spot n.3
1. a cake; thus spot and scalder, cake and tea [the spots are currants etc. in a fruit cake].
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Wops the Waif iv n.p.: [...] spot and scalder (which being interpreted, meant cake and tea) [F&H]. |
2. difficulties, trouble; usu. in phr. in a spot [i.e. ‘a spot of bother’].
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Call News-Pictorial (Perth, WA) 18 Jan. 3/4: ‘He’d had a few spots’ [...] ‘I don’t want slang in this court’. | |
| Right Ho, Jeeves 6: And when he’s got A out of a bad spot, A puts B on to him. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Low Company 62: I’m in a spot. I need money bad. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Dandy 8 Apr. n.p.: Gee Dan, we’re in a tough spot. | |
| What Makes Sammy Run? (1992) 278: Don’t give me that double-talk [...] I’m in a spot. | |
| Enemy Coast Ahead (1955) 66: What a spot to be in! | |
| Come in Spinner (1960) 242: She’s in a spot. Her sister Mary’s pregnant. | |
| Little Men, Big World 109: ‘If they’d happen to blast me, the Mover’d be in a hell of a spot.’ ‘The Mover? How about yourself?’. | |
| Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 158: I was in one hell of a spot. | |
| Much Obliged, Jeeves 54: It pained me deeply to contemplate the spot he was in. | |
| Muscle for the Wing 66: You see the spot you’re in now, don’t you? |
3. (Aus.) a drink.
| Bride of Gospel Place 135: We’ll have a spot, boy. Milky gets whiskey and fills two glasses. | |
| ‘Trouble Down at Tudsleigh’ in Young Men in Spats 67: Two Eggs and a couple of Beans were having a leisurely spot in the smoking-room of the Drones Club. |
4. pertaining to a place or environment.
(a) (US Und.) anywhere seen as a potential site for a robbery, e.g. a jewellery store, wealthy apartment etc.
| Stealing Through Life 285: You want to spend all your life casing some spot instead of working. | |
| Limey 27: When we came to our ‘spot,’ Sprout [...] took out the Tommy-gun. | |
| (con. 1905–25) Professional Thief (1956) 8: Should one mob find bad features in any spot, they will advise other mobs of it. | |
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). | |
| et al. DAUL 203/2: Spot. 1. A site selected for the commission of a crime. | |
| Corner (1998) 105: Found this spot [...] They practically asking you to take their shit. |
(b) (orig. US black) a nightclub; thus the spot, the nightclub of fashionable choice.
| Your Broadway & Mine 31 Mar. [synd. col.] Captain Churchill, whose Broadway rendezvous was ‘the spot’ until three months after prohibition. | |
| Green Ice (1988) 67: She had come out of Harlem [...] to the glitter spots. | |
| ‘Clip-Joint Chisellers’ in Ten Story Gang Aug. 🌐 Marge and Dot were two of a score of come-alongs that steered and decoyed for the spot. | |
| Harder They Fall (1971) 23: We’d usually hit our favourite spots together. | |
| Mad mag. Jan.–Feb. 4: This is the roughest spot in town. | |
| (con. 1940s) Autobiog. (1968) 226: Shorty’s band played at spots around Boston three or four nights a week. | |
| Too Many Crooks Spoil the Caper 22: It couldn’t really do all that much harm if I dropped into one or two spots. | |
| Auf Wiedersehen Pet Two 308: And if you want dinner or a glimpse of the night spots, I’ll be happy to oblige. | |
| Indep. Traveller 17 July 5: A guy took me to a cabaret spot called Gio’s. | |
| ‘Tough the Sky’ 🎵 Come up in the spot lookin’ extra-fly. |
(c) a restaurant.
