Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US black) welfare payments and similar handouts; lit. processed cheese given to welfare recipients.

1988		UGK ‘Something Good’ 🎵 Cause she’s passin’ out the ass like government cheese.
2000		Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 gub’ment cheese Definition: ‘government cheese,’ a handout from ‘the man’, welfare payments, etc. Example: My food stamps just come in, I’m gon’ go get hooked up with some gub’ment cheese.
2102		Rick Ross ‘Sixteen’ 🎵 We in every my hood, nigga, government cheese.

temazepam.

2002

Max & Duality Comment 4 Sept. at PlanetCrap.com 🌐 I like grapes. Government grapes?

(US gay) a gay man serving in the US armed forces.

1965		Guild Dict. Homosexual Terms 19: government-inspected meat (n.): A soldier to whom a homosexual is attracted.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.
1999		Gaymart.com Queer Sl. in the Gay 90s 🌐 Government-Inspected Meat – A gay man in the armed forces.

a prisoner.

1827		P. Cunningham New South Wales II 117: Convicts [...] when fairly domiciliated [...] are more respectfully spoken of under the loyal designation of government-men, the term convict being erased by a sort of general tacit compact from our Botany dictionary.
1846		G.H. Haydon Five Years in Aus. Felix 122: Three government men or convicts.
1858		‘A. Pendragon’ Queen of the South 146: Yes, he had been a government man; but he had a ticket-of-leave, and was reformed.
1864		J. Armour Diggings, the Bush, and Melbourne 16: I learnt that nearly all the company had been ‘Government men,’ as convicts style themselves.
1878		S. James Vagabond Papers (5th series) 43: I am such a new chum that I don’t know what the term ‘Government Man’ means.
1888		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery Under Arms (1922) 5: Like a lot of the Government men, as convicts were always called round our part, he saved some money as soon as he had done his time.
1892		Overland Monthly (CA) May 490: You ‘new chums’ haven’t the last idea of what a government-man’s (convict’s) life was in those days.

(US black) one’s given name, as used on official papers, as opposed to one’s street name.

1990		M. McAlary Crack War (1991) 39: ‘Do you know any of their real names?’ ‘I don’t know any of their government names. [...] Nobody be using their government names in the street.’.
2023		Bluesky 17 Dec. 🌐 There was not a single time in a classroom setting after the age of 5 that I used my government name. I picked the names I wanted to be referred to, with no input from my parents.

(N.Z.) a paper currency worth five shillings, issued in 1844 by Governor Fitzroy.

1941		(ref. to 1844) A. Sutherland Numismatic Hist. N.Z. 158: The Fitzroy notes were not issued for values below five shillings. The private paper notes were issued for small change, redeemable mostly in ‘Five Shillings, in Government debentures’, Both the debentures and the private notes were issued on poor paper, and soon became known as ‘Government Rags’ and ‘Shinplasters’ respectively [DNZE].
1972		(ref. to 1844) R.P. Hargreaves From Beads to Banknotes 40: The Debentures, popularly known as ‘government rags’, were given various nicknames.

handcuffs or fetters.

1937–84		Partridge DSUE (1984) 492/2: mid-C.19–early 20.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

the gallows.

1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn).
1873		Sl. Dict.
1887		A. Barrère Argot and Sl. 272: [...] Gallows, scrag, nobbing cheat, or government signpost.
1894		Burnley Exp. 8 Aug. 4/8: In later times [...] ‘Government signpost’ was in common use [i.e. for hanging].
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 33: Government Sign of Civilisation, the gallows.
1901		Argus (Melbourne) 20 Sept. 6/4: To him the hangman is the cramping-cull and the gallows the Government sign or the morning drop.

lazy working.

