Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (W.I./Jam.) three-farthings.

1873

C. Rampini Letters from Jamaica 95: The negro nomenclature of coins is as follows: – Bill, three farthings.

2. $10.

1926		Van Vechten Nigger Heaven 11: Presently she handed him two bills.
1949		N. Algren Man with the Golden Arm 174: I had a couple of bills Wednesday night but you wasn’t around.
1981		E. Bunker Little Boy Blue (1995) 274: He owes me two bills.

3. $20.

1923		Jack Melone ‘The Ice Fields of Gray Goose Lake’ Nature: Human and Real in Stiff Milk and Honey Route (1930) 183: Burns flips a bright green bill.
1959		S. Bellow Henderson The Rain King 7: Some of the discontinued bills of thirty years ago turned up, the big yellowbacks.

4. $100.

1929		Hostetter & Beesley It’s a Racket! 219: bill—One hundred dollar banknote.
1933		Ersine Und. and Prison Sl.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 27/2: Bill. A one-hundred-dollar note. ‘That load (automobile) stood me six bills (six hundred dollars).’.
1953		‘Curt Cannon’ ‘The Death of Me’ in I Like ’Em Tough (1958) 97: Close to three bills [...] That’s a nice chunk of lettuce.
1955		B. Schulberg On the Waterfront (1964) 25: There was no excuse, simply no excuse for not making four or five bills a week.
1960		C. Cooper Jr Scene (1996) 177: It’s costin two bills an ounce because it’s so good.
1971		D. Goines Dopefiend (1991) 160: A bill! . . . I ain’t talking about no funky hundred dollars.
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 113: Easiest five bills that woman ever made.
1998		D. Hecht Skull Session 231: He was wearing an aviator’s leather jacket that must have cost a couple of bills.
2000		M.E. Dassad ‘Chickenhawk’ at www.cultdeadcow.com 🌐 He pays me a couple bills or more for each kid I deliver.
2002		C. Stella Jimmy Bench-Press 83: He [...] counted five hindred-dollar bills from one of the stacks. ‘Five bills,’ he said.
2010		Codella and Bennett Alphaville (2011) 60: What about my fuckin’ three hundred bucks [...] I just want my three bills.

5. a pound sterling.

2000

P. Howard Miseducation of Ross O’Carroll-Kelly (2004) 18: We’re talking two thousand bills.

6. a euro.

2005

P. Howard Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightdress 15: We’re talking seven or eight bills a pop here.

7. (US) 100 lbs weight.

2006		D. Winslow Winter of Frankie Machine (2007) 15: He’s giving away a foot of height and a bill and a half in weight.
2020		D. Winslow ‘The San Diego Zoo’ in Broken 138: The drunk has to be six-four, two and a half bills, and most of it is muscle.

8. (US) $100,000.

2008

D. Jenkins Franchise Babe 63: What do you make, big-time golf writer? One seventy-five? Two bills?

9. (UK black) £1000.

2014		Stormzy ‘Shut Up’ 🎵 Had four bills and I bought a new car / Little red whip that I bought for my marge.
2015		J. Spades ‘Chicken Soup’ 🎵 Couple niggas in my ends owe me a / Couple bills.
2020		G. Krauze What They Was 70: He still owes me nine bills from when we were shotting.

10. (UK gang) £100.

2018-20

T. Thorne (ed.) ‘Drill Slang Glossary’ at Forensic Linguistic Databank 🌐 Bill — £100.