Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. sexual intercourse.

c.1600		Shakespeare Hamlet IV v: Young men will do’t, if they come to ’t; By Cock they are to blame.
1622		Rowley & Shakespeare Birth of Merlin (1662) II i: Her name is Joan Go-too’ t, I am her elder, but she has been at it before me.
1629		R. Brome Northern Lasse III ii: Put her to’t I say, to’t directlie.
1638		R. Brome Antipodes V v: He had / Well put her to’t within.
c.1640		J. Shirley Captain Underwit IV ii: Did you euer doo’t with her.
1672–76		‘Amorous Dialogue Btwn John & his Mistress’ in Farmer Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) II 67: For after our joys, he would make us sad, / For taking it where it ought not to be had.
1687		‘The Converts’ in Lord Poems on Affairs of State (1968) IV 153: An antiquated lord / A walking mummy in a word [...] By pox and whores long since undone, Yet loves it still and fumbles on.
1691		‘Of a Good Wife & a Bad’ in Ebsworth Merry Drollery Compleat (1875) 303: Some Women are sick, and some are sound [...] And some will take it on the Ground.
1698		Proceedings against Capt. Edward Rigby for intending to commit the Abominable Sin of Sodomy, on the Body of one William Minton 7 Dec. 2: Putting his Tongue into his Mouth askt him, if he should F--- him [...] and said, That the French King did it.
1721		Penkethman’s Jests 48: One old Gentleman who had married a fine young Lady [...] ask’d her, if she had consider’d what a crying Sin it was in a Woman to cuckold her Husband? – Lord, my Dear, says she, what d’ye mean? I never had such a Thought in my Head, nor never will. No, no, reply’d he, – I shall have it in my Head, you’ll have it somewhere else.
1734		Kick him Jenny 17: Jenny was at Heart contented, Vow’d when she felt the Kiss he gave her, To yield [...] And, smiling, bid him, Do it clever.
1761		Nancy Dawson’s Jests 1: Nancy was good at it, for that either standing or lying, her movements were excellent.
1779		Nocturnal Revels I 52: Lady Loveit [...] much disappointed in her amour with Lord Atall, desires to be [...] well mounted this evening.
1788		Morris et al. ‘Song’ Festival of Anacreon (1810) 39: Just six weeks we’ve married been, [...] Take all you have done for me, quoth Nell, / ’Tis only once a night, / Just two and forty times you’ve done ’t.
a.1796		‘Wha’ll Maw Me Now?’ in Farmer Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) II 262: I wae gae by the sodger loon, / The sodger dit it a’.
c.1800		‘Toasts & Sentiments’ Burns Merry Muses of Caledonia (1843) 161: Here’s of it, and to it, and to them that can do it: and those that can’t, may they never come to it.
1834		‘When A Girl’s About Sixteen’ Flash Chaunter 7: When once she’s had it she is worse, / Never pleasing, always teasing.
c.1864		‘Is It Anybody’s Business?’ Rakish Rhymer (1917) 142: Is it anybody’s business if any man should choose / To ask a lady for it, and the lady don’t refuse.
1877		‘The Day that Paddy was Breeched’ Yankee Paddy Comic Song Book 2: For soon I’ll take a wife — / To do it long I’ve itch’d [...] More power to your small clothes, / And Ireland too, I say; While a shot she’s got in locker, / Sure she never will say die.