1842		Geelong Advertiser 7 Mar. 2/3: The ‘government stroke’ is soon learned; and the proficiency of the new hands seems to exceed that of the oldest gang [AND].
1856		W.W. Dobie Recollections of a Visit to Port Phillip 47: Government labourers [...] were breaking stones with what is called ‘the government stroke’, which is a slow-going, anti-sweating kind of motion.
1869		Australiasian (Melbourne) 17 July 8/5: Some other [local] terms are noticeable — ‘the Government stroke’.
1873		Trollope Aus. and N.Z. 163: In colonial parlance the government stroke is that light and easy mode of labour – perhaps that semblance of labour – which no other master will endure, though government is forced to put up with it.
1880		Bulletin (Sydney) 3 July 4/4: Apropos of the ‘Government stroke,’ a private firm in Sydney have just completed a piece of ironwork, and have charged more than double the cost of a similar piece of work doenm in a Government establishment .
1890		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer II 130: Regular Government stroke, as we say in this country.
1897		Argus 22 Feb. 4/9: Like the poor the unemployed are always with us, but they have a penchant for public works in Melbourne, with a good daily pay and the government stroke combined.
1900–10		Stephens & O’Brien Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 80: GOVERNMENT STROKE: slang The conditions of Government Labour in the Colonies are far more liberal than in contractors or private employ. Bullocking and rushing are not as a rule practised, and the taunt of ‘Government stroke’ is hurled by the people who favour [...] the grinding of the last ounce out of their employees. By corruption the words have come to mean a lazy or loafing stroke.
1926		J. Doone Timely Tips For New Australians 18: GOVERNMENT-STROKE. — Easy going methods as applied to work.
1945		Baker Aus. Lang. 45: Government stroke [...] ‘a lazy method of working’.
1955		N. Pulliam I Travelled a Lonely Land (1957) 233/2: government stroke – the easy way, the lazy way to work.
1985		B. Robinson Aussie Bull 7: Some are experts at pretending to work hard - always carrying a folder, frowning and looking busy, or pacing themselves with the regulation ‘council stroke’.
2001		(con. 1945–6) P. Doyle Devil’s Jump (2008) 97: Working the government stroke at Leichhardt Council might not be the worst way to end up.

(Aus.) prison uniform.

1889

Dead Bird (Sydney) 16 Nov. 4/3: If I’da done ’arf the things before I was converted that I’ve done since, I’da bin wearin’ Government togs for the rest of my matural.

(US) orig milit. use, imperfect but adequate in context.

1962		Chapel Hill News (NC) 2 Jan. 8/8: ‘What was the time on the sun?’ said Captain Grissom. ‘Ten:thirty on the nose,’ said major Slayton. ‘That’s close enough, I guess.’ ‘Close enough for government work’.
1963		Ledger-Star (VA) 1 Aug. 12/8: The [USS] Independence doesn’t have this system but the one it does have can bring a plane down [...] and land it in a 20 by 40 foot area. Which, as the pilots say, ‘is close enough for government work’.
1972		Sun Chron. (Roy, UT) 3 Feb. 5/5: [of a troop entertainer in Vietnam] Jelesnik asked pianist Johnson, ‘Can I have an “a” please?’ Johnson responded by hitting the piano with a bull ‘bonk.’ ‘That’s close enough for government work,’ Jelesnik dead-panned.
1983		Bellingahm Herald (WA) 14 Jan. 6A/3: That’s not three years paid experience, but with an angry legislator breathing down your neck, it’s close enough for government work.
1993		Dly Advocate (Greenville, OH) 27 Jan.4/5: The (imprisoned) lawyer said he was under considerable distress [...] He was on drugs. He was breaking up with his wife. He was breaking with his gay lover. He really was not focused on the trial. But this was close enough for government work. [Defendant] Young was executed.
2005		Kitsap Sun (Bremerton, WA) 10 Feb. 3/1: It’s ridiculous [...] Close enough for government work doesn’t cut it in this case. In an election decided by 129 votes, 99 percent accuracy is not good enough’.
2016		Fairfield Times (Dairfield, MT) 8 Dec. A4/2: [I] picked up a couple of boxed of Jiffy Corn Muffin mix. Close enough for government work, right?
2024		Odessa Amer. (TX) 1 June 5/5: [headline] Close enough/ for government / work.

(Aus. prison) imprisoned.

1907

JH Lawson ‘Mateship’ in Lone Hand (Sydney) Sept. 513/1: If you go in [to prison] ‘under the Government’ and not as a visitor [etc].