Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to a large extent; of wagering or investing, substantially.

1828		‘A Flat Enlightened’ Life in the West II 32: [A] great number of persons were made to believe that Wack’em was being backed heavy by the tip-tops.
1853		N.Y. Clipper 8 Oct. 3/2: [I]t often happens that retailers are ‘stuck’ rather heavy, in fact so heavy as to take away all of the profits.
1874		‘A.P.’ [Arthur Pember] Mysteries and Miseries 59: ‘Staked the captain? ‘No. We’re on the break-up.’ ‘Staked the beat?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Heavy?’ ‘Five dollars a night’ .
1892		N.Z. Observer and Free Lance (Auckland) 22 Oct. 18/2: Bill S. is piling it on very heavy with Mary down the way.
1903		(ref. to 1810s–50s) Bulletin (Sydney) 23 July 21/4: ‘Tom got home heavily on the olfactory projection’ reads quite imposingly; but what about ‘Sayers pinked him on the smeller,’ or ‘the Slasher napped it heavy on the nozzle’?
1907		W.M. Raine Bucky O’Connor (1910) 78: Course I’ve got the law machinery grinding, too, but I’m not banking on it real heavy.
1914		H. Hershfield Abie the Agent 25 Feb. [synd strip] He’s a bluffer — a no good. He’ll pay for it heavy.
1920		H. Wiley Wildcat 112: Boy, we eats heavy, ness pa?
1939		R. Chandler ‘Trouble Is My Business’ in Spanish Blood (1946) 195: [He] drinks heavy but hasn’t sicked up on the rugs so far.
1949		W.R. Burnett Asphalt Jungle in Four Novels (1984) 135: He was in hock heavy to a big-mouthed [...] feist.
1953		J. Thompson Savage Night (1991) 112: He couldn’t take it when he was being paid off heavy.
1959		J. Thompson Getaway in Four Novels (1983) 101: He wasn’t carryin’ very heavy when he skipped.
1961		T. Taylor Baron’s Court All Change (2011) 139: ‘He won’t [...] let you off just because you refused to sell junk. You’ll get it as heavy as anyone’.
1968–70		Current Sl. III–IV (Cumulation Issue) 131: He was really trippin’ heavy last night.
1979		E. Torres After Hours 117: I hate gettin’ involved heavy with a chick.
1984		C. White Life and Times of Little Richard 192: I got heavy into narcotics.
1993		E. Richards Cocaine True 79: Paulie was smokin’ the pipe heavy.
1997		Simon & Burns Corner (1998) 155: They’d all been going at the coke heavy.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 55: She’s into the powders heavy.

2. enthusiastically, keenly.

1843		Satirist & Sporting Chron. (Sydney) 11 Feb. 2/1: She was doing it heavy in the theatre with one of the B—tts Brothers Clerks, B—yne, while while her husband was using the Cue with another partner in a room hard by.
1880		N.Z. Observer (Auckland) 2 Oct. 17/1: I take this early opportunity of wishing Sir Arthur the luck of ‘striking it heavy’.
1885		Sheffield Wkly Teleg. 21 Mar. 3/4: ‘Come on Swarf-hole, owd lad, owd stick, owd cocklelorum, let’s do it heavy’.
1894		(con. 1861) Rock island Argus (IL) 2 June n.p.: Aim low, boys, and give it to ’em heavy!
1930		J. Lait Gangster Girl 94: Boys that age — when they’re trying to bull a broad — go heavy on how brave they are.
1948		Z.N. Hurston Seraph on the Suwanee (1995) 657: He pitched into Dessie hot and heavy.
1967		M. Braly On the Yard (2002) 107: Another time I went in heavy for Alcoholics Anonymous, not that I ever did much drinking.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 107: These socio broads always go heavy for that shit about the jungle.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines xxiii: Heavy into Black Power bag.
1992		in R. Graef Living Dangerously 89: They all stick together and they’d come down on you really heavy.
1999		J. Ridley Love Is a Racket 122: I used to gamble heavy there.
2010		C. Hiaasen Star Island (2011) 28: ‘Don’t forget to go heavy on the —’ ‘Sunblock. Yeah, Janet, I know’.
2020		G. Armstrong Young Team 6: She was heavy geein me the eye.

3. of money, possessing, or spending, a large amount.

1929		C. Coe Hooch! 206: At least a hundred carriages and not less than a ten-thousand-dollar monument. If we don’t go that heavy we’ll look cheap.
1935		W. Smith Bessie Cotter 168: Horses cost heavy.
1957		J. Thompson ‘The Frightening Frammis’ in Fireworks (1988) 121: We – tied into Lonsdale at a motor-court. Figured he was carrying heavy.
1972		‘Soulful Spider’ ‘Pimp in a Clothing Store’ in Milner & Milner (1972) 287: I’m holding, heavy, freeze, just bring them on down.
2001		J. Stahl Plainclothes Naked (2002) 201: I can’t tell you his name, but I bet he’d pay pretty heavy.