1888		Arthur West [perf.] ‘The Captain called the Mate’ 🎵 he captain called the Mate, and the Mate said, ‘Oh / I’ll go and ask the steward,' so he went below / The steward called his servant, and the boy said, ‘No.’ / So she had to go without it after all.
1893		Illus. Police News 15 July 4/1: The last turn was ‘Yours Truly, Flirtie Florenstein’ [...] who sang a very suggestive lyric, entitled, ‘But I’m too young to do it yet’.
1896		Farmer Vocabula Amatoria (1966) 206: Passionné (or passionnée), m. and f. A sexually passionate man or woman; ‘one who loves it’.
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 10 Aug. 3/6: ‘Foolish?’ said one Crown-street demi-mondaine to another. ‘Why, she was too foolish for words. When she first came to Sydney she actually gave away the worth of a couple or three hundred quid before she knew she could sell it’.
1905–07		Bawdy N.Y. State MS. 5: Here’s to it, and at it, and at it, and to it, / And to it, and it again. / For the man that gets to it, / and then dont do it, / May never get to it again.
1911		in Green & Laurie (1951) [song title] No One Could Do It Like My Father.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 86: She had that cream gown on with the rip she never stitched. Give us a touch, Poldy. God, I’m dying for it. [Ibid.] 701: Always having to lie down for them better for him put it into me from behind the way Mrs Mastiansky told me her husband made her like the dogs do it.
1929		Victoria Spivey ‘How Do You Do It That Way?’ 🎵 And when the rooster and the hen go to the barn to play / Oh the hen has chickens, how do they do it that way?
1931		Blanche Calloway ‘Just a Crazy Song’ 🎵 Oh, you’re a wow! / Aw, do it now, / Oh, good and strong, / You gotta make me cry, / Oh, you know how, / Oh, give it now.
1947		(con. 1944) J.H. Burns Gallery (1948) 23: I knew a Polish beast once. She loved it.
1955		J.P. Donleavy Ginger Man (1958) 10: Tell me, what’s it like to have it steady?
1961		R.S. Close With Hooves of Brass 238: It wasn’t anybody in particular she missed. Not even Jack. Just it.
1967		K. Amis letter 28 Sept. in Leader (2000) 688: Firm title: I WANT IT NOW (it being several things, but chiefly IT). That should wow them.
1978		(con. 1940s) J.G. Farrell Singapore Grip 184: If you think you’ll get it from her [...] I’m afraid you’re barking up the wrong tree.
1981		J. Sullivan ‘Go West Young Man’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] Anyhow, right in the middle of it, d’you know what she said to me?
1993		T. Jones Pugilist at Rest 134: Some people live for doing ‘it’ [...] They’re hyper-sexed.
1995		(con. 1860s) P. Ackroyd Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem 106: I used to kill them with ‘I Don’t Suppose He’ll Do It Again for Months and Months and Months’. I never saw the dirt in it, not me.
2000		Indep. Rev. 8 May 7: I had to wait until my late teens to ‘do it’.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 90: Some of the girls [...] They’re gonna sell it, can’t say I blame them.
2023		M. Herron Secret Hours 208: ‘[U]ncross your legs and offer it up for the good of the Service’.

