roomie, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

roomie n.

also roomy

[abbr.]

(US)

1. a room-mate, one who shares an apartment or other dwelling; thus room v., to share an apartment or other dwelling.

1913		Day Book (Chicago) 16 Apr. 11/2: Booe is a pal, pupil and ‘roomie’ of the old-timer.
1918		Sat. Eve. Post 6 July 5/3: I wouldn’t make no holler at that if they had of left us pick our own roomys .
1927		R. Lardner ‘Hurry Kane’ in Coll. Short Stories (1941) 95: If you won’t do it for yourself or Dave, do it for me, your roomy.
1929		S.J. Perelman Dawn Ginsbergh’s Revenge 116: You must know old Larry Schultz, my roomie!
1949		J.H. Burns Lucifer with a Book 63: Gee, thanks, roomie, Buddy said, pocketing the money.
1966		(con. 1958) R. Farina Been Down So Long (1972) 70: He’ll be late, old roomie, hates being tardy.
1966		R.E. Alter Carny Kill (1993) 41: I’m your roomy.
1971		(con. 1930s) D. Wells Night People 67: I see my roomie has fallen asleep. [Ibid.] (con. 1960s) 101: Henderson Chambers and I ‘roomed’ together on the bus.
1978		J. Webb Fields of Fire (1980) 119: You wouldn’t believe the faces of my friends when I told them my old college roomy was a Marine!
1987		R. Campbell Alice in La-La Land (1999) 137: He left early because he had to pick up his roomie.
1992		M. Coleman Fatty 213: ‘Listen Dave,’ he said, ‘any chance of a change of roomie?’.
1999		Guardian Guide 11–17 Sept. 65: The awfully embarrassing videos sent in from wannabe roomies.
2009		DNA India (Mumbai) 10 June 3/2: Dahisar roomies in death brawl. One dies, other critical after they stab each other with a kitchen knife.
2016		N. Cummins Adventures of the Honey Badger [ebook] Now, I’d lived with a few monsters in a few old roomies.
2022		J. Hannaham Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 203: One my roomies [...] blaspheming all the time.

2. a prison cell mate.

1967		C. Cooper Jr Farm (1968) 155: What my roomie saw was Hazel split into the women’s john.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 155: If his roomy (cellmate) is overtly aggressive, the boy is said to be fruit for the monkey[s].
1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 39: Roomie Someone who shares a living space with another inmate.
2000		Sun. Times News Rev. 12 Mar. 3: His roomies were the ‘cluckers’, ‘toppers’ [...] and ‘fraggles.’.

In compounds

roomy dodge (n.)

sitting with one’s knees spread and elbows akimbo, thus taking up excessive space in sared public seating (e.g. on a bus or railway); the Victorian equivalent of ‘manspreading’.

1848

Puppet-show 1-2 19/1: ‘Sitting square’ or ‘sitting wide,’ otherwise known as the roomy dodge, is an elegant method of sticking out the elbows, and widening the space between the knees so as to occupy as much room as possible, to make the unfortunate persons who sit [...] on each side, wretchedly uncomfortable.