Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(a) (also buzz it up) to talk about, to gossip, to promote a rumour; to inform on; thus buzzing n.

c.1590		Jeronimo in Dodsley IV (1874) 366: I will buzz Andrea’s landing / Which, once crept into the vulgar mouths, / Is hurried here and there, and sworn for troth.
1607		Dekker & Webster Westward Hoe V i: I know what one of em buz’d in mine eare.
1636		J. Howell 5 Apr. Familiar Letters (1737) II 323: T. Ca. buzz’d me in the ear, that tho’ Ben had barell’d up a great deal of knowledge, yet it seems he had not read the Ethicks.
1661		A. Wood Life of Anthony à Wood I (1772) 166: It was often buz’d into his Head by his Flatterers.
1703		Shortest-Way with Whores and Rogues 8: This Project may be best accomplish’d by buzzing some Remarks in their hearing.
1721		Penkethman’s Jests 8: A Girl in the Country being got with Child, it began to be buzz’d in the Family.
1729		Newcastle Courant 13 Sept. 3/2: ’Tis buzz’d about that a Citizen, in a very high Station, is goen off.
1735		Derby Mercury 18 Dec. 2/1: ’Tis further buzz’d about in that City that Prince Eugene was soon expected there.
1740		Trial of Charles Drew 9: His vicious Companions laid hold of the Opportunity to buzz in his Ears, that it was a shame that the Father should possess so plentiful an Estate and the Son be in continual want of Money.
1754		J. Gay Rehearsal at Goatham I v: If one ever does an imprudent, indiscreet thing, our Neighbours buzz it about.
1760		Caledonian Mercury 19 May 2/3: Nothing is to be heard almost on Change, but the buzzing of a war with Spain.
1763		Derby Mercury 9 Sept. 1/1: The Bellman have effected the felony, buzzed about a suspicion that the box was was too much exposed [...] and might be robbed.
1775		Hibernian Jrnl 12 June 4/1: The Earwigs of State, who are constantly buzzing their detestable Sentiments of arbitrary power into the Ears of all who are weak enough, or base enough to imbibe the Poison.
1791		Derby Mercury 29 Dec. 3/1: A gentleman who had seen him at Bath happened to be present here, and his character was instantly buzzed about the room.
1791		Staffs Advertiser 4 Feb. 3/1: Madam, I find you little know their route, I hear, for certain, they’re gone North-about [...] For crowds have buzz’d it through the Castle Yard.
1809		B.H. Malkin (trans.) Adventures of Gil Blas (1822) II 228: No sooner was it buzzed about Madrid, that the duke raised the siege, than a new host of would-be conquerors appeared.
1821		Egan Life in London (1869) 114: His splendid fortune had now been buzzed about from one end of the town to the other.
1830		Egan Finish to the Adventures of Tom and Jerry (1889) 63: It was soon buzzed throughout the village that Master jerry had returned.
c.1850		Peeping Tom (London) 51 204/2: The circumstance soon buzzed about.
1855		Life in Boston & N.Y. (Boston, MA) 14 Apr. n.p.: The affair got buzzed about the Old One’s ears, who took the matter in hand.
1863		T. Taylor Ticket-Of-Leave Man Act III: If it was buzzed about that I kept a ticket-of-leave man in my employment —.
1871–82		B.M. Carew Life and Adventures.
1891		A. Day Mysterious Beggar 335: But you two mus’ promis’ not t’ buzz this biz ’round anywheres.
1902		Ade Forty Modern Fables 100: Next Day there was an awful Buzzing.
1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 120: The boarders buzzed among themselves.
1917		R. Lardner ‘Carmen’ Gullible’s Travels 30: Mrs. Hatch buzzed all the way home, and she was scared to death that the motorman wouldn’t know where she’d been spendin’ the evenin’.
1926		O.O. McIntyre New York Day by Day 3 Mar. [synd. col.] Most of them [...] have launched a career of profligacy that has caused gossips to buzz.
1928		M.C. Sharpe Chicago May (1929) 267: The next day, the news was buzzed that the original Duchess of Devonshire, by Gainsborough, had been stolen.
1930		J. Lait Put on the Spot 48: I just thought I’d drop in on you and do a little buzzing.
1931		Don Redmond ‘I Heard’ 🎵 Yeah, I heard, / Mmmm, and what I heard! / You know, they didn’t buzz to me, / I just happened to hear it.
1946		C.S. Montanye ‘Don’t Meddle with Murder’ in Thrilling Detective May 🌐 Then who buzzed the tip-off to come up here.
1953		A.J. Liebling Honest Rainmaker (1991) 39: When I see you two buzzing Mr. Widener and Mr. Schaumberg [...] I wondered what you could be up to.
1955		E. Hunter ‘The Jungle Kids’ Jungle Kids (1967) 119: The kids began to buzz it up.
1960		J.D. Macdonald Slam the Big Door (1961) 163: The whole key is buzzing. People are saying Troy put the slug on her.
1964		L. Hairston ‘The Winds of Change’ in Clarke Harlem, USA (1971) 323: The gallery was buzzin’ with ‘Lumumba,’ ‘Tshombe,’ and all those ‘Belgian mercenaries’.
1972		C. Bukowski Erections, Ejaculations etc. 67: I could hear them babbling and buzzing in there, buzzing and babbling.
2013		Chicago Trib. 18 July sect. 5 n.p.: How Scofflaw became Chicago’s most buzzed-about bar.

