Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. Aus.) any form of strong, home-distilled liquor, often made of jungle-grown fruits and plants, herbs etc. by soldiers with no ‘regular’ drinks.

1943		Sydney Morn. Herald 11 Dec. 7/3: ‘Jungle juice’ is either coconut milk [or] concentrated fruit juice, but preferably any drink with an alcoholic base.
1946		T. Heggen Mister Roberts 204: Denowsky stood accused of urinating in the crock of jungle juice.
1958		(con. 1950) E. Frankel Band of Brothers 274: Then drank jungle juice, an underfermented three-day old mixture of raisins, prunes, white rice, yeast, and sickbay alcohol.
1962		(con. WWII) J.O. Killens And Then We Heard The Thunder (1964) 285: He drank jungle juice with the men [...] Got roaring drunk with them.
1972		J. McNeill Old Familiar Juice (1973) 104: bulla: Then [they] lumbered ’em back to chase boongs and drink jungle juice.
1977		G. Melly Rum, Bum and Concertina (1978) 138: Alcohol in Gibraltar is liable to be of an explosive nature [...] The local ‘jungle juice’ and ‘merry-merry’ should be avoided.
1984		J. Ellroy Because the Night 232: The old jig [...] sells nifty hood ornaments for the price of a pint of jungle juice.
2006		B. Matthews Intractable [ebook] [H]ocking his jungle juice at $10 a plastic cordial bottle.
2018		Young M.A. ‘I Got the Bag’ 🎵 Mix the Jungle juice with the Jamba juice now I'm feeling saucy.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 364: I spiked it up. 151/hashish chunks/coca grande [...] Clemmons sucked jungle juice.

2. (mainly juv.) tea.

1959

I. & P. Opie Lore and Lang. of Schoolchildren (1977) 185: Tea is ‘char’, ‘grog’, or ‘jungle juice’.

3. cider [its association with rural life].

1961

T. Taylor Baron’s Court All Change (2011) 30: ‘A cider will do.’ ‘A horrible drink — that. I never indulge in jungle juice’.

4. the essence of being racially black, usu. derog. in tone; also attrib.

1963		N. Dunn Up the Junction 14: What you after, a bit of jungle juice?
1967		J. Burke Till Death Us Do Part 11: None of your foreigners are proper white. [...] There’s a drop of the jungle juice in all of em.
1994		I. Welsh ‘Stoke Newington Blues’ in Acid House 37: His fucking nigger friend. Old jungle-juice boy through there.

5. (US) men’s aftershave that supposedly enhances virility and sexual appeal.

1976

P. Conroy Great Santini (1977) 310: Hey, Prince. You gonna let me use some of that English Leather jungle juice?

6. (US campus/UK juv.) semen or vaginal secretions.

1982		S. King Different Seasons (1995) 206: Semen. Come. Jizz. Jungle-juice. Words from fences and locker rooms and the walls of gas station bathrooms.
1990		Eble Campus Sl. Apr. 7: spooge – semen. Also jism, jungle juice.
2001		OnLine Dict. of Playground Sl. 🌐 jungle juice n. liquid from wet beef curtains.

7. (US) sweat.

2001

S. King Dreamcatcher 415: The old jungle juice is rolling down his neck in rivers.

8. (N.Z. prison) methadone.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 96/2: jungle juice n. 2 methadone, a heroin substitute used chiefly in the treatment of heroin addicts.

9. (N.Z. prison) largactil.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 96/2: jungle juice n. 1 largactil in liquid form.

10. (N.Z. prison) datura.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 96/2: jungle juice n. 3 datura.

11. (US drugs) any form of amphetamine.

2023

(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 65: Jungle juice. It wears you down. The flight decrees the crash.