 | Giant Swing 23: [of a diner] ‘You boys owe me eleven-fifty apiece. What a spot I walked into!’. | |
| ‘Too Much Pep’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 631: I often go to a spot in Harlem where a guy can get good Italian food. | |
| Earl Wilson’s New York 24: We had overlooked one spot—Jennie Lou’s restaurant, ‘for soul food’ . | |
| Much Obliged, Jeeves 12: ‘At what spot?’ ‘Barribault’s grill-room.’. | |
| We Own This City 50: Gladstone was eating at a Peruvian chicken spot. |
(d) (orig. US black) an after-hours club.
| ‘Dancing Dan’s Christmas’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 262: We stop in a couple of spots and have a few drinks. | |
| Gentleman of Leisure 8: I meet girls at parties, at clubs and after-hour spots. | |
| (con. 1982–6) Cocaine Kids (1990) 44: The police saw him leaving a spot one night and followed him. | |
| Crackhouse 16: If you wanted to snort, you would go to the spot (after-hours club). |
(e) (US und.) premises used for prostitution.
| Thicker ’n Thieves 127: No doubt, he had put two and two together and had figured that I was borrowing the officer to aid in knocking over Brenda’s spot. |
(f) (US police/und.) premises used for numbers gambling.
| Helfand Report 32: On the 1st and 15th of each month he [a bookmaker] paid every division plainclothes squad in which he had a gambling spot. | |
| Knapp Commission Report Dec. 79: [I]t became clear that the police were aware of the spot’s existence and business. [...] Yet the business went on seemingly unhampered by police arrests. |
(g) (US black/drugs) anywhere in the street that drug dealers congregate.
| Police Power 222: ‘The police [...] see groups of people standing around on a corner known to be the spot where they make their connection. Some of them may even be nodding’. | |
| ‘P Is Free’ 🎵 We walked to the spot, she says she want a rock. | |
| Tragic Magic 5: There were some days where I would go around to the spots and the pusher wouldn’t give me any dope. | |
| Grand Central Winter (1999) 145: I can tell – by the bulge of his eyes and the tic in his neck – that he’s found a live spot. | |
| Tuff 225: Raychelle, them niggers ain’t going to be at the spot forever. | |
| Lush Life 38: Look who just got out, talk to Parole [...] hit the dope spots . | |
| Alphaville (2011) 12: ‘So where did you go? For the dope?’ [...] ‘Third Street. mainly that spot’. | |
| ‘Quarter Block’ 🎵 Spot open up, weed given on the weekend / Even on Sunday unlike Chick-Fil-A. |
(h) (US gay) any homosexual gathering place other than a gay bar.
| Queens’ Vernacular 188: spot (kwn NYC, short for hot spot) any place besides a bar where homosexuals meet. |
(i) (S.Afr.) an illicit bar, a shebeen.
![[SA]](/static/img/flags/sa.png "South Africa") | in Hermer Diary of Maria Tholo (1980) 99: One man arrived [...] soused. Everybody jumped up and asked, ‘Where did you get wet?’ I mean especially on Sunday, and when the children thought they had wiped out liquor. So he just laughed and said, ‘I am not telling because I don’t want my spot uncovered.’ [DSAE]. | |
| Children of Soweto 81: Ma Vy [...] ran a spot (which is our euphemism for a drinking joint) at her house. | |
| East Province Herald 11 Jan. 2: Mr Q- died [...] after he allegedly attempted to escape while pointing out ‘spots’ in Sebokeng township [DSAE]. |
(j) (US) an apartment used spec. for the sale and use of drugs.
| (con. 1982–6) Cocaine Kids (1990) 19: He told me to go to this spot with him. He said he needed some back [backup or help] and he didn’t have anybody. | |
| Crack War (1991) 38: He used to, like, come inside the spot. He would just sit. | |
| Iced 50: I was about to tell you about Eric’s spot the last time I wrote. | |
| Straight Dope [ebook] — It’s not a dope house. — Come on, man, I know this spot. | |
| ‘Hate It or Luv It’ 🎵 The music ting just popped, just in time ’cause the spot got hot. |
(k) (UK black) a meeting place for criminals, outside one’s actual home area.
| Who They Was 6: We’re on our way to the spot [...] we’ve gotten way with it. |
5. (US drugs) a functioning vein into which one can inject narcotics.
| Straight Dope [ebook] — You got a spot or you going to be in there for an hour? I was asking if she had a dependable vein or whether she was going to poke away and hope for the best. |
6. (N.Z. drugs/prison) a drop of marijuana oil or a small compressed marijuana bud: when heat is applied the resulting smoke can be inhaled.
