Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US) a fool, a simpleton; also attrib.

1909		C.B. Chrysler White Slavery 66: If the girl is what they call a ‘simp’ (the slang word for simpleton) the Slaver drives her direct to the resort.
1911		G. Bronson-Howard Enemy to Society 149: It’s pretty tough when a lot of wise ones have to take their orders from a simp like him.
1920		R.J. Fry Salvation of Jemmy Sl. I ii: You poor simp, what you doin’ here?
1920		W.C. Witwer No Base Like Home 14: Take that simp look off your face whilst I’m talkin’ to you.
1921		N. Putnam West Broadway 21: Maybe I’m not such a simp as I thought.
1929		St Louis Star (MO) 20 Dec. 11/5: It struck ‘Simpy’ a resounding blow on the cheek. ‘You old fool,’ panted Molly.
1930		J. Lait Gangster Girl 65: I may be a simp to be buckin’ a guy like Silk Freeman.
1930		M. Fiaschetti You Gotta Be Rough 78: ‘You’re a simp moll [...] You’re getting yourself into trouble by protecting him and he’s double-crossing you’.
1936		N. Marsh Death in Ecstasy 190: I guess we’re the Simps from Simpleton.
1940		E. O’Neill Iceman Cometh Act III: Jees, can yuh beat dem simps!
1940		M. Marples Public School Slang 59: Boys in general have a great flair for derogatory and vituperative expression [...] swot, swank, sneak, jew, swine, tick, scoff, cad, blog, nip, oik, lout, wet, drip, squit, squirt, mug, scug, sap, simp, seet, gump, muff, goof, goop, waft.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 59: Pimps and simps would fall in from here and there and everywhere.
1957		D. Niland Call Me When the Cross Turns Over (1958) 223: Don’t take me for a simp.
1959		Murtagh & Harris Who Live In Shadow (1960) 54: Hey, Simpy, the bug doctor’s calling for you. How come the bug doctor wants you, kid? You freakish!
1964		B. Jackson Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 87: That’s old stick-high jivin’ Wilson playin’ the part of a simp.
1973		(con. 1940s–60s) Hogbotel & ffuckes ‘Eskimo Nell’ in Snatches and Lays 78: You cunt-struck simp of a Yankee pimp, d’you call that thing a tool?
1989		P. Munro Sl. U.
1999		Guardian Guide 21–27 Aug. 6: The young Americans are but whining simps.
2003		UGK ‘Front, Back and Side to Side’ 🎵 Never goin out out like simps, walkin your block with gangsta limp.
2013		J. Stahl Bad Sex on Speed 27: Carmine gave the child to the grinning simp in the Cowboy hat.
2021		S.A. Crosby Razorblade Tears 111: ‘We shouldn’t have parked so close [...] That was a simp move’.

2. in specific use of sense 1, a man who is subservient in his pursuit of women and suffers accordingly; the antithesis of the alpha male pimp who dominates and manipulates women; thus v.

2014		C. Eble (ed.) UNC-CH Campus Sl. Spring 2014 13: SIMP — male easily manipulated by females. Also TRICK.
2023		‘The Professor of Pimpology’ [bk title] Stop Simping And Start Pimping / How To Get Women By Using Pimping Instead Of Simping.
2023		D.B. Gurley [bk title] Simpology 101: The Symptoms Of Simping: The Hidden Psychology Behind Simpology.