Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also burned, burned up, burnt out, fried out) exhausted, worn out.

1812		Spirit of Irish Wit 31: [of one who died of drink] Ned Smith was burnt-out last week, though he could scarce take a spencers at last.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum 16: burnt out Worn-out roués; fellows that sorrow for the past, fear the future, and can only make the present endurable through means that are revolting to human reason.
1880		Bulletin (Sydney) 21 Aug. 8/1: Mr. John Bennett added to the long list of his public and private benefactions by paying all expenses for the ‘burnt out’ company’s benefit last Saturday.
1923		A.C. Inman 27 Nov. diary in Aaron (1985) 233: The fact that I don’t seem to be able to write any more chokes me [...] Am I simply burnt out?
1929		E. Hemingway letter 13 Sept. in Baker Sel. Letters (1981) 306: You’re not burned out and you know plenty to use.
1937		J. Tully Bruiser 115: ‘He’s been fightin’ too often,’ said Silent Tim, ‘I’ll give him a rest.’ [...] ‘He’s not burnt out, I hope.’.
1939		J. Steinbeck Grapes of Wrath (1951) 45: We ain’t gonna walk no eight miles to Uncle John’s place to-night. My dogs is burned up.
1946		R. Rivett Behind Bamboo 395/2: Burned out, finished, without reserves.
1960		T.C. Bambara ‘Mississippi Ham Rider’ in Gorilla, My Love (1972) 50: ‘I’m beat and burnt-out, I mean it,’ he wailed.
1968		‘Sl. of Watts’ in Current Sl. III:2 13: Burnt-out, adj. Aged, tired, not sexy. Refers to a woman, usually a prostitute, who is no longer attractive and has lost her ability to make money.
1972		D. Jenkins Semi-Tough 148: I’m burnt out. I’ve been gettin’ up for games for fifteen years and playin’ my ass off, and I’m gettin’ close to that time, I can feel it, when I’m gonna flame out.
1975		D. Goines Inner City Hoodlum 9: If I had your fucking nerves I would have been fried out by this time.
1977		E. Bunker Animal Factory 55: He’s intelligent and seems burned out.
1984		LaBarge & Holt Sweetwater Gunslinger 201 (1990) 209: I am just as burnt out as you are when you come into port.
1992		K. Lette Llama Parlour 47: Shit, I’m burned out.
1993		J. Mowry Six Out Seven (1994) 171: The golden boy was probably more burned from the beating than drunk.
2000		Guardian Weekend 15 Jan. 42: He finds himself... in his 40s, burnt out with a cynicism [...] created by nothing more basic than an inability to be reconciled with his father.
2010		K. Richards Life 68: The art tradition staggered on under the guidance of burnt-out idealists.

2. (drugs) used of a vein that has collapsed due to an excess of injections.

1938		D. Maurer ‘Lang. of the Und. Narcotic Addict’ Pt 2 in Lang. Und. (1981) 100/1: burned out. A sclerotic condition of the veins present in most conditioned addicts.
1953		Anslinger & Tompkins Traffic In Narcotics 306: burned out. The sclerotic condition of the vein present in most conditioned addicts.
1962		B. Jackson Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 115: He’d work his whores in snow and rain / to shoot heroin, morphine, cocaine in his burned-out veins.
1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972).
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 4: Burned out — Collapse of veins from repeated injections; permanent impairment from drug abuse.

3. (also burnt, burnt out) having had too much drink and/or drugs, which have taken their toll both physically and esp. mentally.

1959		J.E. Schmidt Narcotics Lingo and Lore.
1967		P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 179: Two days later I woke up all burned out.
1974		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 1: burned out – in a state of physical or mental fatigue caused by overindulgence or prolonged use of drugs.
1979		H. Feldman et al. Angel Dust 167: Being burnt was, yeah, he’s burnt, big shit. It’s the most stupidest thing, being burnt. What ya got when you’re burnt? More drugs, more drugs.
1981		T. Wilkinson Down and Out 66: A hippie left over from the 1960s, his mind burned out by drugs.
1999		K. Sampson Powder 56: By the third day he was doing rocks with her, [...] higher than the sun with this burnt-out Moira.
2002		T. Dorsey Triggerfish Twist (2002) 87: ‘How do you feel?’ asked Bernie. Coleman looked slowly around the room. ‘[...] lit, torched, burnt, buzzed, [...]’.

4. (drugs) used of a drug dealer who has been noted by the police.

1968

‘Sl. of Watts’ in Current Sl. III:2.

5. bored with, tired of, exhausted by; usu. as burned out on.

1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS.
1977		C. McFadden Serial 77: Maybe she’s just burned-out on macramé.
1989		P. Munro Sl. U. 50: I’m burned out on studying every night.