Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to influence, to secure (e.g. as a partner); to ensnare into a fraudulent scheme.

1828		‘A Flat Enlightened’ Life in the West I 49: [He] was handy on many occasions to Lord Hulse , an Irish ‘Greek,’ in the ‘landing,’ i. e. plundering of flats.
1909		Wodehouse Mike [ebook] ‘Wyatt wouldn’t land him if he could help it’.
1910		Truth (Perth) 1 Oct. 4/7: When you hear a ‘boshter bloke’ / In the street, / Tell a ‘cobber’ of the ‘tart’ / He’s to meet / You will plainly understand / That his fancy has been fanned / By a ‘clyner’ who will land / Him ‘dead sweet.’ .
1910		D. Runyon ‘Art of High Grading’ in Pittsburgh Post-Gaz. (PA) Sun. Mag. 2 Jan. 8/1: We didn’t land the Englisher though. The deal was all framed but the Englisher got wised up somehow.
1921		Truth (Brisbane) 13 Feb. 3/4: [T]hey [i.e. Australian girls] are not brazen and forward, like the pommies. The Aussles don't run after the men [...] This is how the pommies landed the Diggers.
1930		N. Lindsay Redheap (1965) 103: ‘He’ll do it once too often yet, and get landed properly,’ said George.
1983		J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 115: hen, if she liked the sound of his voice and what he had to say [...], he’d landed Lady Cynthia.
1996		J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 64: [as 1983].

2. to win a bet, to win something by betting.

1847		Dly News (London) 27 Oct. 3/6: The owner and his party [...] had previously got on a good deal of money at long odds, and have ‘landed’ large stake.
1854		G.J. Whyte-Melville General Bounce (1891) 189: ‘I should have landed ‘a Thou’ at least.’.
1854		G.J. Whyte-Melville General Bounce II 114: I landed a hundred gold mohrs by backing his new lot for the Governor-General’s Cup .
1855		Courier (Hobart, Tas.) 20 Mar. 2/3: Had the pace not been so strong, we think Sarawak, who has a great turn of speed, would have just landed the stake.
1868		Sporting Gaz. (London) 5 Dec. 3/2: Some hitherto unknown bottled up animal ‘lands the pot’.
1880		Eastbourne Gaz. 19 May 8/3: [A]n amusing breach of promise case in which the lady tried to secure a husband with £500 a year, and was awarded £25 damages. A well known book-maker summed the matter up concisely by saying she went for a ‘monkey’ and only landed a ‘pony’.
1889		H. Smart Long Odds II 167: The Earl not only had never stood to win so large a stake [...] but the landing of it had never before been of so dire a necessity.
1894		J. Astley Fifty Years (2nd edn) I 144: I could have knocked off that minute and landed the coin.
1900		Grenfell Record (NSW) 17 Feb. 1/6: [H]e was about to land a big bet with a young swell who had more money than brains.
1908		K. McGaffey Sorrows of a Show Girl Ch. xvii: I landed this buzz wagon out of a ten dollar pike bet.
1966		J. Holledge Great Aust. Gamble 45: The horse duly landed the money.

3. to help someone, to aid, to ‘set on one’s feet’.

1868		E. Yates Rock Ahead II 49: Lord Ticehurst, having done his duty in landing Gilbert, had strolled away .
1876		C. Hindley Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack 33: I bought a big covered cart and a good strong horse. AND I WAS LANDED!
1879		Macmillan’s Mag. (London) ‘Autobiog. of a Thief’ XL 502: I was landed (was all right) this time without them getting me up a lead (collection).
1900		Punch 10 Jan. 33/2: The Guava Jelly Syndicate? Well, yes, that landed me, I allow.
1979		H. Leonard A Life (1981) Act II: Fifty quid put in me fist, and I mean fifty quid then, not now. We were landed.

4. (also land out) to hit someone, i.e. to land a blow on; thus land one on v.; lander n., a blow.

