Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. prosperity.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.

2. (US Und.) gold.

1934

J.L. Kuethe ‘Prison Parlance’ in AS IX:1 27: sunshine. Gold.

3. (also sunbeam, sundown) a general form of address, e.g. Oi! sunshine!

1953		K. Tennant Joyful Condemned 279: Well, I might be going along the street, and he’d say [...] ‘Hello, Sunshine’.
1961		(con. 1930s) D. Behan Teems of Times and Happy Returns 172: Not yet, sundown, wait’ll I get somethin’ under me belt before I help yeh.
1965		L. Dunne Goodbye to The Hill (1966) 114: Listen, sunshine, right now, this fuckin’ minute.
1975		Sun. Times Mag. 14 Sept. 68: The policeman levelled a finger at him. ‘What you done, sunshine, is criminal damage.’.
1983		A. Payne ‘Senior Citizen Caine’ in Minder [TV script] 56: I’m beginning to wonder about you sunbeam.
1984		P. Slabolepszy ‘Over the Hill’ in Mooi Street (1994) 72: Listen, Sunshine, why they pick you for this game?
1991		R.G. Barrett Between the Devlin 73: ‘Fuck my language, sunshine’.
1999		Guardian Guide 31 July–6 Aug. 52: You’re nicked, sunshine!
2005		H. Mantel Beyond Black 96: It’s no use asking for your money back, sunshine.
2009		N. Flexner Disassembled Man [ebook] Hi, sunshine [...] can I pour you some coffee?
2009		P. Temple Truth 221: I suggest you pull your fucking head in, sunshine.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 344: You and yours just shot the golden goose, sunshine.
2012		M. MacLean ‘Just Like Maria’ in ThugLit Oct. [ebook] ‘Morning sunshine’.
2015		L. McInerney Glorious Heresies 189: ‘I didn’t come up here to talk to you, sunshine’.
2019		C. Hammer Silver [ebook] ‘There is no photographer, sunshine. You’re yesterday’s news’.
2021		Twitter 25 Mar. 🌐 Immigrants fly our great flag too. Be proud of it sunshine or kindly vacate this island. You don’t belong here,.

4. (drugs) a variety of LSD; also attrib. [abbr. orange sunshine n.; i.e. the orange-coloured pills containing the drug].

1971		Current Sl. V:4.
1973		National Lampoon May 42/1: Just to show you how cool they are and everything they’ll lay a nickel of Michoacan or a couple of tabs of sunshine on you so you’ll know they’re together.
1974		Harper’s Mag. May 68: Green-speckled sunshine pills, little blue-and-black mini-bennies, caps of fake mescaline that looked like brown sugar.
1981		D.E. Miller Bk of Jargon 338: sunshine: LSD.
1999		J. Stahl Perv (2001) 301: I was doing 800 mics of Sunshine.
2000		Guardian Rev. 21 Apr. 9: Leary blew it by dropping two Sunshine tabs on Sprague, who had a bad trip.
2010		(con. 1967) K. Richards Life 210: That very high-quality acid of the time, such brands as Strawberry Fields, Sunshine and Purple Haze.