Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) a tramp; also attrib.

1916		‘The Harvest War Song’ in Lingenfelter et al. Songs of the Amer. West (1968) 498: We have sent your kids to college, but still you rave and shout, / And calls us tramps and hoboes, and pesky go-abouts.
1928		D. Lawley Hustling Hobo 285: They move as tramps or hoboes, and are referred to by the more comfortable classes as ’boes or ‘pesky go-abouts’.
1935		N. Algren Somebody in Boots 52: Git to thet woodpile now, ye tramps, ye goddamned pesky go-about bastards.

1. (UK Und.) a fool [he ‘goes along’ when someone orders him].

1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 244: go-alonger: a simple easy person, who suffers himself to be made a tool of; and is readily persuaded to any act or undertaking by his associates, who inwardly laugh at his folly, and ridicule him behind his back.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 414/2: I was a flat. He had me for a ‘go-along,’ to cry his things for him.
1873		Sl. Dict. 178: Go-along a fool, a cully, one of the most contemptuous terms in a thieves’ vocabulary.

2. a thief.

1853		Dickens ‘Slang’ Household Words 24 Sept. 75/2: Thieves are prigs, cracksmen, mouchers, gonophs, go-alongs.
1859		G.A. Sala Twice Round the Clock 153: We have plenty of rogues in our body corporate yet [...] the nightside of London is fruitful in ‘macemen,’ ‘mouchers,’ and ‘go-alongs.’.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.

1. a young hoodlum, a juvenile delinquent.

1940–50		‘Flann O’Brien’ ‘City Haul’ in Hair of the Dogma (1989) 69: They are night and day besieged by the ‘elected representatives’ to get jobs for their go-boys.
1942		(con. 1890s) S. O’Casey Pictures in the Hallway 15: An’ don’t let a few goboys sthruttin’ round spoil it all be thryin’ to keep a mad an’ miserable sinner as leader of the holy Irish people.
1978		R. Caron Go-Boy! 31: You’re just as responsible for that Go-Boy as I am and don’t you forget it.
1989		H. Leonard Out After Dark 37: The elders of the town knew us to be what they called ‘proper go-boys’, bent on whatever sins best belonged in the dark.
1994		D. Healy A Goat’s Song cap. 19: ‘Them lads are all go-boys,’ he complained, ‘they’ll have my field destroyed’ .

2. an escapee, successful or otherwise.

1978

R. Caron Go-Boy! 47: Although the majority of escapes were doomed to failure [...] Go-Boys still persisted, year after year, in desperate attempts to regain their lost freedom.

3. see gofer n.

1. (US black) consequences, inevitable developments, circumstances; thus be caught in the go-’long, to be a victim of circumstances.

1938		‘Sl. among Nebraska Negroes’ in AS XIII:4 Dec. 317/1: To be caught in the go ’long means to be an unfortunate victim of circumstances.
1962		(con. WWII) J.O. Killens And Then We Heard The Thunder (1964) 311: These damn Japs got the old man in the go-long.

2. (US black) the police truck in which arrested people are taken to the local cells.

1942

Z.N. Hurston ‘Story in Harlem Sl.’ in Novels and Stories (1995) 1006: I seen you two mullet-heads before. I was uptown when Joe Brown had you all in the go-long last night.

see under slow adj.

1. see also separate entries.

2. see also under relevant n. or adj.

(US black) to smoke marijuana.

2008

G. Pelecanos Way Home (2009) 145: Ben loved to get after it, but he only smoked occasionally.

1. to be wary or cautious, to be experienced.

1902

Bulletin (Sydney) 4 Oct. 17/1: [N]o particulars could be got from Jimmy, who knew how to ‘go alone,’ and would only repeat, ‘No play, no pay.’.

2. (Aus.) to masturbate.

1999

R.G. Barrett Wind & Monkey (2013) [ebook] Les gave his old boy a rub. [...] No. Imagine if Digger got up and found me in here with a full hand going alone. I’d definitely be brushed from the prayer meeting.