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 174/2: spot 4. a drop of marijuana oil, or a small ball of compressed marijuana bud. Heat is applied to the spot, and the fumes may be inhaled. |
In compounds
(US Und.) a gang member who chooses the target for robbery.
| Und. Speaks n.p.: Spot guy, the man who picks out the person or place to be robbed. |
SE, meaning a small mark or dot, in slang uses
In compounds
(US Und.) a hired assassin.
| Persons in Hiding 284: Eddie Doll [...] a reputed ‘spot killer’ for some of Chicago’s most desperate gangsters. |
(US black) a light-skinned black woman.
| Black Jargon in White America 81: spotlight n. a light-skinned black female. |
In phrases
wearing a spotted silk handkerchief around one’s neck.
| ‘Some Road Slang Terms’ in Malet Annals of the Road 395: 4. Of Coachmen A little of the spot about the neck...Having on a bird’s-eye fogle. |
to be stupid, i.e. ‘not all there’.
| Sl. and Its Analogues. |
uncertain, lacking in awareness.
| ‘What Winifred Wanted’ The Sporting Times 29 Apr. 1/3: The chatterers felt they were dead off the spot / When they asked, ‘Was it oof she required?’ Clearly not. |
1. alert, aware.
| Bulletin (Sydney) 11 Apr. 11/1: We can only assure our readers that our correspondent is on the spot, and will pursue his vocation to the very cannon’s mouth. | |
| ‘Founded on Fact’ Sporting Times 5 May 1/4: The bride’s youthful niece, little Alice, / As bridesmaid was well on the spot. | |
| Us Boys 15 Jan. [synd. cartoon strip] — How’s the boy? — Right on the spot kid, right on the spot! | |
| Peace in Our Time 125: That other chap, murmuring to himself as he walked, didn’t look altogether ‘on the spot’. | |
| Gun for Sale (1973) 82: I was on the spot that day. Do you know what I said? | |
| Till Human Voices Wake Us 23: He was stupid [...] but a little more on the spot than most of the gauleiters [i.e. prison superintendents]. | |
| ‘Honky-Tonk Bud’ in et al. Life (1976) 58: Judge Stern is hot, and he’s on the spot; / So he’ll make an example out of you. |
2. (US Und., also on a spot) marked for death, facing assassination.
| Confessions of a Gunman 221: You might be on a spot in a cabaret or such a place, and walk into the lavatory and be stuck up with guns. | |
| ‘Snowbound’ in Gangster Stories Oct. n.p.: ‘You put Kate on the spot and — ’. | |
| Bullets for Two 8: It might mean that both partners were on the spot and they got La Sala somewhere, too. | |
| Scrambled Yeggs 111: If I recalled Kelly’s drunken conversation correctly, the guy on the spot was me. | |
| Cotton Comes to Harlem (1967) 22: He’s on the spot; the syndicate has voted to kill him. |
3. (also on a spot) in trouble, facing problems.
| ‘Gats in the Hat’ in Gun Molls Sept. 🌐 ‘You won’t need them where you’re going!’ ‘You mean I’m on the spot!’. | |
| (con. 1920s) Judgement Day in Studs Lonigan (1936) 548: His old man almost on the spot. | |
| Knock on Any Door 188: I’m in trouble. I’m on the spot. | |
| Savage Night (1991) 95: Talk about Jake being on a spot. | |
| Henderson The Rain King 229: I was on the spot. | |
| Police Behavior 150: The police in Albany and Newburgh [...] have been ‘on the spot’ several times [...] in Albany the chief backed up his men and in Newburgh he did not. | |
| (con. 1943) Irish Fandango [ebook] This was getting too direct: she had him on the spot now. |
1. (US tramp) to leave waiting at an appointed meeting place.
