Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(a) (UK/US Und.) to inform.

1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 72/2: Thinking there might be some one ‘put on’ by means of the Telegraph, Joe and I ‘rung togs,’ and agreed to meet separately at Wallace’s Hotel.
1887		Lantern (N.O.) 15 Jan. 2: A friend of mine put me on, so to speak.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 62: Put On, promised something; informed about the person or matter.
1897		E.W. Townsend Chimmie Fadden 33: If youse see any of me old gang, don’t put em on t’ de way Chimmie Fadden lost his grip.
1903		A.H. Lewis Boss 206: It didn’t need th’ doctor to put me on. More’n once I’ve felt my heart slip a cog.
1910		O. Johnson Varmint 61: I wish you fellows’d put me on.

(b) to tease, to joke with, to deceive for one’s own gain.

1815		A Merry Song Called Love in a Barn 4: But country girls are not such fools, / as to be taken in; / And you shall hear this country bite, / which she did put on him.
1849		C. Kingsley Alton Locke (1850) 46: ‘Am I clever?’ asked I, in honest surprise. ‘What! haven’t you found that out yet? Don’t try to put that on me.’.
1899		Derbys. Times (Chesterfield) 17 June 3/2: They think they can put on me because my husband is in the militia.
1901		Sheffield Eve. Teleg. 26 Oct. 3/3: [headline] A Dog That Would Not be ‘Put On’.
1902		Bulletin (Sydney) 11 Oct. 36/2: ‘Ye don’t know my name, and my son passes here three times a day in a milk-cart.’ / And even then I had to humbly admit that I couldn’t even guess it; but I’m sure she left under the impression that I was just ‘puttin’ on’.
1910		Wodehouse Psmith in the City (1993) 115: Bickersdyke wasn’t putting it on. He meant every word.
1937		(con. 1905–25) E.H. Sutherland Professional Thief (1956) 169: One member, seeing a street cleaner at work, said, ‘Let’s put him on’ [...] They pushed the old man around and beat him for $420.
1943		‘Henry Green’ Caught (2001) 60: I wouldn’t like to say she was putting anything on, oh no, I mean, it did sound reel to me.
c.1951		N. Algren ‘Watch Out for Daddy’ in Entrapment (2009) 129: Beth-Mary Kindred [...] Look at me. Are you putting it on?
1958		M.A. Crane ‘Misc.’ in AS XXXIII:3 225: When a hipster puts someone on he is pulling his leg (or perhaps putting him on a stage to be laughed at).
1961		M. Braly Felony Tank (1962) 146: ‘Don’t put me on!’ ‘Believe me. He’s dead.’.
1970		G.F. Newman Sir, You Bastard 138: Are you putting me on?
1970		Meyer & Ebert Beyond Valley of the Dolls [film script] This whole thing has been a big game. Right? A big put on. We’ve been putting each other on, man!
1983		J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 16: ‘No [...] You don’t have to put me on’.
1987		R. Campbell Alice in La-La Land (1999) 112: ‘I want to find out about an autopsy run on a hooker died from a beating about six, seven years ago.’ ‘You’re putting me on? That file would have been cleared out.’.
1993		T. Jones Pugilist at Rest 135: He looked at me like I was putting him on.
1999		Guardian G2 24 Aug. 13: At first I thought it was someone putting me on.
2000		G. Pelecanos Shame the Devil 196: Sometimes he got the feeling that Kendricks was putting him on. He didn’t like that.
2008		D.R. Pollock ‘Knockemstiff’ in Knockemstiff 31: I wonder if the man is putting me on, making fun of me.

(c) (Aus. und./US black) to arrest and/or charge, to blame for a crime; esp. on the basis of concocted evidence, to ‘frame up’.

1915		Bulletin (Sydney) 5 Aug. 47/1: You know what ther police do? They nab a bloke they think knows all erbout a job, and try an’ get him to squeal. If he won’t, they’ll put the job on him if they can. A man won’t squeal, not often. He’s liable fer stoush if he does.
1973		L. Shecter On the Pad 224: [in context of concocted charges] ‘You can’t lock me up,’ the Hook said. His voice was somewhat strangled. ‘The hell we can’t. I can put a slip on you twenty yards long’.
1985		T.R. Houser Central Sl. 42: put on me, what you A question inquiring into what charge, for which a person was arrested, implying the charge was bunk. ‘Thievin’! Man, you what you put on me.’.
1988		W.D. Myers Scorpions 14: ‘He gonna mess around,’ the dark, squat woman said, ‘and they gonna put that murder right on him’.
2004		J.A. Juarez Brotherhood of Corruption 161: ‘Nah, you motherfuckers. You ain’t putting no case on me,’ the kid protested.
2021		(con. 2012) J. Fenton We Own This City 38: ‘I have two rules: We don’t put stuff on people, and we don’t take money’.

(d) (US black) to set one person/goup against another.

1941

Warner, Junker & al. Color & Human Nature 117: ‘[S]he wrote me if I came down there to take the boys from her she would put the white folks on me’.

(e) to annoy, to irritate.

1963

J. Rechy City of Night 116: ‘Hoddawg!’ said Chuck, and this puts Miss Destiny on.

(f) to request.

1960

‘Lord Buckley’ Hiparama of the Classics 11: He put it on a couple of his Buddy-Cats.

(g) to place responsibility on.

2008

W.D. Myers Game 102: ‘We lose this game, you might lose your season.’ ‘Yo, man, you sound like you putting it on me,’ I said.

(a) (US) to eat, e.g. put on the chicken pie [abbr. put on the feed bag under feed bag n.].

1931

D. Runyon ‘The Lily of St. Pierre’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 134: I run into Jack O’Hearts in Bobby’s chophouse, putting on the hot meat.

(b) to smoke a cigarette.

1943

R. Llewellyn None But the Lonely Heart 247: He was stuck for a couple of lousy quid. Then it hit Him, while He was putting on a fag.