loaded, adj. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

loaded adj.

1. in senses suggesting a lit. or fig. additive.

(a) of dice, in some way crooked.

1790		Thrale Thraliana ii 1 Dec. 789: Colonel Barry says that Luck is only a Term of depreciation given by the World to a Man superior in Abilities—Who is it that ever threw Sixes Sixteen Times together? either the Dice are loaded, or the Man has a peculiar Knack, says he.
1801		Sporting Mag. Oct. XIX 26/2: His Grace got up in a passion, and put the dice in his pocket. The gamesters were all terrified, as they knew they were loaded.
1808		B. Bradshaw Hist. of Billy Bradshaw 14: I was caught in the very act of shifting [...] at least twenty loaded, scooped, and false dice were found on me.
1833		Satirist (London) 6 Jan. 431/3: ‘Did they play fair?’ ‘Sometimes! but loaded dice and dispatches were occasionally used’.
1844		Cork Examiner 24 May 1/7: Loaded Dice [...] He examined them and found they were (although regularly stamped) loaded with quicksilver in the most ingenious manner, so that it was nearly impossible to discover the cheat.
1848		‘Ned Buntline’ Mysteries and Miseries of N.Y. I 90: He can [...] slip the loaded ones, better than anybody in this village.
1857		Dundee, Perth & Cupar Advertiser 23 June 3/7: The plaintiff [...] declared he had been cheated by means of loaded dice.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor III 387/1: The dice were so made that no prize could be thrown; the numbers were not regular as in good dice, and they were loaded as well.
1876		Besant & Rice Golden Butterfly III 15: Those dice were loaded.
1880		Henley & Stevenson Deacon Brodie II tab.IV viii: These dice are not loaded.
1896		Morpeth Herald 18 July 2/7: On Saturday night a man [was] charged [...] with unlawfully gamlbing with loaded dice.
1914		F. Dumont Darkey Dialect Discourses 20: Loaded dice is one ob de lowest, meanest and contempabul methods ob obtaining money under false pretences.
1929		Wesley Wilson & Harry McDaniels ‘The Gin Done Done It’ 🎵 Dice was loaded, made me sore.
1934		H. Roth Call It Sleep (1977) 414: Pullin’ loaded dice on Lefty. The rat!
1946		S. Jackson Indiscreet Guide to Soho 94: Should he prefer to ‘shoot the bones’ (play dice) his light-fingered friends can palm a loaded set with absurd ease.
1968		J. Alard He who Shoots Last 60: He wuz playin’ wif loaded dice.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 18: These dice are loaded. You guys are robbing me.

(b) of anything other than dice, similarly crooked.

1924		D. Hammett ‘Zigzags of Treachery’ in Nightmare Town (2001) 123: It’s simply a case of duck into the doorway, trade papers, and go on, leaving the loaded one for the doc to read.
1949		F. Brown Dead Ringer 31: They were all pretty heavily loaded against the sucker.

1927		D. Hammett ‘The Big Knockover’ Story Omnibus (1966) 289: They had drunk a toast — a loaded one — and those who hadn’t drunk [...] had been gunned as they tried to get away.
1938		M. Rand ‘Clip-Joint Chisellers’ in Ten Story Gang Aug. 🌐 The victim was plied with spiked and loaded drinks at his or her own expense.
1947		J. Maclaren-Ross ‘The Dark Diceman’ in Bitten by the Tarantula (2005) 210: The loaded coffee was like a fire in his empty tum.
1960		J. Havoc Early Havoc 217: That’s why he handed the loaded bottle to Pete — but [...] it was Patsy who drank the sleep in that pop bottle .
1978		J. Webb Fields of Fire (1980) 258: Ogre gives him a loaded Salem, starts rapping with him.

(d) (US Und.) prepared to lie on oath.

1953

F. Paley Rumble on the Docks (1955) 221: This kid is loaded, otherwise Gotham wouldn’t bring him in now.

(e) of boxers, to have the hands taped with heavy insulating tape, thus rendering his blows more lethal.

