Jamieson [...] Always out and about, face on the scene.

13. (US Und.) a respectable image, a ‘front’.

[UK]K. Howard Small Time Crooks 53: You better start up a face pretty damn quick, or else.

14. a recognizable person.

[UK]N. Cohn Awopbop. (1970) 88: You only had to be a face. And what was a face? Roughly, it was when you walked into any snob restaurant anywhere and everyone sensed you come in behind them and automatically turned round.
[UK]New Musical Express 17 Nov. n.p.: There’d be all the faces and people that I knew. A face is just someone you recognise, you might not even know his name, but he’s known as a face.
[UK]J. Sullivan ‘Go West Young Man’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] I am often up West Del, I’m one of the faces!
[UK](con. 1960s) A. Frewin London Blues 87: The other face we had in today is a character bereft of honesty, integrity, vision and truth.
[UK]J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 69: He saw it as a bonus to run into a face he knew.
[UK]D.S. Mitchell Killer Tune (2008) 56: Your father [...] was a well-known face around town.
[UK]‘Aidan Truhen’ Seven Demons 174: He knows people and people know him. He is a face.

15. a fellow member of a mod gang, esp. one who is considered particularly fashionable.

[UK]The Who ‘I’m the Face’ 🎵 I’m the face if you want it, dear, All the others are third class tickets by me baby, is that clear.
The Who ‘Sea and Sand’ 🎵 on Quadrophrenia [album] I am the face, she has to know me. I’m dressed up better than anyone within a mile.
[UK]Guardian Guide 17–23 July 65: Every mod’s favourite film; the tale of Jimmy, a would-be face in mid-60s London.
[UK]M. Heatley John Peel 47: Feld had been a face on the London Mod scene since the early 1960s.

16. (UK Und.) a professional criminal, usu. an armed robber with no territorial ambitions.

[UK] (ref. to 1960s–70s) D. Campbell That Was Business, This Is Personal 3: The end of the sixties and early seventies saw the emergence of the ‘Face’, the armed robber who worked in a small team, [and] had little interest in controlling territory beyond a nice mansion house in Hertfordshire or Essex.
[UK]N. ‘Razor’ Smith Raiders 52: A south London face who was big in the porn industry.

In phrases

face up (v.)

(US black) to fellate.

[US]in J. Miller Getting Played 78: Interviewer: Like what might he say and she says that's not true? Ronald: She faced 'em up [had oral sex with them].

Pertaining to oral sex

In compounds

face job (n.)

(US) cunnilingus.

[US] (ref. to late 19C) N. Kimball Amer. Madam (1981) 244: That always seemed to please the trade that wanted a face job in a black muff.
face-maker (n.)

a counterfeiter.

[UK]New Sprees of London 21: This crib is kept by a notorious face maker, named Bob Dorkings, the only surviving branch of a family that have all dropped off suddenly, at hot roll time.
[UK]‘Joskin’s Vocab.’ in Yokel’s Preceptor 30: Face makers, Coiners.

In phrases

Pertaining to the mouth

In phrases

open one’s face (v.)

(US) to speak, esp. to speak rudely.

[US]Ade Artie 26: If you open your face to this lady again tonight I’ll separate you from your breath.
[Scot]Eve. Post 11 Jan. 6/5: Hould yer lyin’ tongue, and open your face at your peril!
[UK]Wodehouse ‘Making of Mac’s’ in Man with Two Left Feet 123: He just thought a heap without opening his face.
[UK]Nottingham Eve. Post 10 Sept. 5/2: You just open your face with that sort of talk in Alberta and you’ll hear something to your good.
[US]D. Runyon ‘Blood Pressure’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 81: Nobody as much as opens his face from the time we go in until we start out.
[US](con. 1920s) Dos Passos Big Money in USA (1966) 784: Out our way a man can’t open his face without stirrin’ up a hornets’ nest.
[US](con. 1950s) McAleer & Dickson Unit Pride (1981) 43: Don’t let me catch any of you guys openin’ you face to anythin’ different.
shut one’s face (v.) (also close one’s face, shut one’s face up)

to be quiet; esp. as imper. shut your face!

