Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. of people, in good health; thus phr. in the cherry.

1852		‘Epistle from Joe Muggins’s Dog’ in Era (London) 26 Sept. 4/3: I was glad to see Job Marson in ther cherry again.
1934		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 281: You see a girl, a nice sweet kid, and she’s cherry.
1995		Francis-Jackson Official Dancehall Dict. 10: Cherry [...] 2. feeling mellow: u. to feel cherry.

2. (US) virgin, virginal.

[1833		Ely’s Hawk & Buzzard (NY) Sept. 21 n.p.: ‘Why sister, I am fifteen — ‘Just cherry ripe’].
1933		J.T. Farrell ‘The Little Blond Fellow’ in Short Stories (1937) 72: I think the lad is o.k., only he’s cherry.
1948		(con. 1944) N. Mailer Naked and Dead 120: Even now I don’t know if she was cherry.
1953		S. Bellow Augie March (1996) 79: She now held off my hands now led them inside her dress [...] boisterous that I was still cherry.
1969		J. Crumley One to Count Cadence (1987) 142: Two big cherry farm boys [...] both blew their rocks before they even got in, and remained cherries.
1978		R. Price Ladies’ Man (1985) 231: I was considered a catch because I was young and cherry.
1986		J. Ellroy Silent Terror 44: ‘You're cherry, right? You're a late starter, and you want a nice-looking cooze for your premiere fuck?’.
1990		(con. c.1970) G. Hasford Phantom Blooper 148: Me Tracy. Me cherry girl. Me horny. Me so horny.
2001		J. Stahl Plainclothes Naked (2002) 77: He wondered if Mac could tell he wasn’t cherry and quickly blocked the thought.
2009		J. Stahl Pain Killers 83: First thing you be learnin’ is how to spot a UC. Right after how to keep your tush cherry.

3. (orig. milit.) inexperienced, new, untested; cites 1980, 2004 = devoid of a criminal record.

1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 42/2: Cherry, a. [...] (by figurative extension) having no criminal record or no previous experience in a given kind of crime. (‘To be cherry on the cannon’—to be without experience in picking pockets.).
1969		C. Sellers Where Have All the Soldiers Gone 59: ‘I’ve only been in Vietnam a few days’ [...] ‘Cherry boy here; I like’.
1980		E. Leonard City Primeval 61: ‘You lied to me, Darrold [...] try to tell me you're cherry and they got a sheet on you, man’.
1987		(con. 1968) Bunch & Cole Reckoning for Kings (1989) 379: Wilson the cherrytrooper could not know just how deep in the shitter they all were.
1997		C. Hiaasen Lucky You 79: Move your cherry white ass down the road.
2004		Simon & Pelecanos ‘Amsterdam’ Wire ser. 3 ep. 4 [TV script] ‘A pretty good sheet.’ ‘You thought he’d be cherry?’.

4. innocent, naïve.

1961		M. Braly Felony Tank (1962) 39: He looks cherry.
1967		F. Salas Tattoo the Wicked Cross (1981) 139: Girls were supposed to be sweet and cherry, not sharp and hard.
1987		(con. 1968) Bunch & Cole Reckoning for Kings (1989) 211: Bullshit. You think me cherryboy?
1996		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 2: cherry – lacking knowledge and experience: ‘Freshmen who walk around campus with a map are cherry.’.

5. (US campus) very attractive.

1963		Jan & Dean ‘Surf City’ 🎵 I bought a ’30 Ford wagon and we call it a woodie (Surf City, here we come) / You know it’s not very cherry, it’s an oldie but a goodie (Surf City, here we come).
1997–2001		Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 cherry adj 1. COOL, HIP, RETRO. (‘Damn, that car is cherry!’).
2001		J. Stahl Plainclothes Naked (2002) 125: He collects classic cars [...] so he’s driving this cherry ’Sixty-six Mustang.

6. (US teen) of an individual, admirable, first-rate.

1966

Baltimore Sun (MD) Sun. Mag. 10 July 4/1: If it’s your own sports car , you’re crispy, friend, you’re really cherry. Both cripsy and cherry mean anyyhing good .

7. of a given experience or action, the very first, initiating; thus cherry kicks, the first injection after a former drugs user is freed from prison.

1973		E. Bunker No Beast So Fierce 36: It’s been a long time. This is like cherry kicks.
1983		J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 38: ‘It’s [i.e. a racehorse] having its cherry start in a kindergarten event’.

8. of goods etc, in mint condition, brand-new.

1981		T. Wolff ‘Worldly Goods’ in In the Garden of the North American Martyrs 108: ‘That car’s cherry except for the fender. It’s a classic’.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 123: A cherry rig like that?
1996		P. Beatty White Boy Shuffle 90: There’s Gilbert Suavecito’s cherry ’45 DeSoto convertible.
2001		C. Cook ‘A Tinkling Cymbal’ in Screen Door Jesus 93: I’m gonna body-putty the bad spots and paint it canary yellow [...] When I’m finished, you know? It’s gonna be cherry.
2008		T. Piccirilli Fever Kill 9: The cherry ’69 Mustang that he’d rebuilt himself.
2009		J. Stahl Pain Killers 33: [of a pornographic magazine] You could get five bucks a page for this out on the yard. Six if they’re cherry.
2017		S.M. Jones August Snow [ebook] ‘Tits were mostly transmuscular. Kind of like a new paint job and rims on a cherry ’67 Corvette’.
2020		D. Winslow ‘Crime 101’ in Broken 84: [A] black 2011 Dodge Challenger SRT8 that looks like it’s in cherry condition.

9. devoid of any form of recording equipment.

2001

(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 173: The room was cherry — no tape rig/no steno.

10. easy, undemanding.

2003

N. Green Angel of Montague Street (2004) 243: I was a combat photographer [...] Pretty cherry assignment.