1973		‘Gunboat’ Smith in Heller In This Corner (1974) 37: I, of course, had my gloves ‘loaded.’ I had insulation tape laid across my hands.
1993		T. Jones Pugilist at Rest 20: I was convinced his gloves were loaded.

(f) (Aus. Und., also loaded up) ‘planted’ with incriminating evidence.

1983

R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 35: Loaded Up Evidence planted by police.

2. (orig. US, also loaded up) drunk.

1855		Bell’s Life in Sydney 18 Aug. 2/7: The Gunn [i.e. Mr William Gunn], who was evidently loaded to the muzzle, immediately fired a volley of abuse at witness, .
1880		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 31 Jan. 14/3: ‘The guard was more loaded than the gun’.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 30 May 13/3: This sight, as may be expected, drives the sailors and miners (all pretty well ‘loaded up’) to frenzy, and charge after charge is made at the [Salvation] Army as it struggles along.
1886		Lantern (N.O.) 6 Oct. 2: The gang of men [...] should act different when they get loaded.
1889		Dead Bird (Sydney) 14 Dec. 2/1: Donald Gunn was charged [...] with being drank. He said he didn’t know he was loaded.
1893		S. Crane Maggie, a Girl of the Streets (2001) 64: Put yer mon in yer pocket! Yer loaded an’ yehs on’y makes a damn fool of yerself.
1902		P.L. Dunbar Jest Of Fate (1903) 212: Well, you know what I told you the last time you got loaded? I mean it too.
1902		Truth (Brisbane) 19 Oct. 3/3: One of these old pals was loaded up to the tonsils with booze.
1905		Sun. Times (Perth) 29 Jan. 1/1: A police-trooper is waiting for the loaded-up lotharios and their lydies.
1910		Bulletin (Sydney) 27 Oct. 16/1: I never seen him loaded up like you or me or Snowy; / But, all the same, old Alfie D., gets rolling tight as Chloe.
1915		G. Bronson-Howard God’s Man 281: Now he tells everybody I got him loaded and lifted his souper.
1918		W.M. Barr diary 19 Oct. 🌐 Drank some star that Tookey went over the top to get. Came back loaded and gave us all a hoot.
1929		Edith Johnson ‘Good Chib Blues’ 🎵 Aah if you get loaded baby, and think you want to go, Remember baby you ain’t no better than the man I had before.
1933		R. Chandler ‘Blackmailers Don’t Shoot’ in Red Wind (1946) 85: Everything’s oke except Mac’s loaded.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 94: The musicians who were bottle babies, always hitting the jug and then coming up brawling after they got loaded.
1951		M. Spillane One Lonely Night 9: A good drunk and you can forget about it [...] Call me when you’re loaded.
1962		R. Cook Crust on its Uppers 38: I’ve never discussed second-hand jams with anyone [...] let alone in Winston’s when I’m loaded.
1963		M. Braly Shake Him Till He Rattles (1964) 118: Pretty well loaded from a night’s steady drinking, she rolled over and went to sleep.
1973		D. Goines Black Girl Lost 9: Many grown women wouldn’t have able to recognize [...] he was loaded.
1989		Pileggi & Scorsese Goodfellas [film script] 3: Tommy gets loaded. He doesn’t mean any disrespect.
1997		N. Barlay Curvy Lovebox 92: Don’t go ge’in loaded.
2000		Indep. Rev. 18 Feb. 11: Two groups of twentysomething friends go to a nightspot, get loaded.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 105: ‘We’ll meet again, sir,’ says Giles, very loaded.
2012		A. Bergen ‘Dread Fellow Churls’ in Crime Factory: Hard Labour [ebook] I got loaded up on a triple_shot and at least half a dozen chasers.
2013		T. Robinson Hard Bounce [ebook] We sat [...] and got loaded.
2018		I. Welsh Dead Man’s Trousers 80: Getting loaded on peeve.
2023		A. Nette Orphan Road 87: ‘She sounded a little loaded, to be honest’.

3. (orig. US, also loaded up) intoxicated with a drug.

