Green’s Dictionary of Slang

dope n.²

1. an ignoramus, a fool, a simpleton.

[1851		Gloss. Words Cumberland 8: Dope, a simpleton].
1866		E.L. Linton L. Lorton II 17: A ‘downo-canno dope’ which meant a spiritless simpleton. [Ibid.] III 39: She was [...] ‘a dozened lile dope’ .
1901		Shiner Gaz. (TX) 3 Apr. 2/2: The rustling life of the Tenderloin shortened the current designation of the habitual morphine-taker from dope fiend to plain dope.
1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 30: Aw, them skoits is dopes, on the dead level.
1919		Aussie (France) XII Mar. 2/1: Some dope in your office must have enclosed it dispatches to his Gippo Bint.
1921		(con. WWI) E. Lynch Somme Mud 170: In some ways he was very learned, book wise, but in other ways he was a dope.
1927		Smith’s Wkly (Sydney) 20 Aug. 11/1: Slanguage [...] Parse and analyse the following: [...] ‘Yer shoulda seen ’im do a bunk; dropped ’is bundcle like the big dope ’e is’.
1929		S. Ornitz Haunch Paunch and Jowl 32: G’wan up, you dope.
1939		J. Weidman What’s In It For Me? 15: I’m not just an ordinary dope of a resident buyer.
1941		N. Davis ‘Don’t Give Your Right Name’ in Goulart (1967) 29: The dope who runs it for you – Guiterrez.
c.1950		K. Howard Small Time Crooks 33: Baum was a dope. He was scared stiff and half-full of gin.
1960		C. MacInnes Mr Love and Justice (1964) 49: I’m not a dope: I’ll remember.
1974		G.M. Fraser McAuslan in the Rough 15: ‘Ah thought the Marble Arch was in London.’ [...] ‘This is anither Marble Arch, ye dope.’.
1985		Sparky D. vs The Playgirls ‘The Battle’ 🎵 If you ask me Spark, you look like a dope.
1993		T. Jones Pugilist at Rest 148: You dope, you say that shit but you don’t mean it.
2000		M. Manning Get Your Cock Out 39: The lovestruck dope was confused [...] he couldn’t understand what had happened to him.
2015		L. McInerney Glorious Heresies 261: ‘[H]e’ll just pin it back on you, because that’s what dopes like you are there for’.

2. a term of address.

1947		J. Maclaren-Ross Of Love And Hunger 73: ‘Oh come in,’ she said, ‘You dope,’ and smiled briliantly at me.
1967		P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 73: You dope, like in the funny book. Let’s sell lemonade.

In derivatives

dopish (adj.)

(US) foolish.

1937

‘Boxcar Bertha’ Sister of the Road (1975) 222: A tall, thin, dopish-looking fellow of about thirty, came over.

In compounds

dopehead (n.)

(US) a fool.

1940		(con. 1914) S.J. Simonsen Soldier Bill 20: The street car conductor did not say much, except to make some remark about dope-heads.
1940		Raine & Niblo Fighting 69th [film script] Roust outa there, dopeheads! [HDAS].
1962		(con. WWII) J. Jones Thin Red Line (1963) 59: And where do you find germs? In dirt, dopehead.