Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(orig. US black) a large amount of money.

a.1963		‘The Fall’ in D. Wepman et al. Life (1976) 83: Why, all the long bread was made with her head— / This bitch was a real jewel.
1964		L. Hairston ‘The Winds of Change’ in Clarke Harlem, USA (1971) 321: I mean, soon’s they think you’re famous and pullin’ down that long bread they’re ready to integrate the hell outa you—.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 108: That’s long bread — way out — I don’t know if I can make it.
1989		M. Amis London Fields 247: This is the big one. It have long bread, man.

high-denomination bills.

1995

L. Stavsky et al. A2Z 64/2: long dollars – n. large denominations of bills.

(US black) money.

1951

N.Y. Age 29 Dec. 2/1: Trying to get some ‘long gold’ the wrong way [...] will cause Theodore Cogman, 28, to spend a long time away from his favorite haunts.

see separate entry.

1. £100 or £1000.

1962		R. Cook Crust on its Uppers 21: He’s got four long ones in the bank.
1989		in G. Tremlett Little Legs 50: I’d pick up a long ’un (£100) for a night’s work.
1998		Guardian Sport 2 Oct. 16: Better still [...] it would put a couple of extra long ’uns on the wages overnight and all. Sorted.
2000		Guardian 14 Jan. 32: I’ve got you half a long ’un for doing a story with Men’s Health magazine.

2. see also under SE compounds below.

(US black) of money, not enough, insufficient.

1980

E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 227: ain’t long enough. Be insufficient (reference to money).

well supplied with, expert in.

1882		G.W. Peck Peck’s Sunshine 48: Millions of Bibles were shipped to this country by the firm that was ‘long’ on Bibles.
1890		E. Field ‘Mr. Dana, of the NY Sun’ Little Bk of Western Verse 98: He wuz very long on likker and all-fired short on work.
1913		Kipling ‘The Edge of the Evening’ Diversity of Creatures (1917) 287: He was long on Kings. And Continental crises.
1925		O.O. McIntyre New York Day by Day 29 Aug. [synd. col.] Ray Long, the magazine editor, is also ‘long’ on hats.
1930		W.R. Burnett Iron Man 12: N.Y.’s long on Prince Pearl since he stopped Joe Savella.
1947		N. Algren Neon Wilderness (1986) 249: The sailor was long on money and short on leave.
1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972).

(US) money, dollar bills.

1896

F. Hutcheson Barkeep Stories 5: It was plain that he had not landed back in town overloaded with the ‘long and dirtty’.

a glass of beer or a soft drink, as opposed to wine or spirits.

1880		Bulletin (Sydney) 30 Oct. 9/2: Finally you reach the acme of base ingratude by yelling out ‘long beer, wan’.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 22 Aug. 12/1: The latter gift [£2] is worth, in Sydney, 160 long beers, in the country only 80, but at some local hostelries will earn 240 ‘swankies.’.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 11 Mar. 4/5: Long Beers At Tamworth [...] A brother bung ran up the flag, ‘Long beers 2d’.
1907		E. Dyson ‘Two Battlers and a Bear’ in Lone Hand (Sydney) July 339/1: He handled a long beer with infinite tenderness.
1908		Sun. Times (Perth) 29 Nov. 4/7: Mine’s a long beer.
1911		Sport (Adelaide) 23 Dec. 3/4: Badger made a splash on Monday, and kept Charlie pulling long beers for his numerous friends.

see separate entry.

see long meter

see under bit n.¹

a churchwarden pipe.

1860		Islington Gaz. 14 Apr. 3/3: It resolves itself into two courses:- Beer, long clays, and agitation; or, silence, secrecy, and surprise.
1861		T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxford (1880) 223: He is churchwarden at home, and can’t smoke anything but a long clay.
1866		Wild Boys of London I 250/1: He took the long clay from his mouth.
1902		Hull Dly Mail 28 Aug. 2/6: An American dining at an old-fashioned Fleet-street inn [...] called for a long clay and smoked it.
1915		Hull Dly Mail 23 Dec. 4/8: Death of the Last Beverley Pipe-Maker [...] The family supplied the licensed houses with the both the long clay (the old churchwarden) as well as short pipes.

see under cock n.⁴

(orig. US Und.) any confidence trick or cheat that is carefully planned for perfect execution.

1968		J. Colebrook Cross of Lassitude 101: The termites of the life [...] who practice the ‘short con’ on strangers, weak women, and would-be gamblers, and the ‘long con’ on hustling business men and rich suckers.
1969		R.R. Lingeman Drugs from A to Z (1970) 143: long con A major, elaborately plotted confidence game.
1971		T. Thackrey Thief 30: He used to mess around some. The long con, when he was a kid.
1997		E. Little Another Day in Paradise 151: Masters of the con game both long and short.
1999		E. Bunker Mr Blue 110: Long con is what the name implies, and a good example of a ‘long con’ is the fake bookie parlor in The Sting.
2012		L. Berney Whiplash River [ebook] The place looked legit, and definitely overkill for your typical long con.
2017		T. Pluck Bad Boy Boogie [ebook] ‘I was a dumb little thing [...] and he taught me the long con’.
2023		A. Nette Orphan Road 119: Twenty years of long and short cons behind her, she had the smarts to realise her luck was running out.

claret; though note cite 1759.

