Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. of a man, to have sexual intercourse, thus stung, impregnated.

1652		Laughing Mercury 8-16 Sept. 184: She [...] being stung very happily in a place that nothing endangered her life; some are of the judgement that she is poysoned; others that the sweling may go down again in a little time.
1930		Memphis minnie ‘Bumble Bee’ 🎵 Oh, sting me, bumblebee / Until I get enough.

2. to infect with an STD.

1732

Progress of a Rake 40: Our Youth too often find ’em [i.e. whores] stale, / And sting without a Coat of mail.

3. (orig. UK Und.) to steal, to cheat, both in fact and as merely overcharging; thus stung adj.¹ (1)

1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 271: sting to rob or defraud a person or place is called stinging them, as, that cove is too fly; he has been stung before; meaning that man is upon his guard; he has already been trick’d.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue [as cit. 1812].
1905		A. Binstead Mop Fair 195: Mr. Contango has just stung her ‘good and plenty’.
1905		F. Hutchison Philosophy of Johnny the Gent 40: ‘[Y]ou know that overfed bankroll you've got nailed to your undershirt? Well [...] I’m not going to sting you for any part of it’.
1910		‘Peter’ [O.V. Boob] 19 Aug. [synd. strip] I didn’t want to sting him too hard. He’s a nice little fellow to keep around.
1928		M.C. Sharpe Chicago May (1929) 115: Stingers get stung.
1936		K. Mackenzie Living Rough 172: Further down a couple of guys selling razor blades. ‘Now, does it pay me to sting you? Anyone else, please. Finest razor blade I’ve ever sold.’.
1940		S. Lister Mistral Hotel (1951) 73: You can sting them all as hard as you like.
1997		C. Newland Scholar 193: I bin smokin’ ash all week Cory, I ain’t even got no weed an’ I certainly wouldn’t sting yours. [Ibid.] 247: How come you was stayin’ at Sonnie’s den, you tryin’ t’sting me?
2002		C. Stella Jimmy Bench-Press 69: I’m the one can sting him, not you. I’m the one that can turn him over for a wad of cash.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 4: We stung the studios. We popped the pooh-bahs. We hurled the hurt.

4. (US) to levy a charge upon, usu. financial but also fig., e.g. a prison sentence.

1908		B. Fisher A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 35: Suppose they put the crusher on me and sting me for about 5 years.
1922		S. Lewis Babbitt (1974) 314: Why, he stung me five dollars.
1930		L. Lower Here’s Luck 52: ‘Temple. Good feller. Stung him for a couple’.
1938		G. Greene Brighton Rock (1943) 240: ‘How much did they sting you?’ ‘A couple of hundred. She’s cheap at the price.’.
1949		R. Park Poor Man’s Orange 102: How much do they sting yer for it?
1951		Cusack & James Come in Spinner (1960) 153: ‘How do you like our little home sweet home?’ [...] ‘What do they sting you for it?’.
1952		K. Amis letter 6 June in Leader (2000) 282: I let them do this and sting us thereby for a night’s garaging.
1960		‘Nino Culotta’ Cop This Lot 81–82: ‘Wod they sting us?’ ‘Six thousand francs.’.

5. to equal.

1906

S. Ford Shorty McCabe 44: Well, this one was about half Melba’s size, but for shape and color she had her stung to a whisper.

6. (US) to unmask, to reveal.

1901		‘Hugh McHugh’ Down the Line 41: ‘Stung!’ shrieked Slim. ‘Back to the nursery!’ howled Tod.
1930		‘Leslie Charteris’ Enter the Saint 220: Dicky Tremayne was in that boat, and Dicky Tremayne had somehow or other been stung.

7. (also put in the stings) to demand or beg for something.

1919		W.H. Downing Digger Dialects 47: sting (vb.) — Make a request for a loan or gift. So, also, ‘Put in the stings’.
1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: sting. Make a request for a loan or gift; also put in the stings.
1959		D. Niland Big Smoke 206: ‘Pay?’ Georgie Barber said, taken aback. ‘What would you sting me?’.
1982		P. Redmond Tucker and Co 21: We can’t let him get away with it, Jonah, or he’ll just keep stinging us otherwise.

8. (Aus.) to inject a racehorse with a drug that affects its performance.

1920

Northam Courier (WA) 24 Sept. 2/2: When swabs were never taken, and prads were never stung; / They needed no inquiries with shady tricks to cope. / In days the game was dinkum, and they never used the dope.

9. (US Und.) to make a successful coup as a confidence trickster.

1940		D. Maurer Big Con 207: That way you can sting the first time.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 260: Helen stung a rich sod-buster for seventy-two hundred.
2000		Indep. Rev. 11 Jan. 8: ‘Hitmen’ are more likely to sting the hirer for the murder fee and not honour the contract than to carry out the assassination.

10. (US prison) to report a convict for a disciplinary offence.

1933

Ersine Und. and Prison Sl.

11. (US Und.) to arrest.

1949

Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).