Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a carman, a coachman.

1858

Freeman’s Jrnl 23 Oct. 4/3: Instead of paying the ‘John’ he began to laugh at him, and turn him into ridicule.

2. in Und. uses, a victim, a source of money.

3. (Aus./US) a boyfriend.

1911		E. Dyson ‘Susie Gannon’s Young Man’ in Benno and Some of the Push 100: ‘What-oh, girls!’ she cried, ‘little Gannon’s got a John iv her own.’.
1914		E. Dyson Spats’ Fact’ry (1922) 34: I’ve got a John now, I’ve ’ad ’im a month on trial.
1922		B. Hecht A Thousand and One Afternoons [ebook] [G]als and their Johns lookin’ for some quiet place to spoon.

4. the penis [abbr. John Thomas n. (1)].

[1838		‘Gingling Johnny’ in Rambler’s Flash Songster 16: Braw Muckle John was a bonny Highland man].
1914		T.S. Eliot ‘Fragments’ Inventions of the March Hare in Ricks (1996) 314: O daughter dear daughter I think you are a fool / To run against a man with a john like a mule.
1927		‘J.M. Hall’ Anecdota Americana I 18: ‘Now let’s see how big your John really is,’ the woman thought. ‘Unbutton my pants,’ said the Alderman.
1941		in G. Legman Limerick (1953) 36: There was a young fellow of Harrow / Whose john was the size of a marrow.
1960		in E. Cray Erotic Muse (1992) 328: When they get to heaven, they’ll grab St. Peter’s john, / And in a loud and ringing voice, they’ll cry, ‘Shove on, shove on!’.
1965		(con. 1930s) R. Wright Lawd Today 184: My name is Jim Taylor / My john is a whaler / And my balls weigh ninety-nine pound / If you know any ladies / Who want any babies / Just tell ’em Jim Taylor’s in town.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 63/2: john penis; short for ‘John Thomas’.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

5. a skilled, professional tramp [such a top-class tramp is well dressed and thus resembles a ‘normal’ citizen].

c.1920		Hobo Songs n.p.: The John got busy and took a risk [HDAS].
1928		J. Callahan Man’s Grim Justice 132: The well-dressed boys were the Johns and the plingers, the professional tramps who could go out on the drag and get most anything they wanted.
1948		(con. c.1910) J. Stevens Big Jim Turner 158: We aim no trouble for any man who is good work stock and no john .
1980		(ref. to c.1930s) R.A. Burns Knights of the Road 92: But for years afterward yeggs paid homage to their fallen martyr – the best of the ‘Johns.’.

6. (orig. US college) the lavatory, usu. for men [? abbr. cuz john n.].

[1735		Harvard College regulation n.p.: No freshman shall mingo against the college wall or go into the fellow’s cuzjohn].
c.1930		(ref. to late 19C) N. Kimball Amer. Madam (1981) 241: The next few days he’d hardly be sleeping, eating, or going to the john.
1935		H. McCoy They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? in Four Novels (1983) 10: I was so weak I used to have to crawl to the john.
1948		Dan Burley ‘Back Door Stuff’ 30 Oct. [synd. col.] Somebody’s got to stop cats trying to cruise the numbers baron’s chick while he’s in the Jawn.
1946		J. Evans Halo in Blood (1988) 177: I [...] made a brief visit to the john.
1948		Kerouac letter 2 Jan. in Charters I (1995) 141: I heard some of the cats discussing him in the john.
1950		J. Weidman Price Is Right 96: Deedee told me in the john at nine sharp that Larry Ide had been in since a little after eight.
1957		Kerouac On The Road (1972) 71: When a queer approached me in a bar john I took out the gun.
1959		C. MacInnes Absolute Beginners 54: ‘You poor old bastard’, I said [...] as he sat there on my john, and almost crying.
1965		R.L. Pike Mute Witness (1997) 40: I didn’t move from here [...] Not even to go to the john!
1967		(con. 1920s) J. Thompson South of Heaven (1994) 129: Some campers there a john had made.
1968		K. Amis letter 11 Mar. in Leader (2000) 694: Interesting that I spent the whole 6½ weeks in Mexico entirely free of the shits, only to start hareing it to the john within 24 hours of leaving the place.
1968		A. Burgess Enderby Outside in Complete Enderby (2002) 324: You’ll find it in the john library.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 163: I went into a mirrored john.
1971		D. Goines Dopefiend (1991) 48: Ain’t none of the rooms got a private john.
1974		(con. 1960s) R. Price Wanderers 91: C excused herself, and she and Despie split for the john.
1977		(con. 1940s) O. Manning Danger Tree 144: She’s in the john at the moment.
1974		‘Ricki Francis’ Kings X Hooker 78: ‘How do I know how you got it? ... Off a john seat or maybe you’ve got a fancy man, huh?’.
1978		L. Kramer Faggots 104: Intelligent human beings do not go around doing it in public johns.
1981		H. Gould Fort Apache, The Bronx 36: Every single task [...] from signing out, to going to the john, was painful to him.
1989		Kirk & Madsen After The Ball 309: Why can’t a Harvard boy go to the john in this dump without being groped by a seedy queer!?
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 251: A jane also is a toilet for women, i.e., a female john.
1995		C. Hiaasen Stormy Weather 239: I hope that asshole hiding in the john is the highlight of your [...] life.
1999		Guardian G2 7 Dec. 7: Moving the john into the powder room isn’t enough.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 33: He slept alone. Barb slept in the john.
2002		J. Franzen Corrections 419: She fired the dishwasher who’d tied off in the john.
2010		A. Steinberg Running the Books 151: The janitor, I believe, was still in the john.
2015		J. Stahl OG Dad 128: I carry my four-month-old little sweetheart into what my mother used to call ‘the john’.
2022		J. Hannaham Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 291: I wonder do he even get up to go to the john.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 333: I washed down the Hyper-Lax-Extra powder with fizzy water. I went to the john.

7. (gay) an older man who supports a younger one without actually sharing a long-term relationship with him.

1966		Trimble 5000 Adult Sex Words and Phrases.
1970		J.P. Stanley ‘Homosexual Sl.’ in AS XLV:1/2 57: John n Someone who supports younger men without entering into a permanent relationship.

8. (US) one’s signature [abbr. John Hancock n.].

1965–70		in DARE.
1984		oral testimony in Lighter HDAS II.

9. (US gay) among lesbians, a man who associates with female homosexuals.

1972

B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.

10. a condom. [note johnny n.¹ (13)].

1977		D. Powis Signs of Crime 189: John Prostitutes’ term for a client or for a sheath contraceptive. The term is used contemptuously in both cases.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.

11. (US) the menstrual period.

1972

B. Hannah Geronimo Rex 36: When ‘John was home’ the first time, that is, when she had her first menstrual period, she missed a day of school [...] she would say, ‘I was with John’.

12. (US drugs) heroin [fig. use of John n. (1), based on boy n.² (5a) and the idea that heroin is a ‘masculine’ drug].

1997

Simon & Burns Corner (1998) 62: They called it ‘girl’ or ‘Jane’ or ‘Missy’ in feminine contrasts to ‘boy’ or ‘John’ or ‘Mister’ for king heroin.