graveyard, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

graveyard n.

[the supposed resemblance of the teeth to tombstones]

1. the mouth.

1927		‘Jargon of the Und.’ in DN V 465: tombstone, A tooth. ‘The mouth is a graveyard’.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 90: Graveyard. — The mouth, in which the teeth represent gravestones. To state that one’s ‘gravestones are mossy,’ is merely to declare that one’s teeth need cleaning.

2. (US) prominent front teeth.

1909		DN III.
1950		WELS.
1965–70		in DARE.

3. (US tramp) hash; stew.

1915

Morn. Tulsa Dly World (OK) 13 June 19/2: Graveyard — Hash.

4. (US) false teeth.

1950

WELS.

5. see graveyard shift n.

SE in slang uses

In compounds

graveyard cough (n.)

a severe cough, seen as likely to kill its possessor.

1884		Sheffield Indep. 2 Feb. 13/6: ‘That person has a graveyard cough.’ The prediction is too often verified.
1891		Hants. Teleg. 4 July 12/6: A slim-faced man with a graveyard cough.
1900		Bourbon News (Paris, KY) 2 Feb. 8/5: A hacking cough is a graveyard cough.
1936		Motherwell Times (Scot.) 29 May 7/7: I’ve a headache, with a proper graveyard cough.
1946		Eve. Teleg. (Dundee) 19 Jan. 8/5: You should have heard me coughing! Some of my pals called it a graveyard cough.

graveyard juice (n.) [the fatal effects of excessive drinking]

(US) whisky.

1947–53

W. Guthrie Seeds of Man (1995) 354: You deserve another slow and sociable slug out from [...] this old jar of graveyard juice.

graveyard shift (n.)

see separate entry.

graveyard stew (n.) (also graveyard poultice, ...soup) [such toast is generally given to the ill; thus the idea that once his or her appetite has been reduced to such a meal the sufferer has nowhere to go but the graveyard]

(US) milk toast.

1887		Atlanta Constitution 15 Mar. 3/6: During this raid Coulter walked into a small eating saloon, frquented by railway men, as a young consumptive was eating a ‘graveyard stew,’ as milk toast is called in that section.
1897		L.A. Times 9 Apr. 5: ‘Graveyard poultice’ – milk toast.
1898		Arizona Republican 8 Feb. 5/3: The customer by this time imagined he wanted a milk toast and ordered it. [...] he heard the waiter translate it into a ‘graveyard stew.’.
1903		Atlanta Constitution 14 Feb. 6/3: The London Times refers to ‘the Venezucian mess.’ Out west they would call it a graveyard stew.
1911		L. Pound ‘A Second Word-List From Nebraska’ in DN III:vii 544: graveyard stew, n. Bread and milk stew. ‘We had graveyard stew for the whole week.’.
1923		El Paso Herald (TX) 31 Jan. 8/1: ‘Graveyard Stew’ formerly was the popular term for milk toast.
1930		‘Dean Stiff’ Milk and Honey Route 206: Graveyard stew – Hot milk and toast.
1943		C. McCullers Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1986) 260: ‘If there’s a little extra milk I think I’ll just have it poured over some crumbled bread,’ her Dad said. ‘Graveyard soup.’.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1980		in S. Terkel Amer. Dreams (1982) 19: He dined on graveyard stew, bread broken up in a bowl of hot milk.

In phrases

graveyard dead (adj.)

absolutely dead, no chance of resuscitation.

1941		Warner, Junker & al. Color & Human Nature 113: ‘I got my blackjack and pistol, and if I had found him that night I would have killed him graveyard dead’.
2002		R. Gordon Can’t Be Satisfied 132: Muddy wheeled to the hospital, but Pot was graveyard dead before they arrived.