Green’s Dictionary of Slang

of a man, the physical signs of sexual frustration.

1947

I. Shulman Amboy Dukes 19: I’m one guy that doesn’t like passion cramps.

the labia.

1997

Roger’s Profanisaurus in Viz 87 Dec. n.p.: passion flaps n. A more romantic term for an axe wound (qv).

see under fruit n.

(S.Afr.) the space between the front teeth; such spaces are created by the extraction of up to four teeth.

1974

in J. & W. Branford Dict. S. Afr. Eng. (1987).

(orig. milit.) any article of women’s underwear deemed to reduce the chances of (male) exploration; also in homosexual use.

1943		Chicago Trib. 28 Aug. 8/5: If [she] happens to be a WAAF, she is wearing blackouts, twilights or passion killers, all names for her uniform knickers.
1948		H.R. Rubinstein Four Jewish Plays 242: ray (smiling sweetly at her): Just for that , Auntie , I've a good mind to walk around in my ‘passion-killers.’ (She steps nonchalantly out of her skirt, puts it over her arm and prepares to walk out in her khaki bloomers).
1958		E. Birney Turvey 211: ‘Passion-killers, sir.’ Turvey looked abashed again [...] ‘What the Airforce girls wear. Kinda big and blue. And, and baggy’ .
1967		J. Orton Diaries (1986) 11 Mar. 111: Henrietta had those rather unfashionable underwear, not the briefettes like all the queers wear [...] and this great queen he’d gone home with looked at him and said: ‘Well, they’re passion-killers, aren’t they?’.
1984		Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 858: [...] since 1940.
2002		P. Bailey Uncle Rudolf 75: Dear God [...] I wasn’t wearing those things when I was married [...] They’re passion-killers [...] They start at the tiummy and stop at the knees.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 154: passion-busters Unromantic knickers, originally issued to female members of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force during WWII; the term is generally used for any undergarments considered an unreasonable barrier to male lust.

1. the vagina.

1982

Maledicta VI:1+2 (Summer/Winter) 132: Vagina […] passion pit.

2. (US) a drive-in cinema; also attrib.

1949–51		in M. Daly Profile of Youth 232: They may [...] head for the ‘passion pit’.
1954		Hepster’s Dict. 8: Passion pit – Drive-in movies.
1968		(con. 1930s) J. Healy Death of an Irish Town 59: There was great appeal about those Irish lads who carried their innocence as clearly as their lack of passion-pit sophistication.
1970		(con. 1950s) H. Junker ‘The Fifties’ in Eisen Age of Rock 2 (1970) 102: In that case [...] he might suggest catching a flick. The passion pit.
1986		C. Bowles G’DAY 35: The drive-in theatre. (Also known as the ‘passion pit’.) The rear sections of drive-ins are renowned for steamed windows and grinding axlesprings.
1987		‘Joe Bob Briggs’ Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In 8: The drive-in owners of America were these intellectual types that kept giving interviews [...] about how their places were not ‘passion pits’.

3. (Aus.) anywhere that sex takes place.

1967		‘Whisper All Aussie Dict.’ in Kings Cross Whisper (Sydney) xxxviii 10/1: passion pit: An hotel lounge of not very good repute.
1976		P. Conroy Great Santini (1977) 446: In about two hours that car is going to turn into a passion pit.
1981		C. Hope Separate Development 97: Hoping to lead some besotted babe down to the passion pit.
1997		Roger’s Profanisaurus in Viz 87 Dec. n.p.: passion pit n. Bed. See also Dutch oven.

(S.Afr.) the vagina.

2002

in ‘Ben Trovato’ On the Run (2007) 26: Brenda remains as frigid as a polar bear’s testicles. Her passion plug has well and truly tripped.

(Aus.) the penis.

1964		R. Abrahams Deep Down In The Jungle 233: Right beteween them two big thighs / Make my passion rise.
1993		Simes Dict. Aus. Und. Sl.

any vehicle, often a van, in which teenage boys or young men hope to seduce young women.

1940s		in Campbell & Campbell War Paint 60: [aircraft nose art] Passion Wagon.
1957		J. Braine Room at the Top (1959) 187: ‘You’ve not even admired our passion wagon yet,’ Roy said. It was a prewar Hudson Terraplane with a gangsterish raffishness about it.
1966		T. Keyes All Night Stand 14: The kiss wagon turned up at nine.
2000		Indep. 21 June 3: Have you looked in the car park? The limo park, especially. They’re just passion wagons, they are.