Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. UK Und., also fisk, friz) to search, usu. for weapons, illicit drugs, stolen goods etc; usu. of people, occas. things.

1724		Defoe Remarkable Life of John Sheppard 25: Desiring him to Fisk him, viz. ‘search him.’ .
1753		J. Poulter Discoveries (1774) 30: If they napp the Bit, they cry pike; then we go and fisk the Bit, and dink the empty Bit, for fear it should be found, and fisk the Blunt, and gee if none is quare; to prevent a Rapp; it is a Bit of Rige or Wage.
1768		(con. 1710–25) Tyburn Chronicle II in Groom (1999) xxviii: To Fisk To search.
1781		G. Parker Life’s Painter 179: They frisk him? That is search him.
1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (3rd edn) n.p.: To Friz, or Frisk. Used by thieves to signify searching a person whom they have robbed. Blast his eyes! frisk him.
1809		J. Mackcoull Abuses of Justice 30: Damn your eyes, you bloody thief [...] I will frisk you and your crib too.
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 242: frisk to search ; to frisk a cly, is to empty a pocket of its contents.
1818		W. Perry London Guide 79: He was conveyed to the watch house in Bunhill Row. Here he was frisked of his eatables.
1827		P. Cunningham New South Wales II 237: ‘Three peters cracked and frisked,’ made a frequent opening of the morning’s log.
1830		W.T. Moncrieff Heart of London III iii: Covey, and Wilton and James, will enter by the front, and frisk the crib, while you keep watch.
1844		New Sprees of London 15: [T]hey can fake anything else, from the cracking of a crib, to the frisking of a cly.
1845		N.Y. Herald 21 Nov. 1/5: Whereupon the officers went to work, and in the course of a few hours arrested John Bolmer, ‘frisk’d’ him immediately, when upon his person they found the whole of his mother‘s property.
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 7/2: Before e’er a bugger opens this ‘jigger’ I mean to have him ‘frisked’.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1880		Bulletin (Sydney) 31 Jan. 4/1: ‘Frisking’ meant visiting all the cells and searching the prisoners for money, which when they found was divided amongst those who took part in the expedition.
1895		Anaconda Standard (MT) 15 Dec. 10/1: ‘Der shacks begun to frisk der rods an’ dey frisked us all off’.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 30: Frisked, searched by a policeman.
1900		Ade More Fables in Sl. (1960) 114: She would Frisk his Wardrobe every day or two.
1901		Argus (Melbourne) 20 Sept. 6/4: If the operator in ‘jemmies’ [...] has the bad luck to be knapped, frisked, and bagged by a blue duck, a crusher, or an MP — that is to say, if he be arrested, searched, and locked up by a policeman, he is in due course in for patter, or awaiting trial.
1911		G. Bronson-Howard Enemy to Society 158: He [wanted to] ‘frisk them’ and provide his little home in Jersey with an entire new set of elegant plumbing. But those carrying lead-pipes were only the rank and file.
1921		P. & T. Casey Gay-cat 91: They haven’t frisked me yet, Kid.
1940		F.S. Fitzgerald ‘The Homes of the Stars’ in Pat Hobby Stories (1967) 96: The arrival of the police, the frisking of Mr and Mrs Robinson.
1946		S. Jackson Indiscreet Guide to Soho 93: They lifted their arms obediently and he skilfully ‘frisked’ them for hidden bottles of liquor.
1957		Kerouac On The Road (1972) 83: Booted cops frisked people on practically every corner.
1964		H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 17: The guys stood with their hands in their pockets [...] straightening up and raising their arms while being frisked.
1977		E. Bunker Animal Factory 42: Certain of them would frisk a white [...] convict, feel a shiv, and pass the man by.
1980		(con. 1940s–60s) H. Huncke ‘Ed Leary’ in Eve. Sun Turned Crimson (1998) 135: Both pairs towering over me in height – frisking me – grabbing my umbrella.
1992		D. Jarman letter 6 Feb. Smiling in Slow Motion (2000) 77: I found myself [...] being frisked by a pretty policeman.
1996		P. Beatty White Boy Shuffle 125: Our experiences with poilice harassment: being frisked in front of our parents, forced to pull our pants down near the day-care centre [etc].
2000		Indep. on Sun. Rev. 5 Mar. 15: Frisking for weapons on the way into a funk ball.
2006		C.W. Ford Deuce’s Wild 53: Frisk the motherfucker, then we’ll take him down to the basement.
2011		R.F. Coleman ‘Requiem for Spider’ in Pulp Ink [ebook] Frisk me. Pat me down.
2019		N. Walker Cherry 112: Two hajis were standing on the road with their legs apart and their arms out, getting frisked.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 239: I frisked him. [...] I plucked his wallet and went through it .
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 494: Once I’d been frisked I stuck to murky cider you couldn’t see through because of the soup of rat meat.

