shits, the, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

shits, the n.

1. (also shits) diarrhoea.

c.1935		‘Betty Co-Ed’ [comic strip] in B. Adelman Tijuana Bibles (1997) 57: Prof. Snatch was just stricken with a case of shits.
1939		A. Bessie Men in Battle 176: Diarrhea [...] was known familiarly to use ‘the shits.’.
c.1940		‘The Castration of the Strawberry Roan’ in G. Logsdon Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing (1995) 94: I rolls out at sun up, I’ve still got the shits, / I fills up on coffee to sharpen my wits.
1947		P. Larkin letter 23 May in Thwaite Sel. Letters (1992) 138: The college had a small annual dinner-and-dance that gave everyone the shits from 1 a.m. onwards.
1953		‘William Lee’ Junkie (1966) 129: A little cinnamon in case he starts to puke . . . a little sage for the shits.
1953		I. Hamilton Till Human Voices Wake Us 70: I got the shits very badly the first night.
1963		K. Amis letter 22 Jan. in Leader (2000) 614: Am cold, have the shits, also catarrh.
1973		(con. 1930s) F. Huelin ‘Keep Moving’ 51: By cripes [...] it’s given me the shits, too.
1978		R. Price Ladies’ Man (1985) 91: Vegetables give me the shits.
1982		(con. 1970) J.M. Del Vecchio 13th Valley (1983) 391: A loose warm rush swept down into his bowels [...] A watery brown gush sloshed onto the jungle floor muck. Feces splashed onto his boots. ‘Oh God, no [...] Not the shits.’.
1982		H. Beaton Outside In I ii: You’re beginning to give me the shits!
1993		(con. 1918) P. Barker Eye in the Door 262: They don’t give you any paper to wipe yourself with and the food in here’s enough to give a brass monkey the shits.
1995		J. Stahl Permanent Midnight 368: The puking started after the shits.
1997–2001		Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 shits [...] 2. diarrhea. Also always preceeded by ‘the’. (‘He didn’t come to work today because he’s got the shits.’).
1998		I. Welsh Filth 253: That [i.e. drinking heavily] gives me the shits and I stagger through to the bogs.
2003		N. Griffiths Stump 87: They’d sooner have the sick, the shits, the carnage, the dissolving consciousness.
2012		C. Stella Rough Riders 135: Olives give me the shits.

2. terror, fear.

1968		G. Slatter Pagan Game (1969) 69: He had [...] heard all the good news about Hitler getting the shits.
1971		T. Whitmore Memphis-Nam-Sweden 25: This white dude is having the shits about now.
1979		J. Morrow Confessions of Proinsias O’Toole 153: These wee men give me the shits the way they stare!
1986		R.G. Barrett Godson 40: Les had expected him to have a 25 carat case of the shits.
1986		B. Geldof Is That It? 302: I just got the shits.
1990		R. Gool Cape Town Coolie 82: I wanted to get out of South Africa. The country was giving me the screaming shits!
1998		I. Welsh Filth 17: He’s got the shits about this coon that’s been topped.
2001		K. Sampson Outlaws (ms.) 118: Psycho is one fucking horrible creature to look at. He’d give a rat the shits.
2006		G. Malkani Londonstani (2007) 105: You was so shittin it u probly had the shits innit.

3. anything objectionable or unpleasant.

1945		in T. Shibutani Derelicts of Company K (1978) 171: ‘The fuckin’ points don’t count after May.’ ‘No lie! That’s the shits’. [Ibid.] 336: This is really the shits though.
1976		D. Ireland Glass Canoe (1982) 153: Don’t give us the shits, Meat.
1978		R. Price Ladies’ Man (1985) 234: Fuck romance, romance is the shits.
1986		R. Campbell In La-La Land We Trust (1999) 32: Hi [...] Ain’t this the shits?
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 370: This place is the shits.
1998		D. Hecht Skull Session 371: It was truly the shits.
2000		C. Cook Robbers (2001) 321: It was the only time the old woman ever held me close. Ain’t that the shits?
2017		D. Jenkins Stick a Fork In Me 86: Her makeover works at social functions until Melody opens her mouth and says, ‘Ain’t this the shits?’ .