[UK]Dly Gaz. for Middlesborough 19 July 4/2: He [...] told me to ‘shut my face, or he would knock half my b—y snout off’.
[UK] in Punch 26 Nov. 252: Shut yer face, you pattering josser!
[US]S. Crane George’s Mother (2001) 122: Close yer face while I gits me smoke!
[UK]E. Pugh Spoilers 27: You shut your face.
[US]Eve. Star (Wash., DC) 1 Aug. 31/3: Siit down, Gett, and shut the front door of your face.
[US]G. Bronson-Howard Enemy to Society 295: You keep your face closed, George, and you too, Morgy.
[UK]T. Burke Limehouse Nights 308: Shut yeh silly face.
[Aus]C.H. Thorp Handful of Ausseys 272: Oh, shut yer face an’ give yer mouth a chance, you hungry-gutted coot.
[US]F. Packard White Moll 172: ‘You close your face, Pinkie!’ he snapped.
[US]‘Max Brand’ Pleasant Jim 50: ‘You, Chuck, shut your face,’ said the marshal peremptorily.
[Aus]Smith’s Wkly (Sydney) 20 Aug. 11/2: Eventually the model ‘S.M. Herald’ leader will read like this [...] If we thort ger wun minit Jack Lang wus jonnick we’d shut our face.
[US]C. Odets Awake and Sing! I i: Shut your face!
[UK]R. Westerby Wide Boys Never Work (1938) 106: Shut your face up, sonny.
[NZ]N. Marsh Died in the Wool (1963) 182: You shut your face or I’ll knock your bloody block off.
[US]M. Spillane Long Wait (1954) 15: If you’re holding me on a charge, name it or shut your face.
[UK]H. Livings Nil Carborundum (1963) Act I: Shut your face.
[Aus]Lette & Carey Puberty Blues 77: Shut ya face or you’ll get it too.
[UK]P. Barker Blow Your House Down 1: Brenda rounded on her, ‘Shut your face, you.’.
[Ire]F. Mac Anna Ship Inspector 205: ‘Fuck off.’ ‘Shut your face.’.
[UK]Indep. 3 June 8: Just shut your face and leave it all to me.
[UK]Observer Mag. 4 Jan. 14: A guy like that should shut his face.

SE in slang uses

In compounds

face-ache (n.)

1. a beating-up.

[US]McClure’s Mag. 25 26/1: ‘Got the face-ache?’ demanded the second mate, rising with a clenched fist. ‘No, sir,’ stammered the steward [...] Doyle hauled off and floored him. ‘Got the face-ache now? [...] Well, you’ll get it every time you go screwing your mouth up behind an officer’.
[US]S. Stallone Paradise Alley (1978) 47: He and his brothers stood an odds-on chance of being waltzed into the alley and given a professional face-ache that would last them the rest of the summer.

2. a joc. form of address or nickname [the ache presumably comes f. laughter].

[Aus]Sport (Adelaide) 14 Mar. 4/6: Why does Joe W [...] swear when he sees Faceache .
[UK]‘Leslie Charteris’ Enter the Saint 37: Face Ache — I mean Uncle Ambrose — is paying.
[UK]E. Raymond Marsh 46: Kick off, Faceache.
[UK]M. Marples Public School Slang 59: Invective again may be expressed figuratively [...] The metaphor may be contained in a single word — e.g. face-ache, fathead, batty [...] , half-baked.
[NZ]G. Slatter Pagan Game (1969) 162: I said, look here, face-ache.
[UK]D. Nobbs Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976) 283: I’m very worried about you, face ache.
[US]D. Pinckney High Cotton (1993) 72: The Americans asked, ‘What do you boys have against the flag?’ and the British said, ‘You, face-ache.’.
[UK]K. Lette Mad Cows 103: Jack [...] gave her one of his dubious, ‘Cut the crap, face-ache’ expressions.
posting at forums.gorillaz.com 31 July 🌐 Hey, face-ache! didn’t I tell you to pay the heating bill before my birthday??
face-card (n.)

(US black) $100 bill.