(b) (US) to question, to interview; to intimidate.

1871		L.H. Bagg Four Years at Yale 43: Buzz, to interview and ‘sound’ a man.
1911		T.A. Dorgan ‘Daffydills’ in El Paso Herald (TX) 7 Sept. 10: he decided to go right in and [...] buzz the boss for a few weeks off.
1916		J. Lait ‘Taxi, Mister!’ in Beef, Iron and Wine (1917) 137: When a keen newspaper reporter wants to find out anything of what is going on in his town he sees the police, buzzes the night clerk in the owl drug-store.
1929		Hostetter & Beesley It’s a Racket! 221: buzz—To interview; also in the sinister meaning of visiting and intimidating someone, especially with the ultimate purpose of extorting money, as ‘to put the buzz on.’.
1930		J. Lait Gangster Girl 81: When the waiter tipped me that you were buzzin’ him about who I was, I ast about who you was.
1939		Howsley Argot: Dict. of Und. Sl.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 25: George buzzed the bartender and asked for the key to the piano in the back room.
1952		W.R. Burnett Little Men, Big World 155: Guy with a badge buzzed me. Tall guy.
1961		W.R. Burnett Round the Clock at Volari’s 85: ‘Chief, trouble. There’s a tail on me. And you know the guy that buzzed me about you? D.A.’s office. I just got the tip from a friend’.

(c) (US) to flirt with.

1875		M.D. Landon Eli Perkins 162: He must have ‘buzzed’ her for an hour steady.
1899		Ade Fables in Sl. (1902) 190: Then he placed himself about Six Inches away and began to Buzz, looking her straight in the Eye.
1911		T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 23: She knows you, that’s the dope — Go over and buzz her.

(d) (US) to scold, to tell off; thus buzzing n., a scolding.

1873

J. O’Connor Wanderings of a Vagabond 449: He had already warned the capper that he was about to turn over the wrong paper, and been admonished by the jeweled gentleman [...] when he was pulled aside by the tall capper, who gave him a good buzzing.

(e) to speak.

1900		E.H. Babbitt ‘College Words and Phrases’ in DN II:i 25: buzz, v.t. To entertain, converse with.
1920		T. Thursday ‘Mr. Mister’ in All-Story Weekly 22 May n.p.: ‘I got a canary home what kin do better ’n that,’ he buzzed.
1920		T. Thursday ‘Score Another One for Barnum’ in Argosy All-Story 11 Sept. 🌐 I’ll buzz now that we never had to pay the forfeit during the ten weeks that the major was with us.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 69: Monkey came over to me [...] and buzzed in his happy-go-lucky way.

(f) (Aus./US tramp) to solicit handouts, to beg; thus buzzing n., begging.

1906		E. Dyson Fact’ry ’Ands 109: Yeh kin buzz ’em fer their last bit iv chicken ’n’ ther Friday deener.
1919		C.H. Thorp Handful of Ausseys 256: A number of Tommies who strolled over ...] to buzz some cigarettes from us.
1923		N. Anderson Hobo 20: Jungle crimes include [...] ‘buzzing,’ or making the jungle a permanent hangout for jungle ‘buzzards’ who subsist on the leavings of meals.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 44: buzz [...] To beg from.
1960, 1975		(ref. to 1920s) Wentworth & Flexner DAS.

(g) to telephone or to use an intercom; cit. 1979 refers to calling an elevator.

1923		Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves 15: The telephone-bell rang [...] I buzzed down and found it was young Bingo.
1936		J.T. Farrell World I Never Made 392: He’d [...] buzz Jack on the phone.
1946		Louis Jordan & The Tympany Five ‘Buzz Me’ 🎵 Buzz me, buzz me, buzz me baby / I’m waitin’ for your call.
1959		C. Himes Crazy Kill 132: You want to buzz your mouthpiece before they get here?
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 129: I’ll buzz your crib.
1970		H.E. Bates A Little of What You Fancy (1985) 488: I’ll buzz you back.
1975		L. Rosten Dear ‘Herm’ 152: I will buzz you 20–30 times a week.
1979		P. Hamill Deadly Piece 92: ‘Find Ike,’ I said, and buzzed the elevator.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 211: I called the manager and told him to buzz my room at ten that evening.
1991		P. Highsmith Ripley Under Water (1992) 133: He buzzed Tom in, after verifying his voice on the speaker.
2004		J. Ellroy ‘Jungletown Jihad’ in Destination: Morgue! (2004) 337: Some locals vibed terrorist trouble and buzzed the Feds.
2013		T. Robinson Hard Bounce [ebook] ‘We need you to buzz the apartment and get us in’.
2017		G. Gilmore Headland [ebook] ‘Why don’t you buzz her and tell her I’m here?’.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 17: I planted two reefers in his sax case and buzzed the fuzz.