2. the male genitals.

1654		Mercurius Fumigosus 12 16–23 Aug. 113: Had not the Wenches Voice been heard by one of the Apprentices, saying; It’s in; It’s in.
1683		‘Loves Masterpiece’ in Adlard Fruit of That Forbidden Tree (1975) 82: He felt under her smock. / Although he did touse her, / Although he did rouse her / Until she backwards did fall, / She did not complain / Nor his kindness refrain, / But prayed him to put it in all.
1732-1820		Order of the Beggar's Benison and Merryland (1892) 20: Dinner Sentiments [...] Club it in. Scold it in. Drive it in. Mould it in. Hold it in. Still there’s more to follow.
c.1750		‘Put It In’ in Bold (1979) 188: My mind I’ll tell you by and by, your love my heart doth win, / And presently I down will lie, O then boy put it in.
c.1840		‘Cat’ [broadsheet ballad] 🎵 I burst into laughter and spoiled the fun / but Nelly kept crying push it in John.
1865		‘Cupid’s Battering Ram’ Rambler’s Flash Songster 21: But when he produced it so potent and red, Rub a dub. / In fear and amazement the maid would have fled.
1884		‘Experiences of a Cunt Philosopher’ in Randiana 15: ‘Hold on, Emma, that’s enough, let’s put it in now’.
c.1890		‘Wake at Kildare’ in Bold (1979) 234: He stuffed her up with whiskey and he stuffed her up with cake, / And he stuffed it up wee Nellie coming home from the wake.
1904		Lustful Memoirs of a Young and Passionated Girl 33: I am getting so I hardly dare turn over in bed at night for fear of breaking it off.
c.1910		in P. Smith Letter from My Father (1978) 44: We would like to see ‘it’ ‘clear up’.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 694: Still he hasnt such a tremendous amount of spunk in him when I made him pull it out and and do it on me considering how big it is.
c.1930		in P. Smith Letter from My Father (1978) 239: The men looked as if they could never get ‘it’ up again.
1941		in G. Legman Limerick (1953) 20: There was a young fellow named Skinner / Who took a young lady to dinner. / At a quarter to nine / They sat down to dine; / At twenty to ten it was in her.
1955		J.P. Donleavy Ginger Man (1958) 28: When she had a few drinks she got frightfully crude [...] Asked me how big it was.
1958		Southern & Hoffenberg Candy (1970) 153: When it was in the goodie he changed his tune quickly enough.
1967		L. Bruce Essential Lenny Bruce 205: Just touch it once? Will ya just touch it once?
1973		B.S. Johnson All Bull 204: If ever you’re out with a party and you’re not getting anywhere, whip it out and wap it in her hand.
1979		‘Abdul Abul Bul Amir’ in Bold (1979) 1: One night this bold Russian had bathed it in rum, / Then powdered his fine grinding gear.
1982		P. Barker Union Street 193: He was fumbling with his flies [...] He seemed to be in no doubt that he – and It – were welcome.
1989		Kirk & Madsen After The Ball 311: If you want it sucked stand up and put it through.
1996		P. Temple Bad Debts (2012) [ebook] Cut it off, put it in his shirt pocket like a little cigar.
1999		‘Master Pimp’ Pimp’s Rap 52: I hadn’t stuck it in yet.
2000		N. Griffiths Grits 10: Yeh. rirly, no messin, ee shagged the sheep. Took is bleedin overawls dahn an rammed it strite up.
2004		J. Ellroy ‘Hollywood Fuck Pad’ Destination: Morgue! (2004) 249: Luis whipped it out. Luis pissed in the driveway.
2011		IOL News 5 Dec. 🌐 The racist myth that African men are rampant sexual beasts [...] unable to keep it in our pants.

3. a person of ambiguous gender.

1778		Thrale Thraliana i Dec. 356: Peggy Pitches is fallen in Love with a Creature called by People in Contempt The It—as his figure & Dress are so Equivocal many Folks take him for a Woman. What will not a Wench fall in Love with?
1977		E. Torres Q&A 109: ‘Bobby, please. I’m very upset. I want her with me,’ Montalvo pleaded, his voice cracking. ‘Send her, him—send it home’.

4. one who has no sexual feelings.

1778

Thrale Thraliana i Dec. 356: Mr Thrale is fallen in Love really & seriously with Sophy Streatfield—but there is no wonder in that: She is very pretty, very gentle, soft & insinuating [. . . .] A man must not be a Man but an It to resist such artillery.

5. a chamberpot.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 602/2: C.19–20.

6. the female genitals.

1870		Cythera’s Hymnal 3: ‘Now keep good time,’ she said, ‘and try / To shove a hole right through it’.
1890		Dead Bird (Sydney) 25 Jan. 1/2: ‘There’s only one in it — that’s me,’ as the bold lover sang to the blushing girl whose affections he had captured.
1896		Farmer Vocabula Amatoria (1966) 58: Cela [...] 2. The female pudendum; ‘it’.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 730: If he wants to kiss my bottom Ill drag open my drawers and bulge it right out in his face as large as life he can stick his tongue 7 miles up my hole as hes there.
1937		Lil Johnson ‘Hand Off It’ 🎵 You didn’t want it when you had it / So I got another man. / Keep your hands off it / It don’t belong to you.
1947		(con. c.1897) in Randolph & Legman Ozark Folksongs and Folklore (1992) II 611: But she h’isted up her petticoat / And showed it to us all.
1956		H. Whittington Forgive Me, Killer (2000) 52: They used to stand on street corners peddling it when they weren’t any more than thirteen.
1961		T. Taylor Baron’s Court All Change (2011) 131: ‘The day I’ll part with it for a mouthful of whisky, you can hang the flags out’.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Mama Black Widow 187: She had creamed herself wet and slimy and my middle finger was in ‘it’.