4. (Aus.) nonsense, rubbish.

1968

J. Alard He Who Shoots Last 216: ‘Don’t gimme da shits. You ain’t no gunnie’.

5. (Aus.) a bad temper.

1989		R.G. Barrett Boys from Binjiwunyawunya 11: Price had a dose of the shits something good and proper. His jaw was clenched tight and his brown eyes were glowering.
1993		Smith & Noble Neddy (1998) 300: They ended up with the shits because I wouldn’t confide in them.
2021		C. Hammer Opal Country 208: ‘First time I got the shits badly enough to background a journo’.

In phrases

crack the shits (v.)

(Aus.) to become angry.

2004		L. Redhead Peepshow [ebook] ‘Still seeing that cop, babe?’ [...] ‘Nah [...] His wife found out and cracked the shits.’.
2007		S. Maloney Sucked In 141: So I cracked the shits. ‘Take this job and shove it,’ I told him.

get the shits with (v.)

(Aus.) to become annoyed (with someone).

1991		R.G. Barrett Between the Devlin 125: ‘Now hold on Mick. It’s no good getting the shits’.
1997		L. Davies Candy 20: I was starting to owe him more and more money. He was getting the shits with me.
2007		D. McDonald Luck in the Greater West (2008) 83: He won’t get the shits with you.

give someone the shits (v.)

to annoy, to infuriate someone; to perturb.

1964		in E. Cray Erotic Muse (1992) 360: Oh, Mary Ann Barnes is the queen of all the acrobats. / She can do tricks that would give a cat the shits.
1967		J. Orton Diaries (1986) 16 May 168: It really gave W.H. the shits for a minute or two.
1977		(con. 1941) R. Beilby Gunner 116: You young blokes give me the shits!
1978		J. Dingwall Sun. Too Far Away 21: He’s giving me the shits.
1985		R.G. Barrett You Wouldn’t Be Dead for Quids (1989) 11: It was all the training and team preparation that gave Les the shits.
1991		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read Chopper From The Inside 117: Basically, Dennis Allen gave her the shits.
1993		(con. 1945) S. McAughtry Touch and Go 174: You give me the shits, with your fancy talk.
1996		(con. 1964-65) B. Thorpe Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 153: ‘It’s those bloody whingeing Pommy bastards that give me the shits’.
1998		G. Burn Happy Like Murderers 331: ‘It’s the place,’ she told him. ‘It gives me the shits.’.
2005		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read Chopper 4 289: It’s hard yakka brother, and I must say it’s giving me the shits.
2018		C. Hammer Scrublands [ebook] T‘his lack of mobile coverage is starting to give me the shits’.
2018		‘Aidan Truhen’ Price You Pay 16: I slept through the whole thing. See and that gives me the fucking shits. Could they have done that to me?

go the shits (v.)

(Aus.) to sulk.

1976

D. Ireland Glass Canoe (1982) 172: Eh played breakway, when he was selected. When he wasn’t, he didn’t complain, just quietly go the shits.

have the shits (v.)

(Aus.) to be annoyed, irritated.

1985		R.G. Barrett You Wouldn’t Be Dead for Quids (1989) 79: You must have the shits having to come back so soon.
2010		L. Redhead Thrill City [ebook] Nick would be pissed off, the cops would have the shits and I’d be a laughing stock.

in the shits (with) (adj.)

(US) on bad terms (with).

2000

Lehr & O’Neill Black Mass 81: They could tell when an associate was ‘in the shits’ with Bulger.

put the shits up (v.)

(US) to frighten, to intimidate.

2013

T. Piccirilli Last Whisper in the Dark 232: ‘He put the shits up you,’ Wes said. ‘I guess he did [...] the more I think of the guy, the more weirded out I feel’.