2. (orig. US, also put the frisk on) to rob or steal, esp. from a sleeping or helpless person.

c.1780		‘The Bucket of Water’ in Holloway & Black I (1975) 46: Tibby Crocket [...] Who frisk’d a man’s pocket.
1801		G. Hangar Life, Adventures and Opinions II 61: Those necessary professional accomplishments, such as [...] how to frisk his gropers for his reader and screens.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum n.p.: So he fences all his togs to buy her duds, and then He frisks his master’s lob to take her from the bawdy ken.
1822		Egan Life and Adventures of Samuel Hayward 52: If he did not keep a good look out, he would soon find that the swell cove had frisked his lob* [*Taken money out of his till].
1829		Australian (Sydney) 12 May 3/1: There is [in prison] invariably a desperate set, who seldom fail to ‘frisk’ a new comer, that is — rob him of whatever he possessed.
1830		W.T. Moncrieff Heart of London II i: Cracksmen, buzmen, scampsmen, we [...] On the spice gloak high toby / We frisk so rummy, / And ramp so plummy.
1841		‘Poll Newry, The Dainty Flag-Hopper’ in Gentleman’s Spicey Songster 34: If a gent passes bye, she soon frisks his cly, / And she fences the lob with Sal Carey.
1845		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 16 Oct. 52/4: [B]eing detected in the very act of frisking a dummy, or stealing a pocket-book.
1853		Bell’s Life in Sydney 22 Jan. 3/2: Vy, skiver and skewer me, if she hadn’t frisked me of my patent lever, and four golden sovereigns.
1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 42: FRISK A CLY, to empty a pocket.
1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. [as cit. 1859].
1867		Swindon Advertiser 11 Nov. 4/1: Fagin’s Academy [...] I’d like to teach sleight of hand as well as speech. Something more than ‘frisking till,’ ‘snaking skin,’ or ‘faking fob’.
1872		Sportsman (London) ‘Notes on News’ 23 Mar. 4/1: [A] lad is brought before magistrate for ‘frisking the till’.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. 10/2: I frisked a lushy yokel who was snoozing in the Park and found a thimble and no slang and a caser. He had a dummie, but no flimsies in it only some chovey stiffs.
1900		A.H. Lewis ‘Mollie Matches’ in Sandburrs 47: Once in a while I’d bungle me stunt, an’ d’ loidy I was friskin’ would tumble an’ raise d’ yell.
1914		J. McCree ‘Types’ Variety Stage Eng. Plays 🌐 I have frisked him for his rod and gat and fanned him for his chiv.
1929		W.R. Burnett Little Caesar (1932) 13: No frisking in the lobby [...] Let the yaps keep their money.
1934		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 287: ‘Gwan, rat, frisk some more nickels off working girls,’ Rolfe yelled.
1938		Chicago Trib. 10 Oct. n.p.: I put the frisk on him and find he is packing a .45 under the wing.
1940		E. O’Neill Iceman Cometh Act I: I was friskin’ him for his roll.
1958		A. Sillitoe Sat. Night and Sun. Morning 72: I frisked ’im, but it’s stone empty.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak 61: Frisk – (US) to pickpocket.
1991		(con. 1920s) O.D. Brooks Legs 182: He put the frisk on Morrison and rolled him for forty bucks.

3. to trick, to hoax.

1825		C.M. Westmacott Eng. Spy I 150: Has Tom been frisking you already with some of his jokes about [...] the quicksands of rustication?
1912		S. Ford Trying Out Torchy 45: I’d frisked the outer guard. The inside one was easier.

4. to search in a non-criminal context, e.g. one’s own pockets.

1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 111/1: There was no ‘stake’ down on Jack’s side, and after ‘frisking’ his ‘kicks’ over he found himself run out of ‘sugar’.
1896		F. Hutcheson Barkeep Stories 64: ‘Den he frisks hisself and finds dat he’s only t’irty cents strong’.
1944		R.L. Bellem ‘Focus on Death’ Hollywood Detective Jan. 🌐 He’d caught me red handed in the act of putting the frisk on his portable dressing trailer.
1961		T. Williams Night of the Iguana Act III: I don’t know which pocket, you’ll have to frisk me for it.

5. to obtain, to get hold of.

1911		S. Ford Torchy 17: I guess it’s up to me to frisk another job.
1915		S. Ford Shorty McCabe on the Job 158: I’d rather go back to Second avenue and frisk another quick-lunch job.