7. (US) a fool or an unpleasant person, a term of contempt.

1895		DN I 419: It. A worthless felllow. ‘An awful it.’.
1898		Eve. Post (Wellington) 9 Mar. 2/7: When a girl [in New York] says of a man that he is ‘a perfect it’ she means he lacks those qulities which would make him interesting.
1900		E.H. Babbitt ‘College Words and Phrases’ in DN II:i 42: it, n. A word of contempt expressing that one is something less than a human being; hence an idiot, a dolt.
1915		M.G. Hayden ‘Terms Of Disparagement’ in DN IV:iii 199: It, a word of contempt expressing that one is something less than a human being.
1935		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Judgement Day in Studs Lonigan (1936) 515: ‘Look, boys, it wants to join up with me,’ the King said.
1942		L. Bennett ‘Tree-Mile Bus’ Jam. Dialect Poems 109: Yuh can cuss me, yuh can beat me, / Yuh can call me all de ‘it’.
1979		B. Gutcheon New Girls (1982) 136: My dear, it must be a little drunk out.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 93/1: it n. a person whose general behaviour is considered so socially unacceptable as to be almost subhuman (cf. thing).

8. (orig. US, also Mister It) the acme of fashion, the ultimate, usu. when applied to a person, e.g. he really thinks he’s it.

1896		Ade Artie (1963) 4: I was ‘it’ from the start.
1901		‘Hugh McHugh’ Down the Line 68: Then Sweet William [...] stuck his feet up on the brass rail, ate toothpicks and thought he was it.
1908		E.G. Murphy ‘Them was the Days’ Jarrahland Jingles 169: I promise yer I was just IT [...] When up I brings me plumber’s kit, An’ gives ’em dinkum gabbie.
1910		‘O. Henry’ ‘The Fifth Wheel’ in Strictly Business (1915) 69: You are It, Annie.
1914		E. Dyson Spats’ Fact’ry (1922) 26: It’s out for a traipse with me new knock. ’N’ ain’t she It and a bit! She i-z — is. Lovely girl.
1917		T.W.H. Crosland ‘Wounded’ Coll. Poems 122: Our little lot, they say, is ‘it,’ / And not a bunch to stick at trifles.
1920		‘Sapper’ Bulldog Drummond 35: Three months ago there arrived at The Elms the most dangerous man in England — the it of its.
1929		Canberra Times 17 Apr. 8/7: He gave himself that inimitable and indescribable air [...] of being ‘it’.
c.1930		N. Kimball Amer. Madam (1981) 266: Later the coon things and the nigrah sounds were it.
1932		M. Marshall Travels of Tramp-Royal 276: And you should have heard it talk.
1947		in Randolph & Legman Ozark Folksongs and Folklore (1992) II 650: She’d teach him a new way to – / Bring up the children who thought they were it.
1951		Cusack & James Come in Spinner (1960) 264: So long as you don’t give a girl twins or VD you think you’re just it.
1955		E. Hunter Blackboard Jungle 364: This is it, Rick thought. This is really it.
1966		P. Willmott Adolescent Boys of East London (1969) 164: I want to be it [...] with my name mentioned every day in the papers – when that happens you are it.
1967		M.S. Brookins ‘Aspiration’ in Kochman Rappin’ and Stylin’ Out (1972) 381: Big Time was it. He was in, baby — really what was happening.
1971		R. Woodley Dealer 144: ‘That motherfucker Jimmy ain’t nothin. He’s got a fuckin attitude that he thinks he’s Mister It’.
1980		J. McClure Spike Island (1981) 175: Very rude people who’ve managed to save the fare and think they’re it.
1989		(con. 1982–6) T. Williams Cocaine Kids (1990) 76: I had to pay rent, I had to buy clothes, I had to live ... and school, college just ain’t it.
1996		(con. 1970) G. Moxley Danti-Dan in McGuinness Dazzling Dark (1996) I iii: Here’s her nibs [...] She thinks she’s it.
1999		Indep. Rev. 4 Aug. 9: They think they’re it.
2005		P. Howard Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightdress 20: [He] is such a dickhead and who [...] so thinks he’s it.
2010		K. Richards Life 138: What are going to do at that age when most of the teenage population of everywhere has decided you’re it?