[US]Big L ‘Ebonics’ 🎵 Genuine is real, a face card is a hundred dollar bill.
face fins (n.)

a moustache, presumably a large one that protrudes on either side of the cheeks.

[UK]Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 372/2: late C.19–20.
face fittings (n.)

a beard and/or moustache.

[UK]Windsor Mag. 4 158/1: A Biblically minded pupil had, on the analogy of the Samson-Delilah case, come to the conclusion that were he shorn of his face-fittings, he would ipso facto lose his wonderful skill with the cane.
[UK]Cornhill Mag. 89 678: [heading] The Folly of face-fittings. The ideal man is clean-shaven. Confidently he exposes to the world his features undisguised by hirsute appendages.
[Aus]Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl.
face fluff (n.)

(Aus.) male facial hair.

[Aus]W.A. Sun. Times (Perth) 28 July 1/1: The fierce-whiskered Dook intimated that face-fluff is the divine right of nobility.
face-fuck/-fucked/-fucking

see separate entries.

face fungus (n.) (also face fur, fungus)

male facial hair, i.e. a beard and/or moustache; occas. as a term of address.

[Scot]Eve. Teleg. (Dundee) 13 May 6/2: He offered to pledge one of his whiskers [...] he had grossly over-capitalised his face-fungus.
[UK]Punch 134 127/2: [He] will now be able to subject his chin to that prolonged and careful irrigation without which no really satisfying face fungus can be provoked.
[[US]S. Ford Shorty McCabe on the Job 199: The front office door opens easy, and in slips this face herbage exhibit].
[UK]‘Taffrail’ Sub 132: Neither are the ‘young gentlemen’ encouraged to grow their face fungus.
[UK]Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves 106: Few people have ever looked fouler than Bingo in the fungus.
[UK]‘Sapper’ Final Count 860: Now then, face fungus, what the hell does it mean?
[UK]Western Gaz. 13 Mar. 2/5: The old blades that Ole Bill uses these days to uproot his face fungus.
[UK]J.B. Booth Sporting Times 74: He was a stout man, with a wide countenance adorned with grey, mutton-chop whiskers — a species of ‘face fungi’ much in vogue at the time.
[Scot]Sun. Post 22 Feb. 8/5: Get the skipper to allow you to shave off that face fungus of yours.
[Aus]R. Rivett Behind Bamboo 396/1: Face fungus, beard.
[Aus]R.S. Close With Hooves of Brass 111: ‘Believe it or not, Ziff is quite a good-looking bloke under that face-fungus’.
[UK]A.E. Farrell Vengeance 67: D’ya think ’e’ll reck-ernise ya wiv’ out ya face fungis?
[UK]K. Lette Foetal Attraction (1994) 266: There’s three inches of face fungus on his chin.
S. Farndon Escape Inc. 228: Andy did a spot of the driving while I got rid of the face fungus.
[US]J. Stahl Happy Mutant Baby Pills 132: Even though [...] I now owned the requisite face fur, my people were fiends, not hipsters.
[UK]J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 177: [T]hose bearded brutes Marx and Kropotkin - just what is it about rancid face-fungus and subversion?
face-hole (n.)

the mouth.

Urban Dict. 20 July 🌐 Face Hole Used to describe a mouth or pie hole.
Twitter 14 Oct. 🌐 Part of me thinks 'Christmas?' and the other part thinks ‘open all four [bottles] now and pour into your facehole’.
face-lace (n.)

whiskers; a beard.

[US] ‘Jargon of the Und.’ in DN V 445: Face lace, Whiskers.
[UK]J. Curtis You’re in the Racket, Too 187: You couldn’t expect a tart to look twice at a bloke with face-lace like that.
[US]Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 79: face lace Whiskers; a beard.
face-maker (n.)

a father of an illegitimate child; thus face-making, conceiving a child illegitimately.

