Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. something given or taken in return; usu. in phrs. (see below).

1950

C. Harris Three-Ha’Pence to the Angel 189: They come in droves, all trying ter get round me. Lot of change I give ’em.

2. (orig. US black) money, whether in notes or coins; often as piece of change.

1847		N.Y. Daily Trib. 29 Jan. 4/1: G.H. Fielding, being ‘three shillings short of any change,’ undertook to replenish his pockets by robbing his own mother.
1896		F. Hutcheson Barkeep Stories 11: ‘Fer a wonder he was dere wid some change himself’.
1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 27: Ef I cud git the agents tuh lemme put on my new act, I’d cop the change, too.
1909		H. Green Mr. Jackson 58: As soon as he handed a piece of change to these folks he was goin’ to ast the court to turn me loose.
1917		Van Loan ‘The Last Chance’ in Old Man Curry 105: All I want is a chance to string with this fellow [...] and get a piece of change for myself.
1920		R. Lardner Big Town iii: All the ones that’s got a piece of change ducks out somewhere where they can get the air.
1921		Jerry on the Job [comic strip] I simply gotta cook up some gag to cop a hunk of change.
1927		D. Hammett ‘The Big Knockover’ Story Omnibus (1966) 282: How’d you like to pick up a piece of change out on the Coast?
1933		C. Drew ‘Sledgehammer Joe’ in Bulletin (Sydney) 19 July 48/3: ‘If you do what I tell you, we’ll pick up a pinch of change.’ ‘Change?’ ‘Yes. Change, chips, mazuma’.
1934		D. Hammett ‘His Brother’s Keeper’ in Nightmare Town (2001) 164: I’ll give Loney a piece of change for your contract.
1940		W.R. Burnett High Sierra in Four Novels (1984) 403: All I thought about was getting my hands on a big piece of change.
1953		W.P. McGivern Big Heat 151: Thomas Francis Deery had once known where to pick up extra change.
1958		R. Prather Scrambled Yeggs 66: We counted it and there was a total of eighteen thousand, two hundred dollars. Quite a piece of change for Joey.
1962		S. Paige Maybe I’ll Pitch Forever 51: Bill Gatewood would rent me to another club so I could pick up a piece of change.
1972		O. Hawkins Ghetto Sketches 120: I’m ’pectin’ some change to be laid on me in a lil’ while.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 267: Profiling like they all do when they get a piece of change.
2000		F.X. Toole Rope Burns 58: Then we go for the IBF title and a real chunk of change.
2006		G. Pelecanos Night Gardener 141: A nice chunk of change.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 128: ‘How much you get?’ [...] ‘A good enough piece of change. Enough so’s I don’t have to sling dishes anymore’.
2019		D. Winslow Border [ebook] These two will pick up a nice piece of change.

3. in fig. use, any insignificant, unquantifiable amount, not necessarily monetary.

1959		A.J. Liebling ‘Paris the First’ in Just Enough Liebling (2004) 23: I insisted she [i.e. a governess] was there only to take care of my sister, who was two and change.
1996		(con. 1946) G. Pelecanos Big Blowdown (1999) 71: Two minutes and change into the first round [...] Can you believe it?
1999		J. Ridley Love Is a Racket 119: It was a four-and-change-hour drive, LA to Las Vegas.
2004		E. Weiner Drop Dead, My Lovely (2005) 200: Eight million and change.
2012		G. Pelecanos (con. 1972) What It Was 78: A local cop who was into him on a gambling debt for two thousand dollars and change.
2015		J. Stahl OG Dad 196: The tot N loves right now is a year-and-changer with a biblical name and Evel Knievel tendencies.
2022		J. Hannaham Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 15: Two decades and change into her beef.
2024		C. Stella Joey Piss Pot 107: Pizzoferrato was in the mountains, an hour and change drive from Pescara.

4. constr. with the, the menopause; also used joc. of a man (see cit. 1971–2) [euph. SE the change of life].

1940		E.F. Frazier Negro Youth 244: At the times of the interviews with Mrs. Small and Almina, the mother was ill: ‘I’m going through the change’.
1949		R. Park Poor Man’s Orange 113: Mumma liked to think she was going through ‘the change’.
1967		N. Dunn Poor Cow 17: I have lots of offers now but I am a bit nervous – being in the change.
1971–2		C. Shafer ‘Catheads [...] and Cho-Cho Sticks’ in Abernethy Bounty of Texas (1990) 206: ‘He’s going through the change!’ – said of someone who is acting strange or different.
1974		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell Plays Solomon (1976) 71: Nobody with a body and legs like hers was going through the change.
1982		N. Keesing Lily on the Dustbin 96: Mum’s approaching ‘her change’ and fears that, like her own mother before her, she may ‘lose her figure’ and end up ‘built like a battleship’.

5. (US black) a game of dice.

1953

L. Durst Jives of Dr. Hepcat (1989) 9: We will take a look in on a private club where the real gone are having a game of change. (Dice.).

6. (US prison) in a jail sentence, any period of time less than a whole year.

1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 52: So I did three and change.
1992		B. Gifford Night People 4: I can’t believe we survived three and change in that pit.
2001		J. Stahl Plainclothes Naked (2002) 262: Some no-name do what I do, maybe he gets twelve to life, gets sprung in eight and change.