Green’s Dictionary of Slang

see year dot under dot n.²

see separate entries.

see separate entry.

see under -lizard sfx

(orig. US) the beginning; long ago.

1972		O. Hawkins Ghetto Sketches 88: It was a lot like what niggers in this country been goin’ through, from Day One.
1998		Source Oct. 192: I know they paid their dues since day one.
2004		N. Kelley ‘The Code’ in Brooklyn Noir 172: Upon arriving upstate he had shanked two motherfuckers Day One who looked at him as if he were sweet meat.

(orig. boxing) an eye.

1858

A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 190: Ned got a biter on his ‘day-opener,’ which made him wink the eye violently.

1. the end of one’s life.

1899		Ade Fables in Sl. (1902) 30: At last he came to his Ninth Inning and there were Two Strikes called and no Balls and his Friends knew it was All Day with him.
1900		J. London ‘Odyssey of the North’ Complete Short Stories (1993) I 242: Guess it’s all day with Axel Gunderson and the woman.

2. (US Aus./Und.) a life sentence.

1910		Sun. Times (Perth) 5 June 2nd sect. 13/4: Where’s ‘Burglar Bill’ now?’ he was asked. ‘Oh, he's doing ALL DAY in Pentridge Gaol !’ ‘ALL DAY?’ ‘Yes! KATHLEEN MAVOURNEEN!’ ‘What on earth do you mean?’ ‘It may be for years, or it may be for ever!’.
1971–2		C. Shafer ‘Catheads [...] and Cho – Cho Sticks’ in Abernethy Bounty of Texas (1990) 197: all day, n. – a life sentence.
1974		G.V. Higgins Cogan’s Trade (1975) 150: You’re going to be in for all day on this one, my friend.
1996		Ice-T ‘Where The **** Goes Down’ 🎵 ’Cos I got some other crimeys down, true Gs, / But they got all day and now it’s just me.
2000		Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 All Day: A life sentence, as in ‘He’s doin’ all day . . .’.

(US black) fashionable, sophisticated.

1938

‘Idioms of the Present-Day American Negro’ in AS XIII:4 Dec. 314/2: ALL DAY, ALL NIGHT, JUST LIKE NEW YORK. Adv. or adj. phrase meaning the same as mellow back.

(US prison) a life sentence without the opportunity of parole.

2000		Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 All Day and a Night: Life without parole. (MI).
2022		J. Hannaham Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 16: Kaffy landed in Attica, doing all day and a night [...] 35: He was doing all day and a night — aka life.

(US Und.) a sentence of 25 years to life.

1992

Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 24: All Day from a Quarter A prison sentence that requires the inmate to serve no less than 25 years, up to life.

(US) goodbye, farewell.

[1712		J. Arbuthnot Hist. of John Bull 125: B’uy, b’uy, Nic. not one poor smile at parting; won’t you shake your day-day, Nic?].
1901		‘Hugh McHugh’ John Henry 11: You find yourself saying day-day long before Papa drops in.
1903		‘Hugh McHugh’ Out for the Coin 14: He grabbed his lid, shook a day-day to the Street, and dipped for the woods.

(N.Z.) a day off, orig. when outdoor work was impossible, but used generally to cover any unofficial day off, e.g. one that follows a night of over-enthusiastic enjoyment.

1947		P. Newton Wayleggo (1953) 119: A foggy day is usually a cause for rejoicing [...] he and his dogs have a day off—in musterers’ parlance— ‘a day for a king.’.
1951		D. McLeod N.Z. High Country 43: When you wake up in the morning in a mustering hut and hear the rain beating on the roof someone is sure to poke his head out of the door and look around and say: ‘Its a day for the King boys!’ I don’t know how this saying originated but it means a day of enforced idleness [DNZE].
1954		A.W. Liley et al. Health of Fieldworkers in the N.Z. Forest Service (TS) 16: Although no objection is made to ‘having a day on the king or queen’, nearly every day is worked in the bush regardless of the weather [DNZE].
1978		F.I. Preston Woolgatherers 96: The next day being wet, all [mustering] hands stayed in camp – a ‘Day for the King’ [DNZE].
1982		D. Grady Perano Whalers 140: As well as superstitions, the whalers of Tory Channel had a few time-honoured habits. One of these was known as ‘a-day-for-the-Queen’. Its main application seems to have been when a whaler had had a heavy day on the grog and had butterflies in his stomach and head the next day in the form of a hangover [DNZE].

see under dig v.¹

see under sure as... phr.

1. (gay) an excl. implying shock or amazement.

1970

J.P. Stanley ‘Homosexual Sl.’ in AS XLV:1/2 45: The questionnaire was a list of terms known to the investigator and thought to have the greatest currency: trick, basket, box, camp, queen, Mercy! For days!

2. (orig. US black, also days!) a general intensifier implying an extreme, for a very long time, absolutely truthfully.

1968		‘Sl. of Watts’ in Current Sl. III:2 24: For days, adv. The truth.
1971		H.E. Roberts Third Ear n.p.: for days an expression indicating extremes; e.g. I’ve known her for days (I’ve known her for a very long time); he was fine for days (he was a very good-looking boy).
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 60: days (exclam) affirmative, translated to mean you said it!
1978		A. Maupin Tales of the City (1984) 161: It’s the bathroom cabinet [...] face creams and shampoos for days.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 237: for days 1. Indicates extended period of time or great degree (‘That dude was loaded for days!’). 2. Indicates a sense of the ultimate (‘That chick is foxy for days!’).
2002		‘Touré’ Portable Promised Land (ms.) 185: Six foot one with tight cornrows and curves for days.