(US black) to pose as, to ’pass’ (i.e. as white).

1940

Davis & Dollard Children of Bondage 146: She is afraid to ‘pass,’ though she knows she could and would like to go as white.

(US black) to fight.

1980

E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 4: Expressions like [...] go from the shoulders (fight) [...] have been common currency among blacks for some time. [Ibid.] 104: The largest number of fight terms deals with fist-fights (to [...] cuff, to go from the fists).

see under Y n.

(US) to attack physically.

1850		Manchester Spy (NH) 21 Sept. n.p.: Je-hu — an’ cod liver oil! how he went in. He gave Ned Shory one poke ’tween the eyes.
1854		N.Y. Daily Trib. 18 Sept. 5/6: [The rowdies stand] at the bar inside drinking rot gut and ready to ‘go in’ on anyone who [differs] from them politically.
1872		J.D. McCabe Lights & Shadows 480: ‘Horace’ ‘went in,’ and his bony fists rattled away on the close-shaven pate of ‘Gums’.

1. to take advantage of, to obtain money from.

1958

F. Norman Bang To Rights 137: The only thing left for me to do was go into the old dear again.

2. (Aus. teen) to attack.

1977		Ben-Veniste & Frampton Stonewall 275: Haig had accused us of manipulating the grand jury [...] ‘Well, I went right into him then,’ Jaworski told us.
2004		(con. 1960s-70s) T. Taylor Top Fellas 25/1: We went into them with everything in the shop.

see separate entry.

(US) to do one’s utmost for, to risk one’s all on, to bet to the limit.

1833

D. Crockett Sketches and Eccentricities 39: Sal jumped up, spun around, and swore she could ‘go her death’ upon a jig.

1. see separate entry.

2. see separate entry.

see separate entry.

see also under relevant n. or adj.

see under it n.¹

to excite sexually, to render infatuated.

1911		Alaska Citizen 28 Aug. 7/2: When Corkerina went home she had the Sleekest Thing going like a runaway freight train.
1928		J. Callahan Man’s Grim Justice 139: The blonde had me going.

see what gives? under give v.³

(orig. US black) a phr. advising someone to avoid a course of action or a particular argument etc; emphasis is on an abstract ‘there’, rather than an actual place, and the idea that for the speaker at least, ‘there’ is tabooed; thus the antithesis: let’s go there.

1993		Eble Campus Sl. Apr. 2: don’t go there/ don’t even go there – refusal to discuss a topic or continue a conversation.
1996		W.D. Myers Slam! 71: ‘How come you always got to have business with my man?’ Bianca said. ‘Don’t even go there, girl,’ Kicky said. ‘ [...] you know it’s not happening’.
1997		‘Q’ Deadmeat 311: You better back off. Don’t go there. Don’t go there.
1997–2000		Da Bomb 🌐 9: Don’t even go there: Do not say that.
1998		Eble Campus Sl. Apr.
1999		D. Looser ‘Boob Jargon’ in NZEJ 13 29: don’t go there int. Expression meaning: ‘I don’t want to know’.
2000		W.D. Myers ‘A Story in Three Parts’ in 145th Street 126: ‘You need help?’ Big Time looked up and saw the kid that Sweet Jimmy let hang around. The kid could find a vein in the dark if you needed that kind of help. ‘Ain’t going there,’ Big Time said.
2000		P. Howard Miseducation of Ross O’Carroll-Kelly (2004) 139: ‘Do not go there, Ross. Do not even go there.’.
2001		G. Pelecanos Right As Rain 103: ‘You don’t want to go there do you?’ ‘Not really.’.
2004		W.D. Myers Shooter 112: FB: He posted some information about you on the Net. Can you tell me about that? CE: It was personal information and I’m not going there. That’s between me and my shrink.
2005		P. Howard Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightdress 1: Christian’s looking at her, going, Do not even go there?
2009		W.D. Myers Dope Sick 130: ‘Is there something bothering you, Jeremy?’ What was I going to say? [...] Uhn-uhn. I ain’t going there.
2010		K. Richards Life 69: There was this certain ‘Don’t go there’ with rock and roll, glossy photographs and silly suits.
2011		Myers & Workman Kick 97: [I] was about to clock Travis but stopped myself in time. I wasn’t going to go there again.
2014		C. Eble (ed.) UNC-CH Campus Sl. Spring 2014 Fall .
2024		K. Noem No Going Back 25: Let’s go there. No matter how talented or successful you might be [...] our system requires money.