1896		Ade Artie (1963) 45: You don’t mean to say that you were — loaded?
1918		Journal Amer. Instit. of Criminal Law and Criminology VIII Jan. 749–56: Another ‘hop head,’ loaded with morphine, went into a room, and ‘frisked’ the sleeping occupant’s clothes of six dollars and a half.
1923		J. Fishman Crucibles of Crime 126: These handkerchiefs had been dipped in cocaine and then carefully ironed. The mark on the corner notified the ‘snowbird’ that it was ‘loaded’.
1930		J. Tully Shadows of Men 189: He knew that an addict ‘loaded on C’ was subject to wild and painful imaginings.
1943		W.R. Burnett Nobody Lives for Ever 97: It was obvious that Doc was loaded; with liquor, junk or both.
1953		‘William Lee’ Junkie (1966) 122: To get really loaded, you would need four papers.
1961		‘Lou Rand’ Gay Detective (2003) 96: He beat up a girl [...] one night when he was high. [...] He’s crazy when he’s loaded.
1973		E. Bunker No Beast So Fierce 28: ‘We’ll get loaded.’ ‘Not on junk.’ ‘Some pot or something.’.
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 107: They got me loaded up on morphine.
1993		T. Jones Pugilist at Rest 24: I’m loaded on Depakene, phenobarbital, Tegretol, Dilantin – the whole shit load.
2000		Observer Mag. 11 June 12: Trying to find a way in which I could continue to get loaded without it being a problem.
2023		A. Nette Orphan Road 122: Loaded on cheap speed.

4. (orig. US, also loaded down) rich, either in actual cash or simply, esp. in prison use, in possessions such as tobacco; of a place, filled with money or valuables.

1873		J. O’Connor Wanderings of a Vagabond 107: They made their headquarters at the gambling-rooms [...] and, being generally loaded with money, would play liberally against the faro-bank.
1899–1900		C.L. Cullen Tales of the Ex-Tanks 198: They [i.e. sailors] were all loaded for snowbirds.
1933		C. Himes ‘Prison Mass’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 172: He had got a ‘Steer’ that the litle safe [...] would be loaded for a killing around Thanksgiving.
1948		H. McCoy Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye in Four Novels (1983) 212: Jesus, I thought, this dame is loaded, she really is.
1953		L. Uris Battle Cry (1964) 150: The door checker [...] gave him the high sign that the little Marine was loaded.
1959		F. Norman Fings I i: Don’t worry about the gilt, I’m loaded.
1960		C. Cooper Jr Scene (1996) 63: I betcha he’s loaded down though, him and his old lady both.
1968		N. Heard Howard Street 66: Jimmy [...] had an almost uncanny knack for spotting a loaded chump.
1976		P. Theroux Family Arsenal 32: You don’t need the money. You’re loaded.
1980		T. Lewis GBH 268: ‘You’re loaded. It’s obvious’.
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 226: A million dollars . . . You said he’s loaded.
1996		P. Beatty White Boy Shuffle 37: I’ll miss the weekend speedboat outings with your red-headed ex-Playboy Bunny mom and her loaded boyfriend.
1996		P. Temple Bad Debts (2012) [ebook] I’ll get you something for pain and suffering. This bloke’s loaded.
1998		P. McCabe Breakfast on Pluto 59: She used to bring me food and money. (As if I needed it — I was loaded!).
2002		J. Cameron Hell on Hoe Street 135: They want a packet of dosh for him, heard his family got loaded in England.
2007		L. Redhead Cherry Pie [ebook] ‘Thought I was loaded and he could get some money out of me’.
2012		B. Willoughby ‘Spelled with a K’ in ThugLit Oct. [ebook] ‘[P]aying child support to my loaded ex-wife’.
2018		C. Hammer Scrublands [ebook] ‘Some of the greatest bums I’ve known were loaded. Rich scumbags’.
2021		C. Hammer Opal Country 321: ‘He’s a doctor. Loaded’.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 578: Eye-wateringly loaded. Has never been on public transport in her life.

5. in possession of a large amount of a given commodity, e.g. drugs.

