Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (Aus.) Botany Bay.

1821		‘Letter from a Highwayman’ in Morn. Post 13 Dec. 4/3: We did not mind the parson at first, for if we were going to the Bay we did not want him.
1964		T. Ronan Packhorse and Pearling Boat 161: There was a young girl from the ‘Bay’ / Who was put in the family way.

2. (S.Afr.) Port Elizabeth.

1820		G. Barker Journal 17 Apr. n.p.: Mr Bailey’s party left the Bay for their location [DSAE].
1838		T. Shone Diary 3 Nov. n.p.: We started from the bay at quarter past 7 o’clock in the evening for Swarts Kop [DSAE].
1866		E. Wilson Reminiscences 41: In the month of October, 1861, a gentleman was stopped on the Bay road, and robbed of a very valuable gold watch and chain [DSAE].
1873		F. Boyle To Cape for Diamonds 46: So devious was the journey [...] that passengers from ‘the Bay’ did not hope to reach their journey’s end before the eighth day.
1890		A. Martin Home Life on Ostrich Farm 46: ‘The Bay,’ as Port Elizabeth, [...] is familiarly called.
1911		Farmers Weekly (S.Afr.) 22 Mar. 12: The S.S. ‘Galician’ has just landed at Port Elizabeth three very fine bulls ... Visitors to the Bay show will be able to see them on application [DSAE].
1937		H. Sauer Ex Africa 27: We headed for Port Elizabeth, or The Bay, as the town was then universally called in South Africa.
1958		A. Jackson Trader on Veld 13: The intimate link between The Bay and the Diamond Fields .
1973		Y. Burgess A Life to Live (2002) 741: You will like it here in the Bay.
1986		Sun. Times 13 July 27: Another record for the ‘boys from the bay’ is that both Gerber and Serfontein captained the South African Schools XV [DSAE].
1991		Grocott’s Mail (S.Afr.) 26 Feb. 4: Splashing out at the Bay. The organisers of the ’91 Port Elizabeth Festival, to be called Port Elizabeth Splash, have appealed to the hinterland for participation [DSAE].

3. (Can.) the Hudson’s Bay Company or one of its stores.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 58/1: since ca. 1860.

4. (US Und.) San Quentin Prison, California, overlooking San Francisco Bay.

1929

E. Booth Stealing Through Life 69: I met some men while I was across the Bay, who knew that I was born a hoodlum.

5. (Aus.) the State Penitentiary, Long Bay, New South Wales.

1918		V. Marshall Jail From Within (1969) 22: ‘If yer lucky yer might get a bite at the Bay tonight,’ said the officer with brutal unconcern.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl.
1947		W.E. Harney North of 23° 115: The cells of the ‘Bay’ reminded me of old medieval castles.
1968		J. Alard He who Shoots Last 222: When you gets out to the Bay, give my regards to Alvin Bassingwait. [...] A gentleman tealeaf.
1974		Adamson & Hanford Zimmer’s Essay 33: In The Bay, the screws don’t allow queens to wear make-up.
1976		D. Ireland Glass Canoe (1982) 75: They waited two months and then gave me two years in the Bay. Now i’m a criminal and I never stole anything in me life. Christ it was cold at Long Bay.
1983		J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 13: Skinny Frank [...] was just back after a break at The Bay.
1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Bay, the. Long Bay Penitentiary (NSW).
2006		B. Matthews Intractable [ebook] [A] couple of west coast crims tried their luck in Sydney and eventually hit the Bay.
2012		F. McCarthy ‘Some Protection’ in Crime Factory: Hard Labour [ebook] Mac doing the Bay [...] In jail he’d had a few blues, taking on fat fuckwit bikies.

6. (Aus.) Sandy Bay prison.

1953		K. Tennant Joyful Condemned 167: Of course the Bay can be pretty grim. Dirty blankets and they don’t wash the spoons.
1964		B. Hesling Dinkumization or Depommification 86: I wanted to visit Frank in the ‘Bay’, but Gordon said he wouldn’t like that.

7. (N.Z.) the provinces of the Bay of Plenty or Hawkes Bay.

2003

McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.