Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. an ex-serviceman.

1848		Sporting Rev. June 443: The same remark may be applied to a much younger man than the above ‘vets’, whose Spring-like qualities seem to defy old winter .
1852		G.C. Mundy Our Antipodes II 85: The best artisans of the ‘Vets’ were at work building [...] Considering that this was a community of old soldiers, I was rather surprised to find more cheerfulness than grumbling among them.
1867		R.M. Devens Pictorial Book 452: Colonel A. [...] took it upon himself to chide the exasperated and unfortunate ‘vet’ for using such unchristianlike language [DA].
1884		G.W. Peck Peck’s Boss Book 143: There was one crowd of old vets from Chicago.
1890		Lafayette Advertiser (LA) 12 Apr. 4/2: Harrowing scenes of the ‘wah’, depicted so glowingly by these old ‘vets’.
1902		‘Banjo’ Paterson ‘Right in Front of the Army’ in Rio Grande’s Last Race (1904) 170: Correspondents and vets. in force, / Mounted foot and dismounted horse.
1906		Mexico Missouri Message (MO) 9 Aug. 1/2: The weather was hot [...] but it did not hinder the old ‘Vets’ from gathering and having a good time.
1919		in Columbia Press Yank Talk 11: The whole world will smile at my notion of ‘style’ When I’m listed as one of the ‘vets.’.
1929		M. Levin Reporter 48: They [i.e. chairs] are reserved for the vets, sir.
1935		N. Algren Somebody in Boots 138: Be a sport, pal, I’m a vet an’ I ain’t had a drink all day.
1947		S. Lewis Kingsblood Royal (2001) 117: We vets must stand together against all the elements which produced the Fascism which we have conquered.
1952		letter in N.Y. Sun. News 5 Oct. C19: Hey, vets! If you still have your dog tags.
1960		(con. 1940s) G. Morrill Dark Sea Running 68: The Spanish Civil War vet.
1971		B. Moyers Listening to America 43: Most of whom are ‘Viet vets,’ in their twenties.
1981		M. Baker Nam (1982) 217: The guys I was working with were vets, too, really insane.
1990		S. Geason Shaved Fish 81: Brabazon was a professional Viet vet, wasn’t he?
2005		E. White My Lives 280: Stan and the Viet vet would pick me up at midnight in the station wagon.
2018		C. Hammer Scrublands [ebook] ‘There’s an army vet and his sheila down the track’ .
2023		F. Bill Back to the Dirt 140: ‘[L]ocal vets, young and old, that’ve fought in wars’.

2. an old-timer, an ageing or experienced person.

1895		Mirror of Life 2 Nov. 10/2: An adjournment was made to the ‘boozer’ over the way, and then these two vets. fought their battles over again.
1915		R. Bolwell ‘College Sl. Words And Phrases’ in DN IV:iii 237: vet. Veteran: meaning ‘an alumnus.’.
a.1963		‘The Fall’ in D. Wepman et al. Life (1976) 81: She was a good shot broad and a pro at fraud, / And drag she played like a vet.
1982		(con. 1970) J.M. Del Vecchio 13th Valley (1983) 446: The old unit was filled with cherries and the vet was surrounded by a different and demanding world.
1998		Hip-Hop Connection Dec. 21: I’m a vet, man! ten years!
2000		F.X. Toole Rope Burns 62: Packed with fighters [...] some of them thirty or more, vets who’d fought anyone anywhere.

3. an ageing, experienced or worn-out prostitute.

1967		C. Cooper Jr Farm (1968) 242: ‘That broad ain’t no chicken,’ Matthew said. ‘I told her that. She’s a vet, and vet enough to know about herself.’.
1983		R. Klein Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.].
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 135: I bet that dopefiend vet stole the money I sent for Joe’s books.
2001		Source Aug. 32: A cipher of disgruntled street vets down on their economic luck.