Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US Und.) to arrest.

1885		Ledger (Noblesville, IN) 14 Aug. 6/2: ‘A fly copp came in and “sneezed” me. I tried to “jam”, but it was no go’.
1891		Emporia Dly Repub. (KS) 28 Apr. 3/2: ‘Sneezed’ means arrested, while ‘sloughed’ is used in the same connection.
1904		C. Connors Bowery Life [ebook] Well, dere was a collar outside when he landed, ’n I t’ought he was goin’ t’ sneeze him. [...] Sneeze him; what does a cop do when he nails a mug, but sneeze him.
1914		Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Sl. 7: sneeze [...] To be apprehended; detained.
1929		Hostetter & Beesley It’s a Racket! 238: sneezed—Questioned by ‘third degree’ methods.
1931		(con. 1920s) C.W. Willemse Behind The Green Lights 323: Send your ‘mob’ over there and ‘sneeze’ them and you’ve got the whole works.
1940		D. Maurer Big Con 308: sneezed. Arrested.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 200/2: Sneeze. 1. To arrest.

2. (US prison) to kidnap.

1931		Dly News (NY) 3 Mar. 6/2: Gang Slang. Sneeze: to kidnap; to abduct. ‘Put the sneeze to the big boy and give the works to his broad’.
1936		San Quentin Bulletin in L.A. Times 6 May 7: SNEEZE, to kidnap.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 200/2: Sneeze. [...] 2. To kidnap.

3. to steal.

1938		D. Runyon ‘The Lemon Drop Kid’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 378: Miss Alice Deering’s papa sniffs out where The Lemon Drop Kid plants his roll and sneezes some.
1944		D. Runyon Runyon à la Carte 152: Once I enter a henroost and sneeze a pullet.

4. (UK black/gang) of a gun, to fire.

2018

KO ‘9er Ting’ 🎵 When this 'ting sneeze you can get more than a flu or fever.