1928		C. McKay Home to Harlem 189: Their mouths are loaded with filth, and that’s what gets me.
1938		D. Runyon ‘All Horse Players Die Broke’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 715: The books are so loaded with wagers on Cara Mia to win.
1952		Lait & Mortimer USA Confidential 230: Milwaukee is loaded with dead-falls, joints, clip-dives and carnival midway attractions, cheap, corny and crummy.
1957		R. Prather Always Leave ’Em Dying 129: The place was loaded with cops.
1962		K. Orvis Damned and Destroyed 36: Loaded. Full of heroin. Carrying a roll, too.
1970		T. Parker Frying-Pan 147: I’m always loaded [...] I’m carrying a lot of stuff.
1977		B. Jackson Killing Time 224: Both of ’em are loaded with time — one’s doing thirty and the other’s doing twenty.
2010		K. Richards Life 7: ‘I’m loaded.’ He’s got bottles fuill of Tuinal.

6. (Aus./US) infected with a venereal disease.

c.1943		US Army Anti-VD Poster Loaded? [of three pictured young wommen] Don’t take chances with pickups!
1972		G. Morley Jockey Rides Honest Race 21: They reckon all the tars come off the boats and lay them. Half of them are probably loaded, but I reckon they would be pretty hot in bed [DAUS].

7. of a female, well-built, big-breasted.

1946		E. Wilson Pikes Peek or Bust 192: ‘You can see,’ she said, ‘that I don’t use anything artificial to give me a figure. I don’t need it, bub. I’m loaded’ I guess even the casual reader will comprehend that by ‘loaded’ Marie meant well-bosomed .
1955		H. Ellson Rock 80: Cora shows on the scene. She’s a real loaded girl, Fat all over.
1997–2001		Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 loaded adj 1. large breasted. (‘Woah, that girl’s loaded!’).

8. pregnant.

1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 13 Jan 3/5: ‘I wish you joy [...] Youre the dad of a bouncing boy’ / [...] / Who’d a guessed it [i.e. a girl] was loaded,’ he sadly sighed.
1970		A. Sillitoe Start in Life (1979) 70: You and Alfie Bottesford have been rubbing up together so that he’s got you loaded.

9. of an automobile, customized [i.e. loaded with a variety of accessories].

1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 19: Larry, the sales manager at Casa, fixed me up with an old Cutlass demo, loaded.
1996		T. Wolff ‘The Chain’ in The Night in Question 143: Fully loaded, this model [of BMW] ran in the neighborhood of forty grand’.
2003		A.N. LeBlanc Random Family 65: First prize was a loaded Mitsubishi Galant.

10. see loaded for bear

In phrases

loaded down (adj.)

see sense 4 above.

loaded for bear (adj.) (also loaded, loaded for rhino) [hunting use, bear-shooting requires heavy armament] (US)

1. holding a good poker hand.

1884		H.G. Carleton Thompson Street Poker Club 26: ‘We’se loaded fer bar over yar,’ retorted Mr. Smith.
1951		S. Larsen ‘Vocab. of Poker’ AS XXVI:2 100/1: loaded for bear. To hold a strong hand.

2. fully prepared for all problems, esp. the hardest ones, thus also fully armed and equipped for conflict (cf. armed for bear phr.).