9. (US) money.

1900		C.L. Cullen Taking Chances 138: He had it in every pocket. Said I to him: ‘D’ye remember that neat 100 to 1 thing you pulled off in Washington.’.
1947		J. Maclaren-Ross Of Love And Hunger 40: ‘Has your grandfather got a lot to leave?’ I asked Roper. ‘He’s lousy with it.’.
1959		E. De Roo Go, Man, Go! 40: Her folks really got it.

10. a cover-all for such special qualities that are required for social or professional success.

1902		Ade Forty Modern Fables 63: In the Commercial Agencies he was Rated AA Plus A1, which meant that he had it in Bales.
1929		J.B. Priestley Good Companions 241: I was watching your work to-night, and I said to myself, ‘That boy was born with it. A bit of experience, a few tips from an old hand, and he can go anywhere’.
1939		T. Wolfe Web and the Rock 325: Well this was ‘it’ [...] Yes, this was ‘it’ – but unmistakenly itself, in it’s own way – Saturday night here every night and all the time.
1960		J. Brosnan Long Season 67: [W]hen the booing started; some, reasonable critics, probably said, ‘Guess he didn’t have it tonight’.
1970		J. Bouton Ball Four 386: [N]ow Jim Owens knows what I mean when I say there are days when I just don’t have it.

11. sex appeal [note that although the term was popularised in Elinor Glyn’s It (1927), see R. Kipling ‘Mrs Bathurst’ (1904) for earlier use. Cited as such in the OED and by Andrew Lycett in Rudyard Kipling (1999) who adds ‘Possibly he gleaned this idea from Lord Milner, who had courted Glyn’].

1904		Kipling ‘Mrs. Bathurst’ Traffics and Discoveries 352: ‘Tisn’t beauty, so to speak, nor good talk necessarily. It’s just It. Some women’ll stay in a man’s memory if they once walk down a street.
1928		Helen Kane ‘Is Anything Wrong In That?’ 🎵 But I don’t understand a bit, / When he said, ‘Baby, you sure have It’.
1930		M. Fiaschetti You Gotta Be Rough 119: Beauty was summoned [...] She was dark, tense, tall, and stately, and amply endowed with the ancient quality modernly called ‘it’.
1945		A. Kober Parm Me 15: Looka here, William, I know you got plenty sex appeal and It.
1959		G. Slatter Gun in My Hand 70: She has It, this one [...] I feel the old attraction, the old urge.
1988		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 5: give it – exude an active, available sexuality: She gives it, and she knows it.

12. a person.

1895		Harrington & LeBrunn [perf. Marie Lloyd] He knows a Good Thing When He Sees It 🎵 Then he stood it a supper at Scotts / And bought it a bottle to please it.
1912		E. Pugh City Of The World 120: When are you going to marry It?
1934		C.S. Johnson Shadow of the Plantation 81: ‘This here baby is my daughter’s baby [...] The father paid the doctor’s bills and give it clothes’.
1999		(con. 1979–80) A. Wheatle Brixton Rock (2004) 28: I must admit, I’d love to bone it.
2000		N. Griffiths Grits 91: Fuckin tits on it, mun.

13. a sexually available female; esp. used generically.