[UK]Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Face-making. Begetting children.
[UK]Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
[Ire]Tom And Jerry; Musical Extravaganza 53: Face-makers, fathers of bastards.
[UK]Egan Anecdotes of the Turf, the Chase etc. 177: The overseers, with tremendous frowns and black looks on their brows, threatened Sporting betsey [...] that if ever she committed more sins in the face-making* line—quod, and nothing else should be her portion. (*Slang phrase for bastard children).
[UK]‘Rummy Toasts’ in Flare-Up Songster in Spedding & Watt (eds) Bawdy Songbooks (2011) IV 295: Success to the face-making manufactory.
face-man (n.) [note the character Faceman in the 1980s US TV series The A-Team]

an attractive man, a ‘pretty boy’.

[US]Baker et al. CUSS 113: Face man A sexually attractive person, male. A socially adept person.
[WI]M. Thelwell Harder They Come 153: Dah youth over deh by de bar. You see how ’im have face? Prety bwai, nice in ’im face. Is a faceman dat.
[UK]Guardian Weekly 15 Sept. 21: Your fellow drinkers back at the bar, for instance. Are they students? [...] They won’t be drunk at the end of the evening, they’ll be combooselated. They may be facemen (handsome) or fugly (fat and ugly).
face music (n.)

(US) speech, verbal delivery.

[US]Mexico Missouri Message (MO) 18 Jan. 3/1: His Face Music was as rough house as a police captain talking fireworks to his men .
face-palm (v.)

to place one’s palm on one’s forehead to indicate frustration or stupidity; also as n. and excl.

[UK]Guardian 23 Nov. 🌐 One of [Susie Dent’s] favourite creative words was ‘facepalm’, indicating the movement of someone's palm to their forehead [...] it is being used as a verb or a noun. You can say, ‘She gave herself a facepalm … or you can just say, “Facepalm! Lol”.’.
[US]C. Eble UNC-CH Campus Sl. 2011 4: FACEPALM — place the hands on the face out of annoyance or frustration: ‘I facepalmed when Steve said that in front of the class.’ ‘You are so stupid! Facepalm!’.
[US]C. Eble UNC-CH Campus Sl. Spring 2016 3: FACEPALM — drop one’s face into one’s hand as an expression of exasperation, embarrassment [...] When written, usually placed between asterisks: ‘I forgot my homework on my desk. *Facepalm*’.
face plant (n.)

(US) a fall face-first to the ground, also as v.

[US]D. Lehane Gone, Baby, Gone 295: He whacked me on the back in what I guess was a friendly show of camaraderie that almost sent me into a face plant into the mud.
[US]M. Lacher On the Bro’d 57: Beth totally tripped and faceplanted.
[Can]J.A. Struthers Appel 217: I was happy I didn’t impact a building or do a face plant on the regiment’s parade square.
face-plaster (n.) [it ‘bandages up’ a miserable face]

(Aus.) an alcoholic drink.

[Aus]K. Tennant Battlers 173: It was Uncle who insisted that, as Snow was just out of hospital, they should all stop at the first hotel and get him a ‘face plaster’.
face-prickle (n.)

(Aus.) facial hair.

[Aus]T. Winton Human Torpedo 31: He didn’t look old enough for a job, even with all the face-prickle.
face rape (v.) [on model of SE date rape]

(US campus) to kiss passionately.

[US]Eble Campus Sl. Oct.
[US]Eble Sl. and Sociability 31: Some compounds are grammatically ambiguous. Facerape ‘kiss passionately’ can be analyzed noun + verb or noun + noun.
face stretcher (n.)

(US) an old woman who attempts to look young.

[US]Edwardsville Intelligencer (IL) 14 Sept. 4/4: The Flappers’ Dictionary [...] Face Stretcher: Old maid who tries to look young.

In phrases

as many faces as a churchyard clock [church clocks can have faces on all four sides of a rectangular tower]

used of anyone seen as duplicitous or unreliable.

[UK]Fraser & Gibbons Soldier and Sailor Words and Phrases 56: CHURCHYARD CLOCK, AS MANY FACES AS A: Used of an unreliable man (Old Navy).
[UK]Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 721/2: C.19–early 20.
face like...

see separate entry.

face made of a fiddle

a phr. used to describe someone who is irresistibly charming.

