Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (UK Und.) to search a house or apartment or prison cell, usu. with the maximum of damage and mess; thus turning over n.

1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 92/2: All the ‘bloke’ wants is a few ‘bobs’ for running the risk of the ‘coppers’ turning the crib over.
1877		Five Years’ Penal Servitude 118: Frequent search is made both of prisoners’ cells and of their persons. I remember well the first time my chamber was ‘turned over,’ as it is called.
1887		‘Dagonet’ ‘A Plank Bed Ballad ’ in Referee 12 Feb. n.p.: I saw as a reeler was roasting me brown, / And he rapped, ‘I shall just turn you over.’.
1894		A. Morrison Tales of Mean Streets (1983) 145: Some things had been turned over and others had gone, plainly.
1930		(con. 1910s) D. Mackenzie Hell’s Kitchen 37: Even when someone slept on the ground floor [...] we rarely wakened him, either on entering or in ‘turning the place over.’.
1932		New Call (Perth, WA) 14 Jan. 2/4: ‘They turned us over the other day, and found a gun’.
1935		Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 11: Turn over: Search a house or room (for stolen property).
1936		J. Curtis Gilt Kid 133: He hoped Curly would give her flat a good turning over, strip the bloody place bare.
1958		F. Norman in Vogue Oct. in Norman’s London (1969) 36: I turned the gaff over in the hope of finding some Aspro or something.
1968		J. Alard He Who Shoots Last 14: Scores of haunts were turned over, large numbers of the underworld questioned.
1970		G.F. Newman Sir, You Bastard 128: The owner [...] protested as his beautiful home was turned over.
1979		J. Morrow Confessions of Proinsias O’Toole 8: The bastards were in sometime yesterday and turned the place over.
1989		(con. 1950s–60s) in G. Tremlett Little Legs 128: They still spun the house, turning everything over.
1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Turn over. To search a cell, usually where authorities are searching for contraband.
2006		D. Seabrook Jack of Jumps (2007) 315: They [i.e. the police] turned over his Hammersmith flat.
2007		L. Redhead Cherry Pie [ebook] Chloe was aghast. ‘Someone’s turned this place over!’ ‘I don’t think so.’ [...] ‘I’d say she’s just messy’.
2023		R. Milward Man-Eating Typewriter 363: I fancied the plod had turned the place over.

2. to search a person; thus turning over n.

1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 112: Turned over to be stopped and searched by the police.
1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1879		‘Autobiog. of a Thief’ in Macmillan’s Mag. (London) XL 505: He would not touch toys because we was afraid of being turned over (searched).
1886		Bulletin (Sydney) 31 July 17/4: [He] would often ‘bash up to a bug,’ [...] turn him over and take the money ‘out of his kicks’.
1896		A. Morrison Child of the Jago (1982) 157: P’raps it ain’t anything — unless there’s a gold watch an’ chain on you, from Highbury. It’s just a turnin’ over.
1929		C.G. Gordon Crooks of the Und. 216: My companion was the first to be ‘turned over.’.
1937		J. Curtis You’re in the Racket, Too 250: I don’t want to be turned over by no bogey.
1958		F. Norman Bang To Rights 30: The screw turned me over and took my snout tin.
1967		‘Whisper All Aussie Dict.’ in Kings Cross Whisper (Sydney) xli 4/5: turned over: To be searched.
1972		P. Fordham Inside the Und. 44: They knew the value of being clean if they were turned over.
1984		B. Ellem Doing Time 199: turn you over: the authorities are going to search you.
1994		I. Welsh ‘Stoke Newington Blues’ in Acid House 35: A group of pigs [...] ritually turned the place over.
2002		D. Shaw ‘Dead Beard’ at www.asstr.org 🌐 I would have bet a monkey that the passport she’s using is totally rikki lake and if the island cops decide to turn her over she’ll be lucky if they only show her the roger moore and kick her out.

3. to rob a place or a person.

1895		Mirror of Life 20 Apr. 6/4: Burglars who have retired from business and given up ‘turning over drums’ and ‘doing busts’ delight in giving their experiences.
1896		A. Morrison Child of the Jago (1982) 121: An attempt at ‘turning over’ old Beveridge, as he unsuspectingly stalked among them, in from his city round.
1923		Gippsland Times(Vic.) 29 Jan. 3/2: A safe is referred to as a ‘peter’ and breaking a safe open as ‘turning Peter over’.
1930		(con. 1910s) D. Mackenzie Hell’s Kitchen 123: They will ‘turn a place over’ in a remarkably short time.
1959		J. Gosling Ghost Squad 71: They’ve [i.e. fake policemen] turned over a chap who bought a stolen carpet, took the carpet, and fined him £500 on the spot.
1989		R.G. Barrett Boys from Binjiwunyawunya 16: he was too good a bloke to be turned over [...] by someone who was nothing more than an out-and-out arsehole.
2002		C. Stella Jimmy Bench-Press 69: I’m the one can sting him, not you. I’m the one that can turn him over for a wad of cash.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 308: Plotting to turn Sonny King over is a bold move.
2017		A. Parks Bloody January 60: ‘Got turned over last night. Clowns broke open the filing cabinet, took a couple of hundred quid’.

4. (Aus. und.) to remand in custody.

1895

Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 89: Turned Over, remanded pending further evidence.

5. (also turn up) lit. or fig., to beat up, to attack.

1958		F. Norman in Encounter Nov. in Norman’s London (1969) 55: The two geezers I had been drinking with [...] stopped him from turning me up any further.
1971		J. Mandelkau Buttons 52: Harley Pete and the Road Rats busted the cafe – turned a number of people over and took their patches.
1980		A. Payne ‘All Mod Cons’ Minder [TV script] 67: Kate’s hired a couple of right gorillas to turn over that young couple.
1998		K. Sampson Awaydays 12: Half a dozen of them’d turn those pricks over.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 6: They’re turning over any business that couldn’t go running back to the Other People.
2021		A. Parks April Dead 172: ‘[N]obody was going to get in my way, turn me over, fuck me about’.

6. to destroy a place.

1986		J. Campbell Gate Fever 28: ‘Burning out’ and ‘turning over’ cells were familiar disturbances.
1998		I. Welsh Filth 347: Some wee mob had steamed the place and turned it over.
2022		A. Parks May God Forgive 158: McCoy had never seen anywhere so comprehensively turned over in his life.