Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to take advantage of, to get around.

1838		Dickens Oliver Twist (1966) 189: Do you mean to say, my dear [...] that the women can’t be got over?
1863		Lord Palmerston He is a Clever Man (ballad) 1: They won’t get over Palmerston, / Neither by this or that.
1876		J. Greenwood Low-Life Deeps 309: Just picter my old gal being got over by an old guy with a pack o’ cards.
1879		H. Hartigan Stray Leaves (2nd ser.) 65: He often contrived to ‘get over’ the major, who gave him what Pauleen Kelly called a ‘fool’s pardon’.
1880		Leicester Chron. 6 Nov. 9/1: Martin [...] managed to ‘get over the parson’ [...] well known for his philanthropic efforts to rescue prisoners from a life of crime.
1892		‘John Miller’ Workingman’s Paradise 12: She has tricky ways that get over the men-folks. Mine won’t hear a word against her.
1905		Sun. Times (Perth) 22 Jan. 1/1: The chance enabled Hopkins to make the bearded flat look foolish [and] the burly Hop-o’-my-Thumb got all over the pair of hopwling chumps.
1953		T.A.G. Hungerford Riverslake 121: I went crook – you let them animals get over you once, and you’re a goner.
1979		E. Torres After Hours 169: They don’t understand that a hustler can’t find no fun in a regular job ‘cause he ain’t gettin’ over on nobody.
1981		H. Gould Fort Apache, The Bronx 48: You pull down on a dude with that nowhere piece, and then when he thinks he’s gonna get over on you, you blast him with El Tremendo.
1995		M. Simpson ‘Prufrock Scoused’ Catching Up with Hist. 22: An yer not gettin one over on me neether!
1998		L. Stringer Grand Central Winter (1999) 98: I would think you would like to know if he’s trying to get one over on us.
2000		Guardian G2 26 Jan. 22: Terry relished his work as a chance to get one over on the toffs.
2006		Burns & Price ‘Corner Boys’ Wire ser. 4 ep. 8 [TV script] ‘He gettin’ over on you. Like you a chump.’ ‘Then you gotta fuck him up’.
2009		J. Stahl Pain Killers 18: They [i.e. prisoners] always want to get over one way or another [...] dogs bark, cows moo and convicts con.
2019		N. Walker Cherry 245: [W]e’d had enough of spending all our money and having a lot of shitty motherfuckers try and get over on us.

2. to astonish, to impress.

1951		Green & Laurie Show Biz from Vaude to Video 568: Flopped – performance didn’t get over.
1973		Buerkle & Barker Bourbon Street Black 164: ‘There was that gig in Texas. Man, that was somethin’ else! We stayed there nine months. Everythin’ we did, man, seemed to get over, ya know?’.
1992		R. Price Clockers 300: What you got to do get over with these people?
1996		P. Beatty White Boy Shuffle 123: Oh, you was talking to that [i.e. girl]. Damn, what did you say to get over?

3. (US) to achieve a goal, to do well, to prosper.

1915		Variety 4 June 4: [headline] Sketch Gets Over [...] ‘The Call’ went over big this weekend [HDAS].
1921		O.O. McIntyre New York Day by Day 25 Jan. [synd. col.] A young woman who has fought unsuccessfully for stellar honours [...] She has, in the theatrical argot, never quite ‘got over.’.
1968		‘Sl. of Watts’ in Current Sl. III:2 26: Get over v. To cross barriers; to make it; to get a job; to be functioning in the White world [...] to do well.
1971		D. Goines Dopefiend (1991) 214: That don’t leave us but three hundred to get over with.
1981		W.D. Myers Hoops 17: ‘What you mean is you want to follow your punk friends to some punk school.’ ‘If it gets me over, yeah’ .
1988		D. Woodrell Muscle for the Wing 9: I’m goin’ to get over real good down here.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 211: I’ve been getting over at Hobby.
1998		Source Nov. 136: What got her over was the fact that in an eerie way she looked like Daisy Fuentes.
2007		B. Coleman Check the Technique 324: ‘Getting over in New York was really big to us back then’.
2017		S.M. Jones August Snow [ebook] ‘Just tryin’ to get over’s all’.
2022		J. Hannaham Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 92: ‘I am pretty fuckin fast with this shit. Gettin over like a fat rat’.

4. (Aus.) to intimidate.

1984

B. Ellem Doing Time 11: You see, often crims will test a new guy out to see if they can get over him.

5. (US black/prison, also get over on) to improve one’s own image/reputation by putting someone else at a disadvantage.

1971		H.E. Roberts Third Ear n.p.: get over v. to maneuver oneself into a more favorable position with another; to make oneself better.
1985		N. Pileggi Wiseguy (2001) 17: The best part of the night for Paulie came from the fact that he was getting over somebody.
1997		(con. 1970s) G. Pelecanos King Suckerman (1998) 15: It’s you they gettin’ over on, blood.
2003		J. Lethem Fortress of Solitude 426: Crackheads [...] reeking, skinny, they’ll never get over, never convince anyone of anything.

6. (US black) to make oneself understood.

1985

T.R. Houser Central Sl. 25: get over, hard to Hard to talk to. Hard to make one listen to what is being said. ‘You cops hard to get over once you make you mind.’.

7. as vt. get over to, to find out, to discover.

1997

D.H. Edwards The World Don’t Owe Me Nothing 153: He was making it with a girl called Marie [...] And Marie's man, Willie, got over to it.

8. (US drugs) to help someone in need of drugs.

1997

Simon & Burns Corner (1998) 105: ‘I can hook you up with something,’ says Doug. [...] Gary takes this in. Doug is going to get him over.

9. (US drugs) to take the regular dose of drugs that sustains an addiction.

1997

Simon & Burns Corner (1998) 331: She still had to get over every day, but now, in her mind she was rebelling.

10. (US) to get something for nothing.

2003

N. Green Angel of Montague Street (2004) 246: Antonio might be rich enough to buy half the cows in the country, but everybody likes getting over. Free always tastes better.

11. see get up v.¹ (3)