[UK]Smollett Sir Launcelot Greaves I 165: Your honour’s face is made of a fiddle; every one that looks on you loves you.
get one’s face in a knot (v.) (also have one’s nose in a knot)

(Aus.) to get angry, excited or over-emotional (cf. get one’s guts in a knot under gut n.).

[Aus]Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 12 Dec. 7/7: Bushie need not get his face in a knot, as I am willing to ride against any girl under 20 years of age, for 50 miles, without a saddle or padding, for a small stake.
World (Hobart, Tas.) 11 June 6/3: I am not your enemy because I want to elucidate matters in the interests of my clients. So don’t get your face in a knot when I ask you a fair question!
[Aus]Northern Star (Lismore, NSW) 16 Mar. 7/4: A big business man with baggy trousers and his red face in a knot.
[NZ]D. Ballantyne Cunninghams (1986) 135: ‘What a face!’ she told her eldest son, who came in with his nose in a knot about something.
get out of someone’s face (v.) (also get out of someone’s ass)

(orig. US black) to stop pestering, to leave alone, esp. as imper.; vars. are ad hoc, see cits. 1928 and 1979; thus in someone’s face

in P. Oliver Songsters and Saints (1984) 33: Take those scroungers out of my face.
[US]Lonnie Johnson ‘Cat You Been Messin’ Around’ 🎵 Yes woman you’ve been messin’ around / So woman get out of my face / Or I take my fist and knock you down.
[US]Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 4: Jim Crow just wouldn’t get out of my face.
[US](con. 1920s–30s) J.O. Killens Youngblood (1956) 38: ‘Man, get outa my face,’ Joe Youngblood said.
[US]L. Hughes Simply Heavenly I iii: Melon, I say, get out of my face.
[US]O. Davis Purlie Victorious in Black Drama I ii: Get outta my face, boy – get outta my face, before I kill you!
[UK]J. Colebrook Cross of Lassitude 274: I cold-cocked her with a water jug. She wouldn’t get outa my face.
[US]E. Torres Carlito’s Way 43: If you so slick, why you here, motherfucker? Get out of my face.
[US]‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 38: You jive flat-backing zero bitch, stay out of my face!
[US]E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 95: Tell ’im get out you face. Jus’ righteously ride ’im down to the ground!
[US] Ice-T ‘Rhyme Pays’ 🎵 Came into the party just to rock the place / And your big zombie lookin’ freak still won’t get out of my face.
[Scot]I. Welsh Trainspotting 174: Git ootay ma face. Tell us it wisnae you thit turned Tommy oantae Sekker n that crowd.
B.K. Ray Cold Wing Dinner 169: So get out of my face with that bullshit.
get up in someone’s face (v.)

(US) to challenge, to attack.

[US]M. Lacher On the Bro’d 75: She was looking to bitch out on somebody. She started getting all up in Ricky’s face.
go off one’s face (v.)

to collapse with laughter.

[Aus]A. Buzo Rooted I i: Jees I had to laugh. Nearly went off my face.
have a face on one (v.)

1. to be ugly, e.g. she’s got a face on her like...

[UK]J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.
[Aus]J. Davis Kullark 65: Sour faced ol’ cow. ’Ad a face on ’im like death.

2. to be in a troubled, nervous mood.

[Ire]R. Doyle Commitments 4: He didn’t mind the song. But Jimmy had a face on him.
[Ire]F. Mac Anna Cartoon City 45: Myles noticed Jarlath Boon skulking in the far corner with a face on him like a boiled squirrel.
[Ire]P. Howard Miseducation of Ross O’Carroll-Kelly (2004) 177: Clementine [...] is sitting there with a big face on him.
[Ire]L. McInerney Blood Miracles 51: ‘I don’t know what you did but she’s got a face on her’.
have ne’er a face but one’s own (v.) (also have never a face but one’s own, have no face but one’s own) [the ‘faces’ are those on coins]

to be penniless.

