Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. the police; occas. in sing.

1854		Bell’s Life in Sydney 8 Apr. 3/1: I will take Sarah to the stronghold of the men in blue who protect the people.
1869		Paisley Herald 6 Feb. 2/3: The ‘men in blue’ had to be called in to put down the ‘ghosts in white’.
1879		London Life 7 June 7/2: Their naughtiness is generally dispensing of surreptitious hospitality to the ‘boy in blue,’ or the ‘boy in scarlet’.
1882		Bristol Magpie 17 Aug. 17/2: A line on the play-bill [...] reads thus: ‘Guests, thieves, tramps, policemen, and other questionable characters.’ [...] Rather force-ible on ‘the men in blue’ that.
1882		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 18 Mar. 2/3: [A] magnificent pictorial supplement representing the lives of our boys in blue .
1889		Sheffield Eve. Teleg. 19 Aug. 2/5: The Boys in Blue. The London policeman so often is the mark for criticism, for censure and for ridicule.
1889		Dead Bird (Sydney) 9 Nov. 2/3: Upon going to his house a well-known gentleman in blue found nailed upon the door a placard running thus [etc].
1890		Sporting Times 11 Jan. 1: Certain it is that our merry boys blue are no mean elocutionists or chirrupers.
1893		Wincott & Elen [perf. Gus Elen] ‘Down the Dials’ 🎵 There’s only one who we’re afraid, and that’s the bloke in blue /For when we spots a copper, well, we runs a mile or two.
1894		J. Astley Fifty Years (2nd edn) II 235: [...] subsequently retiring, leaving the boy in blue to keep watch.
1894		C. Scott ‘The Lay of the Man in Blue! Gallant Rescue by a Policeman’ The New Victoria Cross 6: Dead! to save God’s saddest creatures! Faithful Man in Blue!
1894		Truth (Sydney) 14 Oct. 7/4: The pickpocket gambles, the forger, too, / [...] / For each takes chances the ‘boys in blue’ / May surprise him in his sin.
1896		Albert Chevalier ‘The Racecourse Sharper’ 🎵 You must dodge the bloke in blue unless you wants a week in quod.
1896		E.W. Rogers [perf. Vesta Tilley] The New Policeman 🎵 I’m the new policeman, I'm the dandy boy in blue.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Nov. 12/2: Glittering buckles and eccentric flop-hat added snap to a toilette which achieved the unique feat of dazzling a policeman. The ‘bhoy [sic] in blue’ must be pretty tough, but this particular one seemed knocked all of a heap.
1900		Sporting Times 6 Jan. 8/3: [advert] The Lads in Red and The Boys in Blue smoke Old Gold Cigarettes – Of course You do.
1904		Laverton Mercury (Laverton, WA) 15 Jan. 3/3: That the ‘man in blue’ asserted his authority and closed both hotels up early in the evening - one much earlier than the other.
1910		Wodehouse Psmith in the City (1993) 88: ‘You ’op it,’ concluded the man in blue. ‘That’s what you do. You ’op it.’.
1912		Truth (Sydney) 10 Nov. 12/2: [headline] LIZZIE LUMBERED. A Sussex Street Solicitress BUMPS A BRACE OF BOYS IN BLUE.
1913		Sport (Adelaide) 4 Oct. 4/2: G T had better keep away, as the men in blue with brass buttons are after him.
1915		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘Lady Friends’ Sporting Times 13 Mar. 1/2: He spoke up for the man in blue in court the other week.
1925		Dover Exp. 27 Mar. 15/4: The Boys in Blue from the great ‘Metrollopus’ came down here and they didn’t half wallop us!
1932		Buckingham Advertiser 18 June 4/3: The boys in blue once again proving what excellent cricketers and what jolly companions the Police Force can be.
		E. Freeman ‘The Whirling Hub’ in Afro-American (Baltimore, MD) 13 Apr. 15/3: What Rose-Street pad was visited by the boys in blue.
1942		R. Chandler High Window 157: You got back on at six. Shortly after that the boys in blue came bustlin’ in.
1949		Truth (Sydney) 24 Jul. 12/1: [S]oon after the fire broke out someone whispered in the ears of the boys in blue, who were quickly on the scene and made four arrests.
1956		N. Algren Walk on the Wild Side 243: The parlor was full of the boys in blue and someone smashed the glass of the juke.
1959		I. & P. Opie Lore and Lang. of Schoolchildren (1977) 395: Nicknames current among boys [...] include: Bobby, Blueboy, Boy in Blue.
1960		J.P. Donleavy Fairy Tales of N.Y. IV i: Policemen were parked sitting in their car, in their nice blue uniforms waiting for speeders [...] Ha, ha, you’ve never seen such bellies in blue.
1961		(con. 1890–1910) ‘Flann O’Brien’ Hard Life (1962) 111: Jesuits can be a far closer police force than the men in blue.
1964		B. Jackson Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 93: Up come the boys in blue, cuts your head something terrible, and carries you to jail.
1971		N. Smith Gumshoe (1998) 101: A decent, law-abiding citizen who finds himself in a jam [...] should head straight the boys in blue and tell all.
1976		D. Ireland Glass Canoe (1982) 5: Not that the boys in blue were waiting outside the pub to put the bag on departing drinkers.
1984		Flame : a Life on the Game 138: I was fast asleep when the Boys in Blue raided Betty’s.
1986		C. Bowles G’DAY 25: A pig is one of the boys in blue and busts you for speeding.
1993		R. Shell Iced 262: They called the police. The men in blue arrived and found me raving.
1999		Ian Dury ‘Itinerant Child’ 🎵 Slow down itinerant child, the boys in blue are waiting.
2001		N. Barlay Hooky Gear 230: Once youre inside, and bunkbedded, and spanking the old monkey, I will personally let it be known what a tremendous help youve been to the men in blue.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 116/1: men in blue n. the police.
2004		Jin ‘Club Song’ 🎵 Keep away from the boys in blue.
2006		F.X. Toole Pound for Pound 77: The men in blue were on his side.
2007		D.S. Mitchell Killer Tune (2008) 84: They boys in blue were trying to swap the beat of the street for some other type of melody.
2013		K. Sampson Killing Pool 172: He’s had a bad deal from the boys in blue, especially in aftermath of the riots.
2016		T. Robinson Rough Trade [ebook] Guess she’d seen the whole boys-in-blue display.
2021		Central Cee ‘Loaded’ 🎵 The boys in blue tryna find them clues.

2. (US) soldiers or sailors.

1882		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 8 Apr. supp. 1/1: our boys in blueIf there is an American boy whose first ambition in life was not to become a soldier or a sailor, we have yet to hear from him.
1909		Murphy & Lipton [perf. George Lashwood] ‘All Hands on Deck’ 🎵 The boy in blue and half the bally crew / Clambered up the mizzen-mast.

3. baseball umpires.

1957

M. Avallone ‘Power the Ball Platewards’ in Super Sports 🌐 Most of the boys in blue brush off home [plate] after a terrific slide.

4. (US prison) warders.

1963

in T.I. Rubin Sweet Daddy 37: Hacks, screws [...] they’re still boys in blue to me.