1913		Sport (Adelaide) 1 Feb. 12/1: They Say [...] That Killy was seen [...] in the park with someone's wife. What does this mean, Kill? It's old enough to be your mother!
1935		H. McCoy They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? in Four Novels (1983) 25: With all of it running around loose [...] a guy would have better sense.
1976		D. Ireland Glass Canoe (1982) 76: There’s a mile of it out there. Long as you’ve got a nice white shirt on and your black bow tie and you’re sober and speak nice, they’re all over you.

14. ejaculation.

1922

Joyce Ulysses 694: When I made him pull it out and do it on me.

15. (US) excrement.

1938		J. Weidman I Can Get It For You Wholesale 42: ‘They want to mess in the street, like horses,’ I said. ‘See, they do the work of horses [...] so they want to have the right to drop it in the street, just like a horse.’.
1956		‘Ed Lacy’ Men from the Boys (1967) 75: Don’t cover me with it, Bill, it’s up to my shoes now.

16. (US Und.) death; also fig. use.

1931		‘Und. “Lingo” Brought Up-to-Date’ L.A. Times 8 Nov. K3: IT: Death.
1967		in J. Olsen Black is Best 78: ‘[T]hat plane started slipping down thataway and them motors just a-screaming and a-squalling. I really thought it was our last ride. I’d done made up my mind this was it’.
1973		P. Maas Serpico 116: [H]e went into a long, sickening skid, a line of parked cars loomed up in front of him, and he thought this was going to be it.
1978		L.K. Truscott IV Dress Gray (1979) 264: He figured any minute the Big wazoo was gonna come down and call his number, and that was gonna be it, man. It.
2011		IOL News (Western Cape) 27 May 🌐 When they took out their gun I thought that this was it.

17. a ref. to a casual, picked-up partner as opposed to a lover.

1932		‘R. Scully’ Scarlet Pansy 146: It’s most marvellously gorgeous. I’d like to make it.
1949		R. Park Poor Man’s Orange 188: Where did you find it, Harry? [...] Christ almighty! It’s a virgin, that’s what it is!
1951		D.W. Cory Homosexual in America 123: ‘Look what’s coming!’ ‘Isn’t it gorgeous!’.
1965		Guild Dict. Homosexual Terms 24: it (pron., n.): Used by homosexuals in reference to a heterosexual ‘number’ or ‘pickup’ instead of calling such him or he; also used in a derogatory way to refer to another homosexual who is considered on the ‘outside’ of any little group or association of ‘queens’.
2013		T. Black Ringer [ebook] n.p.: I mean, it’s into me big time, I can tell – it's a lassie after all.
2019		P. Baker Fabulosa 293/2: it a short-term sexual partner.

18. virginity.

c.1940		Johnny Messner & His Orchestra [instrumental title] She Really Meant To Keep It.
1977		Maledicta 1 (Summer) 17: As to her virginity, she is saving it, sitting on it, or planning to take it to Heaven with her.

19. (US) a dose of an addictive drug.

1956

H. Gold Man Who Was Not With It (1965) 239: We’re looking for our friend [...] You know him. Needed it bad, fierce.

20. (US black) the quintessence of black spirit, sensitivity etc.

1957		Kerouac On The Road (1972) 194: Now, man, that alto man last night had it.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 243: it Quintessence of things black; the indefinable spirit, vitality, heart of a person or thing or event.
1989		G. Tate ‘Adeva’ Flyboy in the Buttermilk (1992) 113: Adeva’s got It – that black woman t’ang to be exact – and got no inhibitions when it comes to flaunting it.

21. masturbation.

1970

C. Brown Down All the Days 60: How many times did you lie in bed and do it to yourself?

22. a scapegoat, one who has been chosen/singled out [ext. of the use in children’s games].

1973

R. Daley Target Blue 491: The Planning Division staff had culled Personnel Bureau statistics for a bilingual college graduate living in the 24th Precinct, and had come up with Juris. Juris was called in and told, ‘You are it’.

23. the last straw, something absolutely unacceptable.

2012

D. Spivey ‘If You Were Only White’ 264: Paige was outraged by the decision. That in combination with his lower pay was absolutely it for him.