[UK]B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: N’are-a-face-but-his-own Not a Penny in his Pocket.
[UK]New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
[UK]B.M. Carew Life and Adventures.
[UK]Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: No face but his own: a saying of one who has no money in his pocket or no court cards in his hand.
[UK] ‘Modern Dict.’ in Sporting Mag. May XVIII 100/1: [as cit. 1785].
[UK]G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant n.p.: Ne’er a face but his own not a farthing in his pocket.
[UK]Lex. Balatronicum.
[UK]Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
[UK]G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
[UK]Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
in someone’s face (also in someone’s business) [get out of someone’s face ; ult. basketball use, when a defensive player crowds his opposite number. The term, while ostensibly a negative use, can sometimes be considered positive by its primary users, the young; note also face v. (2)]

(orig. US black) in a confrontational manner, used of one who forces their attentions on another; often as get in someone’s face v., to confront, to provoke.

[US]Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 106: He got in my face just as I stepped into the lobby [...] ‘You’re Milton Mezzrow, aren’t you?’ He seemed too honest for a bill-collector or a process-server.
[US]B. Jackson Thief’s Primer 143: Down here in prison, one of these rums, one of these idiots, he’s not going to get in my face.
[US]‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 135: What the fuck you doing here in my face?
[US] Ice-T ‘Power’ 🎵 I’m outspoken, no jokin’, get in my face your jaw will get broken.
[US]D. Burke Street Talk 2 19: She’s always in my face!
[UK]T. Fontana and S. Jablonski ‘Ancient Tribes’ Oz ser. 2 ep. 2 [TV script] ‘Why did you do it?’ [i.e. an assault] ‘He got in my face’.
[US]L. Pettiway Workin’ It 187: I wish I had never stole from her or cussed her out ’cause she be in my business – you know, telling me to calm down and don’t do this and take care of the children.
[UK]N. Cohn Yes We have No 146: Some yob is always in his face.
[US]W.D. Myers Handbook for Boys 12: [W]hen people do things for you, they start getting all up in your business.
[US]W. Ellis Crooked Little Vein 71: Look, I’m sorry I got in your face before.
[US]W.D. Myers ‘marisol and skeeter’ in What They Found 181: I’m not the kind of girl who goes around getting into other people’s business and I definitely don’t want you in mine.
in-your-face (adj.) [in someone’s face ] (orig. US)

1. aggressive, intense, confrontational.

[US]Detroit Free Press (MI) 1 Dec. 4D/5: It’s his way of saying: ‘There — You see!’ ‘In your face,’ they say on the street.
[US]Wash. Post 25 Feb. D1: Pipkin was the epitome of the ‘hot dog’, interested only in a personal, in-your-face confrontation with the defender of the moment.
[US]Philadelphia Dly News (PA) 11 July 86/4: ‘He went on to do incredible things at Drake. Sort of gave us an in-your-face job’.
[US]L. Stringer Grand Central Winter (1999) 64: That’s Bold Gold. Worn gangsta-style. Up-front and In-Your-Face.
[UK]Guardian Editor 21 Jan. 19: Asking in-your-face questions to outrageous guests.
[US]Indianapolis Star (IN) 15 Apr. 73/2: ‘My son pops out his pacifier and says, “Oh, shit.” That was my first in-your-face moment’.
Star trib. (Minneapolis, MN) 12 May A11/1: The impact of in-your-face talking heads, TV’s extreme close-ups [...] violate real-life social norms.

2. unashamed.

[UK]J. Mowry Six Out Seven (1994) 21: Stacy had graduated to in-your-face fat, and these days you wouldn’t even figure he owned a shirt.
no face no case

(UK/US Black / gang) phr. claiming that if the police have no identification of an individual, they cannot bring a case against them in court.

avvo.com 17 Jan. 🌐 Is the saying "no face no case" true? [...] You could still be convicted on circumstantial evidence even if the video is not definitive. So, no, that phrase is not automatically true.
1011 ‘Next Up?’ 🎵 Get round there and ching man up, like anything B get wetted / No face, no case.
off one’s face (adj.)

1. under the influence of drink or drugs.