| ‘Vocab. of Bums’ in AS IV:5 343: Put-on-the-spot—Left waiting at an appointed meeting place. |
2. to arrange to have someone killed or physically harmed; to put someone in the position of being killed.
| Illinois Crime Survey 928: [f.n.1 a meeting in the Morrison Hotel, at which it was said a police official was present, and made overtures to Hymie Weiss, who insisted he wanted the attackers of Vincent Drucci ‘placed on the spot’]. | |
| Put on the Spot 186: He put us all on the spot—all of us—all gone—wiped out—all but me. | |
| Chillicothe (MO) Constitution Trib. 4 Nov. 6/8: The picture is described as bristling with underworld argot, with threats to put the hero ‘on the spot,’ to ‘bump ’im off,’ to ‘rub him out.’. | |
| Big Con 127: [He] tried to have Stewart Donnelly put on the spot for swindling him of $38,000. | |
| Children of Bondage 37: [of beating] She put River Side boys ‘on the spot’ by leading them into traps and whistling for her gang of boys [...] who broke street lights so that they could beat up ‘outside’ boys. | |
| et al. DAUL 169/1: Put on the spot. 1. To lure a victim to a murder tryst. | |
| Scrambled Yeggs 111: The idiot had actually gone out and put somebody on the spot. |
3. (also put in a spot, put the spot on) to place in a difficult or disadvantageous position.
| Detective Fiction Weekly 11 Aug. 735/2: We learned that the State still had one reliable witness, who could ‘put us on the spot’. | |
| ‘Prison Mass’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 164: He hadn’t thought of one convincing thing to say during that squeeze, and Jean had gone haywire and put him on the spot. | |
| ‘Two Sharp Knives’ in Nightmare Town (2001) 182: Do you want em to put you in a spot where people can say you drove this chap to suicide. | |
| Postman Always Rings Twice (1985) 143: Have a drink. You’ll feel better. That’s what Sackett said when he put the spot on me, the louse. | |
| Sharpe of the Flying Squad 233: Mr. Sharpe, you’ve put me on the spot. | |
| Chicago Sun-Times 18 Mar. 38/1: Some of the questions directed at him were obviously designed to put Stassen on the spot [DA]. | |
| Little Men, Big World 120: I don’t like putting you on the spot any longer, and no use to talk to the Mover. | |
| (con. WWII) And Then We Heard The Thunder (1964) 90: Every day he was put on the spot. | |
| A Little of What You Fancy (1985) 529: Well, that put him on the spot. | |
| (con. 1960s) Black Gangster (1991) 129: He could put some of us on the spot. | |
| Life Its Ownself (1985) 88: I guess he don’t want to put you on the spot. | |
| Swimming-Pool Library (1998) 245: It was graceless of me to put Charles on the spot. | |
| Lucky You 217: Shiner didn’t appreciate how Chub was putting him on the spot. | |
| Layer Cake 44: Shit. Now he’s put me on the spot. I really wasn’t expecting this. |
perfect, exactly right, accurate.
| Sat. Night and Sun. Morning 27: Arthur screwed his sandwich paper into a ball and threw it across the gangway into somebody’s work-box. ‘Spot-on’, he cried. | |
| (con. 1941) Gunner 104: Spot on, eh, almost in our bloody laps. | |
| ‘Minder on the Orient Express’ Minder [TV script] 85: Yes, everything’s spot on. | |
| Beano Comic Library No. 190 45: Spot on, chum! | |
| Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 55: To be spot-on, Mr Byron-Moore was addressing his Melbourne Cup Carnival ‘special squad’ . | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightdress 35: Leaving me there thinking how unbelievably spot-on Trevor was. |
a poached egg on toast; often in pl. with pfx two, three etc.
| Le Slang. |