Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US black) used as non-specific intensifier, cf cotton-picking adj. (2)

1967		J.O. Killens Sippi 175: They liked him very much, even if the girls on the campus paid him no rabbit-assed mind.
1968		B.H. Wolfe Hippies 164: I met, Joe, eighteen years old He was using and selling crystal. One day he said to me: ‘Man, I’m out of my rabbit ass mind’.
1973		C.W. Smith Thin Men of Haddam 91: ‘If you think I'm going to ask why or how you knew that all along you're out of your rabbit-assed mind’.
1993		M.S. Crean Dancer of the Sixth 128: ‘If anyone even suggested that someday I’d be sitting on your lap crying my heart out on your shoulder, I’d have told him that he was out of his rabbit-assed mind’.
1999		C. McCarthy Cities of Plain 119: Have you lost your rabbit-assed mind?
2005		J.Z. Knight State of Mind 180: ‘Yeah . . . she's in here . . . drunk out of her rabbit-assed mind’.
2012		P. Joseph Cousin Joe 38: ‘I didn’t pay him no mind. I didn't pay him no rabbit-assed mind’.

(Aus.) nervous, tense; cowardly.

1946		‘Josephine Tey’ Miss Pym Disposes (1957) 177: However rabbity and inadequate she was by nature, there was always her other half [. . .] which stood watching her with critical eyes.
2010		L. Redhead Thrill City [ebook] God, I really had to stop being so nervous and rabbtty.

see sense 4c above.

a midwife.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1862		E. de la Bédollière Londres et les Anglais 317/2: rabbit catcher, sage-femme.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 64: Rabbit-catcher, a midwife.
1900–10		Stephens & O’Brien Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.].
1902		B. Baynton ‘Bush Church’ Bush Studies 119: She was the only ‘Rabbit Ketcher’ this side of the township. To bring a qualified mid-wife from civilization would have represented a crippling expenditure to these cockies.

1. the compelling desire to run off whenever things get difficult.

2001

T.R. Allison Moonshine Memories 64: A lookout man on top of a hill near the stills saw the investigators approaching, but he got rabbit fever and ran off without warning.

2. the compulsion to attempt escapes from any form of imprisonment.

1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 814: rabbit fever – The effect on some inmates when they are placed on the ‘Farm’ or any outside detail; a temptation to ‘lam’.
2004		C. Gilley 38 Years in the Chain Gang 21: There was always someone who got what we called the ‘Rabbit Fever’: Then we all would get on the trail.

(US) an escaped convict.

1927		H. Yenne ‘Prison Lingo’ in AS II:6 281: Rabbitfoot—A trusty that runs away.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

(US black) cowardly, timid, running scared.

1925

Z.N. Hurston Spunk (1995) 950: Don’t tell me nothin’ ’bout that rabbit-foot colored man.

(US Und.) an abortionist.

1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 173/1: Rabbit-snatcher. An abortionist. ‘Tou might as well hit (shoot) your barnacle (girl) in the noggin (head) as let those two-bit (cheap) rabbit-snatchers work on her.’.
1959		‘Andrew Shaw’ Campus Tramp 182: ‘This guy [...] is possibly the only really reliable rabbit-snatcher in the western world’ [...] ‘Rabbit-snatcher?’ ‘One of the more picturesque American colloquialisms [...] It means abortionist’.

1. (UK Und.) a rich young man who is gulled into running up large bills by confidence tricksters who later dun him for his debts.

c.1597		Shakespeare Henry IV Pt 1 II iv: Hang me up by the heels for a rabbit sucker.
1608		Dekker Lanthorne and Candle-Light Ch. 4: The Cittizen that selles them is the Ferret. They that are take up are the Rabbit-suckers. He upon whose credit these Rabit-suckers runne, is called the Warren.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Rabbet-suckers, young Unthrifts taking up Goods upon Tick at excessive rates.
1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: rabbet-suckers young Unthrifts taking up Goods upon Tick of Pawn-brokers, or Tally-men, at excessive Rates.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. 1725].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Rabbit suckers, Young spendthrifts taking up goods on trust at great prices.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum.

2. one who lends at exorbitant rates, thus rendering impoverished those to whom they extend credit.