1876		Black Hills (Deadwood, SD) 8 June 8/3: A couple or so more drinks [...] inspired him to carelessly remark that he was a good one loaded for bear and could lick any man in the house.
1888		World (N.Y.) 19 Oct. 3/5: Ewing was loaded for bear and was just spoiling for a chance to catch somebody on bases.
1898		(con. 1875) F.T. Bullen Cruise of the ‘Cachalot’ 2236: When yew fired that ole gun, I guss it mus’ have bin loaded fer bear, fer ye just tumbled clar head over heels backwards.
1907		R. Service ‘The Shooting of Dan McGrew’ in Songs of a Sourdough 30: There stumbled a miner fresh from the creeks, dog-dirty and loaded for bear.
1912		Van Loan ‘A Rain Check’ in Ten-Thousand-Dollar Arm 308: If we had another good pitcher now we ’d be loaded for bear.
1927		D. Hammett ‘The Big Knockover’ Story Omnibus (1966) 280: There were, say, a hundred and fifty thugs in on it, loaded for bear.
1945		F. Fay How To Be Poor 3: You are ‘loaded,’ and I don’t mean liquor — I mean ‘you’ve got what it takes’.
1951		M. Spillane One Lonely Night 79: The kind of enemies I make go around loaded.
1952		J. Jones From Here to Eternity (1998) 838: You’re loaded for bear, aint you?
1957		C. Himes Imabelle 97: You-all has sure come loaded for bear.
1965		C. Himes Rage in Harlem (1969) 97: [as 1957].
1978		R. Caron Go-Boy! 32: There were six of them in the jeep and they looked like they were loaded for bear.
1986		S. King It (1987) 296: ‘You got your ah-ah-aspirator, Eddie?’ Eddie slapped his pocket. ‘I’m loaded for bear.’.
1994		J. Wambaugh Finnegan’s Week 256: The most expensive item on her [Bobbie] body, next to her Colt .45 was her Gloria Vanderbilt lace-up booties. [...] Fin could see that Nell was not packing, but he figured that Bobbie would be loaded for rhino, and she was.
2000		C. Cook Robbers (2001) 357: He [...] took a moment staring at all the guns in there. Man, Ray Bob’d been loaded for bear.
2017		T. Pluck Bad Boy Boogie [ebook] He ate all he wanted [...] flanked by hacks loaded for bear.

3. (also loaded for elephants) drunk.

1894		Star-Gaz. (Elmira, NY) 15 May 4/3: Yale College Slang [...] Charlie [...] was loaded for elephants, so we gave him the cold shake.
1941		M. Prenner ‘Drunk in Sl.’ in AS XVI:1 Jan. 70/1: loaded for bear. [Ibid.] loaded to the muzzle.
1953		‘John Eagle’ Hoodlums (2021) 114: Martin was loaded for bear with whisky.

loaded to the... (adj.)

1. in var. phrs. as synons. for drunk, incl. loaded to the barrel, ...the earlobes, ...the gills, ...the guards, ...the gunnels, ...the hat, ...the muzzle, ...the Plimsoll Mark, ...the tailgate.

1891		Salina Dly Republican (KS) 25 Sept. 3/2: Loaded to the Guards — Condition of a man who is good and drunk.
1910		Arizona Republican (Phoeniz, AZ) 21 Sept. 16/2: Miller was loaded to the guards with conversation water.
1910		Sun. Times (Perth) 6 Mar. 2nd sect. 1/1: That a North of Perth pub billiard room recalls a thieves’ kitchen. That patrons get loaded to the Plimsoll with booze and sprawl on the table.
1923		H.C. Witwer Fighting Blood 252: Then who comes along but Rags Dempster, loaded to the guards.
1927		‘Sl. Expressions for Drunk’ in New Republic in AS XVI:1 (1941) 9 Mar. 70: [...] loaded to the Plimsoll mark.
1928		C. Panzram Journal of Murder in Gaddis & Long (2002) 78: I, not not being used to drinking much, got loaded to the eyes.
1937		‘Boxcar Bertha’ Sister of the Road (1975) 219: For the ceremony, he was loaded to the gills, lit up like a sky-rocket.
1942		in W.C. Fields By Himself (1974) 242: I’ll bet he’s loaded to the scuppers.
1953		‘Curt Cannon’ ‘The Death of Me’ in I Like ’Em Tough (1958) 102: She was loaded to the eyeballs.
1976		R. Morrieson Pallet on the Floor 39: You’re loaded to the ears to-night.
1989		Hackworth & Sherman About Face (1991) 40: Still loaded to the eyeballs from a wild night’s partying.

2. (drugs) in var. phrs. as synons. for intoxicated by a drug.

1980

(con. 1940s–60s) H. Huncke ‘Russian Blackie’ in Eve. Sun Turned Crimson (1998) 100: Obviously very drunk and, as I learned later, loaded to his ears on Seconal and pot.

loaded up (adj.)

1. see sense 1f above .

2. see sense 2 above .

3. see sense 3 above .