[NZ]McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 78/1: off one’s face stoned on marijuana.
[Aus]P. Temple Bad Debts (2012) [ebook] Danny come in [...] drinking Jim Beam, in and out of the pisshouse, gets off his face. They kicked him out.
[UK]N. Barlay Curvy Lovebox 148: Marcello’s wide awake now, but still off his face.
[UK]N. Griffiths Grits 33: Foof, am off me fuckin face . . . this is just fuckin incredible. [Ibid.] 106: Am just pissed off mi ferce.
[Aus]P. Temple Truth 140: ‘She’s okay?’ ‘Um, speak freely, boss?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Off her face, boss.
[UK]Times Review 30 Apr. 3/6: He started working for them ‘sitting 16ft up a lighting rig, off my face, pretending to work’.
[Aus]T. Spicer Good Girl Stripped Bare 21: He’s on ‘rowies’ — a tranquiliser ten times stronger than Valium. His entire gang [...] are off their pock-marked faces on it.

2. in fig. use, extremely enthusiastic about.

[UK]K. Lette Llama Parlour 19: My project’s in turnaround at the Sundance Institute [...] Redford is apparently off his face over it! He’s zonked. Like totally.

3. crazy.

[NZ]H. Beaton Outside In Act II: Fucken off their faces, I reckon.
[Aus]R. Beckett Dinkum Aussie Dict. 39: Off his (or her) face: Mad.
on one’s face (adv.)

(US) on credit, for free.

[[UK]Sl. Dict. 156: Face entry the entrée to a theatre. From the FACE being known, as distinguished from free-list entry].
[US]C.L. Cullen Tales of the Ex-Tanks 56: I went through all the regular pockets – not a sou-marquee. ‘This is nice,’ I thought, ‘I can’t do the Continent [...] on my face.’.
[Scot]‘Ian Hay’ Last Million 149: ‘How do we get there?’ inquired her practical friend. Miss Lane [...] smiled seraphially. ‘I guess we can do it on our faces.’.
out of one’s face (adj.)

under the influence of drink or drugs.

[US]E. Grogan Ringolevio 46: Both of them were goofballed out of their faces.
[Can]Totally True Diaries of an Eighties Roller Queen 🌐 6 Aug. [Internet] I went to the beach with Karey L. We got smoked up. Holy shit – were we ever stoned out of our faces.
[UK]Guardian Rev. 13 Aug. 19: You don’t even try to get up in the morning / You just reach for your skins and you’re out of your face.
[UK]B. Hare Urban Grimshaw 36: Greta and I [...] got loads of brown and got smashed out of our faces.
push a face (v.) [ext. use of SE push one’s face forward]

to obtain credit through deceit or bravado.

[UK]O. Goldsmith ‘Serious reflections on the life and death of the late Mr. TC ’ in Coll. Works (1966) III 47: There are three ways of getting into debt; first by pushing a face, as thus, ‘You Mr. Lutestring, send me home six yards of that paduasoy, dammee; but harkee, don’t think I ever intend to pay you for it, dammee.’.
run (on) one’s face (for) (v.) [SE run, to enter into a race, i.e. to bet one’s face, as the agent of obtaining credit]

(orig. US) to obtain credit.

[[Ire] J. O’Keeffe Life’s Vagaries 24: Well, I didn’t run in debt for my face].
[US]Morning Herald (N.Y.) 7 Feb. 2/2–3: At the better place, many of them can run their face for drinks.
[US]D. Corcoran Picking from N.O. Picayune 76: He is never loth to ‘run his face’ whenever the credit system leaves an aperture into which he can insinuate it.
[US]J.R. Lowell Biglow Papers 2nd series (1880) 66: Men whose word wuz full ez good’s their note, / Men that can run their face for drinks.
[US]J. O’Connor Wanderings of a Vagabond 94: He would start on a spree, and keep it up as long as he had a cent or could run his face for a dram.
[US]Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 16 Sept. 17/1: [G]etting her meals irregularly where she could ‘stand up’ the restaurant keepers, or going without them when she failed to ‘run her face’.
[US] ‘Central Connecticut Word-List’ in DN III:i 17: run one’s face, v. phr. To make use of one’s credit.
W.L. McAtee Dial. Grant County 53: Run one’s face...use one’s credit, buy on tick [DARE].
[US] in DARE.
soak one’s/the face (v.)

see under soak v.1 .

up in someone’s face (also up in someone’s business)

(orig. US black) arguing with, confronting face-to-face, e.g. as get up / jump up in(someone’s) face.