1725

New Canting Dict. n.p.: Rabbet-sucker, [...] rabbet-suckers [...] a Name given to Pawn-Brokers and Tally-men themselves, who by exorbitant Premiums, &c. impose upon, and take-in uncautious Prodigals, profuse Spendthrifts, or young giddy-headed Heirs; and in this Sense is an applicable Denomination to many other sorts of People, besides those above-mentioned, who by lending Money at exorbitant Rates, to profuse Raking Youths, under Age, whose careful Parents or Guardians will not furnish them with Means to support their Extravagancies; by little and little, creep into their Estates; so that by the Time the unwary Spend-thrift comes of Age, or to inherit his Patrimony, he finds himself and his Fortune swallowed up by these merciless Rabbet, or rather Blood-suckers, and so turn’d out of Possession, and reduced to Penury and Want, which oftentimes hurries him into Desperation and violent Practices, and perhaps brings him finally to an untimely Exit.

(US) to run off.

1947

J.W. Arnold ‘The Lang. of Delinquent Boys’ in AS XXII:2 Apr. 122: Rabbit feet. Term used when any boy runs away from the school. For example, ‘Ted got rabbit feet and took off’.

(US prison) to make an escape.

1953

T. Runyon In For Life 82: Henry might have ‘pulled a rabbit,’ but he wasn’t particularly interested in escape.

(US black) insignificant, inferior.

1953		W. Fisher Waiters 162: ‘Looka these poor white bastards oglin’ us.’ [...] ‘Pay ’em no mind, babes,’ he said. ‘Pay ’em no rabbit-ass mind.’.
1954		(con. 1920s–30s) J.O. Killens Youngblood (1956) 141: He ain’t paying none of you any rabbit-ass mind.

(US) a farmer, an unsophisticated peasant.

1957		H.B. Allen ‘Pejorative Terms for Midwest Farmers’ in AS XXXIII:4 265: [...] rabbitchoker.
2012		L.M. Johnson Trespasses 42: Slurs used to denigrate poor whites include [...] podunker, puddle-jumper, pumpkin husker, rabbit choker [etc.].

(orig. US) a V-shaped television antenna.

2003

‘Television: Best New Shows’ Phila. Inquirer 14 Sept. 🌐 You don’t need to pay a premium or buy flat-screen or digital, yet. With rabbit ears and some aluminum foil, there’s something worth watching every minute in prime time.

vegetables or salad greens considered unfit for consumption, esp. by a carnivore; also attrib; cit. 2007 refers to vegetarian food in general.

1921		Wash. Post 26 June 25: He has found by past experience that dining car porters are not particularly sympathetic toward passengers who eschew all the costly viands and subsist on what Mr. Sharon terms ‘rabbit food.’.
1935		L. Sarony ‘Miss Porkington would like cream puffs’ 🎵 Orange juice and rabbit’s food she now rebuffs.
1936		H.W. Bentley ‘Linguistic Concoctions of the Soda Jerker’ in AS XI:1 44: RABBIT’S FOOD. Lettuce.
1940		‘C.C.C. Chatter’ in AS XV:2 Apr. 211/2: Common articles of food lose some of their sameness when given figurative names: [...] Green vegetables such as lettuce, carrots, and cabbage are rabbit food.
1959		I. & P. Opie Lore and Lang. of Schoolchildren (1977) 183: ‘Rabbit’s food’ is any green salad.
1976		A. Bleasdale It’s a Madhouse (1986) 122: (Eddie gives her the salad) [...] I no want it, I no like rabbit food.
1984		V. Darroch On Coast 76: Rabbit-tucker: Salads.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 648: He hit his motel. He took his pills. He ate his rabbit-food dinner.
2006		G. Malkani Londonstani (2007) 33: His salad is tasty today. Nice and meaty. Not like that rabbit’s food last week.
2007		N. McCall Them (2008) 71: She mumbled something [...] about ‘rabbit food.’ She plucked a homemade oatmeal cookie from a batch.

(Aus.) a chopping blow to the back of a neck; also as v.