1848		‘Ned Buntline’ Mysteries & Miseries of NY 15: Henry Whitmore [...] ‘picked himself up’ after Big Lize had ‘landed’ him at the foot of Florence’s steps.
1855		Luton Times 4 Dec. 5/2: One these pugnacious gentlemen ‘landed him one’ on the ‘bread basket,’ and doubled him up like a twig.
1871		Des Moines Register (IO) 4 July 1/2: [of a calf] She first landed him one [i.e. a kick] from her hind feet, then [...] butted him with her head.
1879		‘Autobiog. of a Thief’ in Macmillan’s Mag. (London) XL 503: I landed him one on the conk (nose).
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 28 Mar. 6/1: One of the larrikins present made use of some abominable language to her. Upon this she ‘went for him’ in most approved style, and landed him one in the eye.
1899		C. Rook Hooligan Nights 109: Wiv that she lands him one.
1901		Boy’s Own Paper 16 Feb. 313: I sprang like lightning and landed him one for all I was worth.
1908		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘Outside and Declined’ Sporting Times 8 Aug. 1/3: If any other man lands out, the fat is in the fire, / He and I are pretty sure to be colliders.
1911		L. Stone Jonah 106: I was walkin’ along, quiet as a lamb, when a bloke come up an’ landed me on the jaw.
1926		Wood & Goddard Dict. Amer. Sl.
1937		J. Curtis There Ain’t No Justice 24: You haven’t landed one yet. Remember what I said. Don’t try to box.
1950		C. Harris Three-Ha’Pence to the Angel 34: There’s the boy [...] ’e’s going to fight everybody till ’is father lands ’im one on the clock.
1965		E. Bond Saved Scene x: So ’elp me I’ll land yer so bloody ’ard they’ll put me back for life!
1986		J. Sullivan ‘Tea for Three’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] I’m gonna land him a doughboy right round the lug ’ole before he’s much older!
1993		(con. 1920s) W. Woodruff Road to Nab End (2003) 204: I never knew whether or not I was going to get a ‘lander’ to the head from him.
2002		(con. 1932-3) D. Frith Bodyline Autopsy 18: Hirst, incidentally, threatened to land one on Foster with his bat if he kept on smacking him on the thighs and body.

5. in fig. use, to defeat someone, to ‘dish out’ to someone.

1878		Gloucester Jrnl 11 May 7/3: We know how to land ’em, m’Lud. Give ’em plenty of British Lion and lots of tail-lashing.
1880		E.J. Milliken ‘Cad’s Calendar’ in Punch Almanack n.p.: Scissors! don’t they goggle and look blue, / When you land them with a regular ‘do’.
1882		‘’Arry on a Jury’ in Punch 15 Apr. 177/2: And for chaps as is ‘Gents of the Jury’ [...] it’s landing ’em ’ot.
1900		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘A Courting Case in Court’ Sporting Times 7 Apr. 1/4: Well, and what about them? Straight, it gives me the pip [...] to think Jimmy was landed / For behaving like every bloke does when he’s out / With his gal.
1929		J.B. Priestley Good Companions 131: I’ve been landed properly, I have.
1943		R. Llewellyn None But the Lonely Heart 104: We might have got our selfs proper landed, there, you know? Specially if the coppers come in.

6. to arrest, to capture.

1882		Bristol Magpie 20 July 3/1: Git home as quick as you can; / You won't land Mick.
1896		F. Hutcheson Barkeep Stories 134: ‘I never was landed meself, but I wouldn’t send a guy to de stir if he was to croak t’irty people’.
1902		Wash. Times (DC) 14 Sept. 10/4: Nailed, Glued or Landed – Arrested.
1909		F.H. Tillotson How I Became a Detective 93: Nailed, Glued or Landed – Arrested.
1913		H.A. Franck Zone Policeman 88 228: It must be the same with criminals, too, unless your criminal is an amateur or a fool, in which event you will ‘land’ him without the trouble of disguising.
1915		Bulletin (Sydney) 5 Aug. 47/1: When I come out [of gaol] they landed me in again quick-en-lively.
1919		C.H. Thorp Handful of Ausseys 201: The doctors are gettin’ wise an’ yer liable ter cum a gutser; yer might be landed fer tryin’ ter fake yerself.
1935		G. Blake Shipbuilders (1954) 149: The polis is just waitin’, and the likes o’ Peter gets landed.

7. (US) to gain a victory, a success.

1914		Ade ‘The New Fable of The Toilsome Ascent’ in Ade’s Fables 182: When he went out the third time for the same Job, the Voters saw it was no use trying to block him off, so he landed.
2024		D. Rucker Life’s Too Short 119: Two days later [...] David Crosby struts into the studio. [...] At that instant, I know. We have landed.