[US]A. Young Snakes (1971) 102: You oughtta see how nice my old man been now [....] Remember how the cat use to all the time be up in my face and standin on my head?
W.D. Myers Won't Know Till I Get There 57: I knew that Hi-Note and Earl had been edging toward a showdown for a while, but I didn't think Hi-Note would jump up into Earl's face like that.
[US]W.D. Myers Scorpions 149: ‘Don’t jump up in my face ’cause you got a gun’.
[US]W.D. Myers Slam! 203: What I would have really liked to have happened was to let the coach come up and jump up in my face.
[US]W.D. Myers ‘Monkeyman’ in 145th Street 80: One of the Tigros spotted Monkeyman and got up in his face.
[US](con. 1998–2000) J. Lerner You Got Nothing Coming 74: All I’m sayin’ to you is that when some motherfucking two-ton toad gets up in your face, starts [...] playing you, you’re gonna want some righteous woods to stand up for you.
[US]W.D. Myers Handbook for Boys 138: ‘I bet you feel funny sitting there hearing me talk about God, don't you? [...] Me putting God all up in your face when you just want to eat your breakfast’.
[US]W.D. Myers ‘marisol and skeeter’ in What They Found 181: ‘[D]on’t be jumping up in my face because I don’t like that’.
[US]G. Hayward Corruption Officer [ebook] Ch. 11: Just lookatcha, runnin’ round here, up in all these bitches faces telling ya corny jokes and shit.
[US]Myers & Workman Kick 174: ‘You’re all up in my business, ain’t you?’ McNamara came back.
[UK]‘Aidan Truhen’ Seven Demons 10: Sean got all up in my face about a murder he committed.

In exclamations

in your face! (also in your gob! your face!)

a dismissive rejoinder.

[US]J. Jones From Here to Eternity (1998) 38: ‘Your face,’ Leva said. ‘Your mother’s box,’ Milt said.
[US]Eble Campus Sl. Apr. 2: in your face, facial – exclamation: That’s unfair. That was unsuccessful.
[US]M. Myers et al. Wayne’s World [film script] Wayne: New York. ’Yo! Taxi!!! In your face!’.
[Ire] (ref. to 1963) D. Healy Bend for Home 174: Oh but I do. You do in your gob.
[UK]Indep. Rev. 10 July 8: Yo’ Momma! In yo’ face!
[US]‘Touré’ Portable Promised Land (ms.) 158: We Words (My Favorite Things) [...] Take you there. In your face.
your face and my ass! (also your face and my arse! ...butt! my ass and your face!) [the implication is kiss my arse! excl.; however, the original use of the phr. is as a derog. retort to a request for a match (i.e. a light), the implication being that the face and ass are a ‘match’ (i.e. look the same)]

a general dismissive excl., often following a real or imagined request for a match.

A. Hamilton If you Don’t Watch Out 93: ‘Well, let’s have a cigarette before I go. Got a match?’ ‘Yes. Your face and my ass’.
[US]Southern Folklore Quarterly Vol. 31 29: Do you have a match? Your face and my ass. Your breath and my farts. My socks, your breath. Not since Superman died.
[US]S. King It (1987) 348: ‘Your f-f-face and my buh-buh-butt, T-T-Tozier,’ Bill said and hung up.
[UK](con. 1960) P. Theroux My Secret Hist. (1990) 175: ‘Give me a match, shit-for-brains.’ ‘Your face and my ass,’ Larry said, and punched him on the arm.
[Ire](con. 1970) G. Moxley Danti-Dan in McGuinness Dazzling Dark (1996) I iii: Your face and my ass.
[Ire]J. O’Connor Salesman 292: ‘Have you a match?’ I said. ‘Your face and me arse, Homer.’.
[US]Beastie Boys ‘Craswlspace’ 🎵 Here’s a match – my ass and your face.