1942		G. Casey It’s Harder for Girls 23: I took a rush and gave him a rabbit-killer that must have nearly broken his neck.
1959		D. Niland Big Smoke 53: Big Lew slewed him around, and smashed a rabbit-killer on his neck.
1959		G. Slatter Gun in My Hand 229: He’s going to bust his nose and put in a rabbit punch.
1965		W. Dick Bunch of Ratbags 88: I was learning the art of street-fighting: how to king-hit and how to rabbit-chop. [Ibid.] 90: I rabbit-punched him on the back of the neck.

(Aus.) the mouth.

1919		W.H. Downing Digger Dialects 40: rabbit trap (n.) — Mouth.
1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: rabbit-trap. Mouth.

(US campus) to complain about the cold.

1996

Eble Sl. and Sociability 43: Brr rabbit is a complaint about the cold. It expands the common brr that imitates shivering from the cold by means of matching it to one of the few set constructions in English that contains the sound /br/ the name of that clever inhabitant of the brier patch, Br’er Rabbit.

(orig. US) to conclude a deal unfavourably, to do badly.

1825		J. Neal Brother Jonathan II 51: Keep a civil tongue in your head; or you’ll buy the rabbits.
1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn) 197: [...] when a person gets the worst of a bargain, he is said ‘to have bought the rabbit.’.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 7: Rabbit - When a person gets the worst of a bargain he is said to have ‘bought the rabbit’ From an old story about a man selling a cat to a foreigner for a rabbit.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 13: Rabbit, when one gets the worst of the bargain, he is said to have ‘bought the rabbit’.
1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks n.p.: He bought the rabbit, a criminal case in court poorly handled by attorney; got the worst of it in a business deal.

(US black) an exhortation to ignore a person or situation.

1935		Z.N. Hurston Mules and Men (1995) 24: Ah don’t pay all dese ole preachers no rabbit-foot,’ said Ellis Jones. ‘Some of ’em is all right but everybody dats up in de pulpit whoopin’ and hollerin’ ain’t called to preach.’.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 216: first cat: Father grab him, I ain’t payin’ him no rabbit.
1953		W. Fisher Waiters 162: ‘Looka these poor white bastards oglin’ us.’ [...] ‘Pay ’em no mind, babes,’ he said. ‘Pay ’em no rabbit-ass mind.’.
1954		(con. 1920s–30s) J.O. Killens Youngblood (1956) 141: He ain’t paying none of you any rabbit-ass mind.

(US black) to compose a letter.

1926

Maines & Grant Wise-crack Dict. 7/2: Draw some rabbit tracks – Write a letter.

of a woman, to copulate enthusiastically.

1974		(con. late 1940s) E. Thompson Tattoo (1977) 437: You oughta take her out to the toolies [...] She’ll go like a herd of turtles.
1991		J. Godber Bouncers 42: eric I bet she goes like a rabbit. [...] les I hope she doesn’t try and kiss me. I’ll spew.

(US black/Und.) to be sexually active.

1983

R. Klein Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.].

(Aus.) to be exceptionally stupid.

1899

Bulletin (Sydney) 4 Mar. 15/2: The man with wheels in his head [...] has ‘quandongs’ or ‘rabbits’ (’Rabbits’ means very severe quandoness).

I am pregnant.

1977		(con. 1949) J.G. Dunne True Confessions (1979) 195: ‘You’re sure.’ [...] ‘Pretty sure.’ She forced herself to look squarely at him. ‘The rabbit died.’.
1980		(ref. to 1956) Morn. Call (Allentown, PA) 7 Jan. 16/1: ‘What do you mean: The rabbit died?’ I asked my obstetrician that morning in 1956.
2000		‘Ho-boy’ Dara 🌐 Sure enough, the doctor reported the rabbit had died.
2001		(ref. to c.1950) Austin American-Statesman (TX) 19 June 33/1: Fifty years ago my motrher suspected she was pregnant and went to the doctor. When the test came back, the doctor said the rabbit died.
2005		Sth Bend Trib. (IN) 3 <ay E1/1: There used to be a phrase — ‘the rabbit died’ — that meant a woman was pregnant.

(Aus.) to have sexual intercourse.

2003

Bug (Aus.) Oct. 🌐 It’s a dead cert the young Prince has been stabbing the rabbit non-stop since arriving on our shores.

(US black) an excl. of annoyance.

1928

C. McKay Home to Harlem 26: Rabbit foot! I didn’t even git her name.