to visit an outdoor privy.

1728		J. Dalton Narrative of Street-Robberies 46: He fearing he should be detected, pretended to go backwards, and left her to tell over the Money herself.
1748		Smollett Roderick Random (1979) 51: About midnight, my companion’s bowels being disordered, he got up in order to go backward.
1771		J.S. Le Dran’s Observations in Surgery 164: The Patient being pressed to go backwards went behind his tent [F&H].

(Anglo-Irish) to suffer judicial transportation.

1845

W. Carelton Rory the Rover n.p.: You will go beyant, and no mistake at all [DSUE].

(US tramp) to travel on foot (as opposed to train).

1929		A.J. Barr Let Tomorrow Come 42: I go by hand all day an’ make a blind along about dark.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 87: Go by Hand. – To walk; a painfully slow and laborious method of progression as compared with travel by train.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 83/2: Go by hand. (Hobo) To walk.

a short person.

1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn) n.p.: Go by the Ground. A little short person, a man or a woman.
1809		B.H. Malkin (trans.) Adventures of Gil Blas (1822) II 127: He was a little go-by-the-ground, scarcely up to my shoulders.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1896		G.F. Northall Warwickshire Word-Book 94: Go-by-the-ground. A dwarf.

a strong ale.

1587

W. Harrison Description of England 150: There is such headie ale [...] commonlie called huffe-cappe, the mad dog, father-whoresome, angels food, dragons milke, go-by-the-wall, stride-wide, and lift-leg.

2010s US campus to put in maximum effort, lit. go hard as a motherfucker.

2016

C. Eble UNC-CH Campus Sl. Spring 2016 5: GO HAM — go hard as a motherfucker act with intensity or extreme emotion: ‘I went ham on the dance floor when my favorite song came on’.

(US campus/tee) to put in maximum effort.

2009		Urban Dict. 30 Mar. 🌐 When we saw Dason had put on his best suit and matching Tag Heuer timepiece, we knew he going hard in the paint to his job interview .
2016		C. Eble UNC-CH Campus Sl. Spring 2016 5: GO HARD IN THE PAINT — do with the greatest skill, effort, and dexterity.

see tank v.¹ (1)

see under one n.¹

see jerry-go-nimble under jerry n.⁵

see go (to) Copenhagen under Copenhagen n.

see lie at rack and manger under lie v.¹

see toe-to-toe v.

to defecate.

c.1602

Middleton Family of Love V iii: Do you go well to the ground?

see get along with you! excl.

(orig. US black/campus) an excl. of encouragement among young women.

1993		Eble Campus Sl. Apr. 6: you go girl – expression of congratulations, approval.
1994		Eble Campus Sl. Apr. 9: you go! – expression of amazement, encouragement, congratulations.
1997–2001		Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 you go girl 1. phrase of encouragement, used alone. (‘You go girl!’).
1999		Indep. Rev. 8 July 4: Airey, currently C5 programming director, is tipped to be BBC1’s new controller [...] Go, girl!
2014		C. Eble (ed.) UNC-CH Campus Sl. Spring 2014 16: Y.G.G. — < You go, girl! Expression of support or encouragement.
2014		Politico 16 May 🌐 We are surrounded as never before by lean-inners and you-go-girlers cheering on women.

(UK black) an excl. of approval.

1986

R. Hewitt White Talk Black Talk 129: Go deh! / there! – exclamation of encouragement.