heel, v.¹ — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

heel v.¹

[SE heel]

1. (US, also heel it, heel out) to run away, to escape, to walk quickly.

1848		North-Carolinan (Fayetteville, NC) 18 Nov. 1/6: To leave [...] heel it.
1864		Courier (Natchez, MS) 23 Aug. col. 3 in A.P. Hudson Humor of the Old Deep South (1936) n.p.: Several of the foot ‘cuffs’ being ‘dead-blowed’ with heeling it ‘fer corner’.
1884		(con. c.1840) ‘Mark Twain’ Huckleberry Finn 191: Buck Harkness he heeled it after them, looking tolerable cheap.
1918		H. Simon ‘Prison Dict.’ in AS VIII:3 (1933) 27/2: HEEL. To run away.
1928		R.J. Tasker Grimhaven 180: I’m heelin’ down to the Sidney Harbour’s for an ocean wave and a work-out on the bonny fair.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 97: Heel. – To walk.
1952		B. Appel Plunder (2005) 269: Maybe the wise thing would be to heel out.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 803: heel – To walk.

2. (US Und.) to walk stealthily, to stalk, to follow.

1882		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 29 Apr. 2/2: Ingersoll having downed all the parsons, is now in New York on their own fighting ground ‘heeling’ them in the most approved modern way.
1908		Dly Press (Newport News, VA) 19 Apr. 12/4: When the clerk’s attention is engaged the other [thief] ‘heels in,’ sneaks behind the counter [...] and snatches a tray of diamonds.
1914		Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Sl. 43: heel [...] to stalk.
1931–4		D. Clemmer Prison Community (1940) 332/2: heel, vt. [...] to shadow, to follow.

3. (US) to push someone out of the way.

1912

D. Runyon ‘The Gift of Tongues’ [synd. col.]He ‘heeled’ a man [...] with the palm of his left hand as he man tried to stop him.

4. (US Und.) to leave without paying one’s bill.

1946		J.E. Dadswell Hey, Sucker 99: heel the joint ... to walk out without paying.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 94/1: Heel, v. [...] 4. To leave one’s hotel or boarding house without paying one’s bill. 5. To run away; to flee; to escape; to take to one’s heels.
1953		W.L. Alderson ‘Carnie Talk’ (in AS XXVIII:2) 116: heel (a joint), v. To leave without paying one’s bill.
1966		R. Oliver ‘More Carnie Talk’ in AS XLI:4 281: We managed to heel that money before they could give us the bill.
2000		(con. 1940s–60s) Décharné Straight from the Fridge Dad 86: Heel the joint Leave without paying.

cop a heel (v.)

1. (US Und.) to run off, to escape; thus cop and heel n. (see cit. 1960).

1927		H. Yenne ‘Prison Lingo’ in AS II:6 280: They ‘hot-foots’ (hurry) it down the alley and ‘shakes the gum-foot’ (get away from the officer), goes over and ‘crashes the joint’ (break in) and ‘cops a heel’ (make a getaway).
1940		D. Maurer Big Con 293: To COP A HEEL. To run away. Also to light a rag, to take a powder.
1958		R. Prather Scrambled Yeggs 81: Then I’d cop a heel and Joe and me would meet and I’d split with him.
1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS 123: cop and heel 1 An escape from prison or a policeman; a getaway. 2 A narrow escape; a close call.
1979		‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 37: The loser copped a heel in terror.
1983		R. Klein Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.].
1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 107: Cop a Heel [...] To escape from prison.
2002		S.F. Wilcox Jericho Flower 87: Only this time something musta gone really sour before he could cop a heel.

2. (US prison) to attack from behind.

1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks.
1936		San Quentin Bulletin in L.A. Times 6 May 7: COP A HEEL, assault someone from behind.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 49/2: Cop a heel. [...] 6. To assault without warning. ‘Four of the Greek’s mob with rods (guns) and saps (blackjacks) copped a heel on me and Luke.’.

heel it (v.)

see sense 1 above.

heel on (v.)

see separate entry.

heel out (v.)

see sense 1 above.