(h) (US) to irritate; to produce a response.

1915		Drew & Evans Grafter (1922) 84: I had, perforce, to wooden him on the back of [his head] with the stick, and it didn’t even ‘buzz’ him’.
1952		H. Ellson Golden Spike 30: I don’t want to buzz him [...] He don’t want me to give you nothing and I ain’t looking for trouble from him.
1955		H. Ellson Rock 72: That info really buzzed him [...] I rub it in and say ‘It’s all in how you talk to them.’.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 181: Doc. Shelley buzzed him. Here’s the tell. His stick legs spazzed.

(i) (N.Z. prison) to pass contraband between prisoners.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 35/2: buzz v. = go fishing. [from the common way of referring to this method of passing contraband as a phone.

(a) to pick pockets; thus buzzing n.¹

1784		Rambler’s Mag. Jan. 36/1: Though biddies and doxies may queer, / And roadsmen go out scamp and buz.
1791		H. Lemoine ‘Education’ in Attic Misc. 116: And while his flaming mot was on the lay, / With rolling kiddies, Dick wou’d dive and buz.
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang.
1824		‘Sonnets for the Fancy’ Egan Boxiana III 622: [as 1791].
1827		London Eve. Standard 6 Sept. 1/2: Some of the flash-house keepers not infrequently join in a little buzzing excursion.
1835		Worcester Herald 26 Dec. 4/3: Square the broke [sic] for a bus, take his attention off whilst I pick his pockets.
1835		Worcester Herald 26 Dec. 4/3: Busing, picking pockets; a bus man, a pick pocket.
1839		W.A. Miles Poverty, Mendicity and Crime; Report 112: Two ‘stall’ while the other ‘buzzes’.
1847		G.M.W. Reynolds Mysteries of London III 66/1: Tim [...] buzzed a bloak and a shakester of a yack and skin.
1848		Bell’s Life in Sydney 26 Feb. 1/4: I buzzes, cuts, and not no down.
1857		‘Ducange Anglicus’ Vulgar Tongue 38: I buzzed a bloak and a shakester of a reader and a skin.
1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn) 109: BUZ, to pick pockets.
1876		C. Hindley Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack 261: In my young days, there used to travel about in gangs, like men of business, a lot of people called ‘Nobblers,’ who used to work the ‘thimble and pea rig’ and go ‘buzzing,’ that is, picking pockets, assisted by some small boys.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. 10/1: A bludger and his mot ’ticed a cully into the ‘Deadhouse,’ and while he was parting for the booze buzzed him of three caser and a deaner. A man who robs in company with a prostitute and his woman enticed a victim into the ‘Dead-house’ [...] and while he was paying for the drinks picked his pocket of three crowns and a sixpence.
1890		‘Morris the Mohel’ ‘Houndsditch Day By Day’ Sporting Times 11 Jan. 3: [She] then vent and buzzed me for a bit o’ shinus as vhas in my ofercoat pocket vhen I ’anded it to her to be ’ung up.
1900		Flynt & Walton Powers That Prey 225: At the age of fifteen she was an expert pickpocket, and ‘buzzed’ around ‘molls’ at funerals, and relieved them of their ‘leathers’.
1904		Sun (NY) 10 July 29/4: Here is a genuine letter written in thieves’ slang, recently found by the English police [...] I chucked a dummy while they buzzed the clys out of owt old blokes with nailcans.
1927		‘Jargon of the Und.’ in DN V 441: Buzz, (2) To pilfer.
1938		J. Curtis They Drive by Night 203: Wide boys looked out for a chance to nick a wallet or buzz a moll.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 41: buzz To pilfer; to practice petty theft.
1953		S. Fuller Pickup on South Street [film script] I’ll give you the names of eight cannons that fit the job and I’ll bet you thirty eight dollars and fifty cents that one of them buzzed this moll’s wallet.
1960, 1975		(ref. to 1920s) Wentworth & Flexner DAS 82/2: buzz v. To pilfer from a place; to rob a person.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak 32: Buzz – to pick someone’s pocket. Now extant only in the East End of London.

(b) in fig. use, to cheat.

1890		Sporting Times 8 Feb. 6/2: You don’t mean to say as you’re goin’ to try an buzz me for the bloomin’ fare.
1899		A. Binstead Houndsditch Day by Day 15: He has had the molars out all right enough, but he has buzzed her on the laughing gas.

(c) (US Und.) to work as a purse-snatcher.

1950

Goldin et al. DAUL 38/2: Buzz, v. [...] 5. To snatch, especially a woman’s purse from a baby carriage; to operate as a moll-buzzer.