1759		J. Townley High Life Below Stairs I ii: phil: Remember, Burgundy is the Word. sir har.: Right — Long Corks! ha, Phil?
1788		G.A. Stevens Adventures of a Speculist II 161: ‘There is nothing like Claret for killing of Time.’ [...] Prudence grew very fond of his guest, many long corks were drawn.
1822		Commercial Advertiser (N.Y.) 3 Apr. 3/1: [Burglars] sat down and regaled themselves with a few bottles of long cork and old Madeira; smoked a few choice Spanish Segars, and then staggered off, winked at by the watch while nodding at their posts.
1829		Marryat Life of Frank Mildmay II 121: The young officer might like a drop o’ long cork; bring us [...] one o’ they claret bottles.

(Ling. Fr./Polari) the number eleven.

1996		H. Young Lex. of Polari 🌐 long-dedger eleven.
2019		P. Baker Fabulosa 294/1: long dedger eleven.

see under dick v.³

see draw n.² (1)

(N.Z./S.Afr.) an outdoor privy.

1989		J. Hobbs Thoughts in a Makeshift Mortuary 304: Row after row of shiny new corrugated iron lavatory huts [...] ‘Long drops’.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.

see separate entries.

see under end n.

1. the vagina.

1937–84		Partridge DSUE (1984) 698: from ca. 1850.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.

2. (W.I.) a promiscuous woman.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

3. (W.I.) greed, covetousness; thus put one’s long eye on, throw long eye on, to covet, to desire for oneself.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

a horse.

1889–90		Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1902		Falkirk Herald 15 Feb. 2/3: If the hundreds of thousands of ‘Tommy’s long-faced chums’ could record their emotions [...] what a tale would be theirs.
1914		Aberdeen Exp. 30 Dec. 4/6: We have long-faced favourite ‘pals’ waiting to be groomed.
1919		Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 18 Nov. 2/5: Tommy is deeply interested in his long-faced chum.
1921		N&Q 12 Ser. IX 347: Longnosed Chum. Horse.
1927		Bath Chron. 30 July 20/5: The sudden demise of the veteran horse [...] such a good ‘long-faced chum’.
1937		Bath Chron. 29 May 22/4: One or two of the long-faced chums were inclined to get rid of their jockeys at the start.

‘some class of lawyers’ (OED).

1611

L. Barry Ram-Alley II i: Why so, these are tricks of the long fifteenes, To giue counsell, and to take fees on both sides .

(UK Und.) a fraudulent scheme whereby a firm is set up, small orders placed and paid for to establish good credit, then a massive order is made, its contents quickly sold off, often below par, and the firm vanishes, the warehouse is shut down and the debt, this time huge, is never paid; also attrib and used of the actual gang.

1869		Orchestra 2 Jan. 235/1: The rule of procedure with the long firm is simple: a noble order, a moderate sum paid on account, bills for the remainder, an order to deliver the goods at some country warehouse or depository – and exit Montague Tigg. In the next town he changes his name and his partner’s, and repeats the operation [F&H].
1873		Sl. Dict. 217: Long firm a gang of swindlers who obtain goods by false pretences. They generally advertise or answer advertisements. The word long is supposed to be from a playful allusion made by one of the firm to the length of their credit.
1875		Edinburgh Eve. News 17 July 2/4: [headline] ‘Long Firm’ Operations in Dundee and Glasgow.
1883		Bristol Magpie 22 Feb. 5/1: [T]his eminently-useful society had [...] been instrumental in prosecuting several ‘long-firm’ swindlers .
1884		A. Griffiths Chronicles of Newgate 326: A gang resembling somewhat the ‘long firms’ of modern days [...] obtained goods from city merchants worth £50,000.
1895		J. Caminada Twenty-Five Years of Detective Life I 361: Long firm frauds are principally carried on by experienced swindlers.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 46: Long Firm, a gang of swindlers.
1908		Queenslander 22 Feb. 44/3: When we let her off over that Melbourne Cup swindle [...] she was not satisfied, because her Long Firm had to refund the loot.
1931		‘English Und. Sl.’ in Variety 8 Apr. n.p.: At the L. F. — At long firm game.
1968		J. Barlow Burden of Proof 166: These were [...] the remains of robberies in which villains had used ‘the long firm’.
1972		P. Fordham Inside the Und. 60: The dreary old long-firm fraud used to be about the limit of their financial ambitions.
1977		D. Powis Signs of Crime 191: LF See Long firm fraud. [...] Long firm fraud. A type of fraud where a great deal of property is ordered on credit through legitimate channels and then sold at ‘knock-down’ prices. Suppliers are not paid and fraudsmen abscond.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.
1990		D. Campbell That Was Business, This Is Personal 6: The ‘long firm’ fraud — the setting up of a bogus company, acquiring vast credit over a long period and then vanishing.
2002		L. Pizzichini Dead Men’s Wages (2003) 222: If you organize long-firms for any length of time the police will eventually latch on to them.

(W.I.) long-legged.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

a tall, awkward person.

1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 46: Long Ghost, an awkward person.

(UK Und.) serving a life sentence in prison.

1859

Matsell Vocabulum.

death.

1953

R. Chandler [bk title] The Long Goodbye.

(W.I.) boiled green banana.

1989

C. Hyatt When Me Was A Boy 123: When me was a boy [...] green banana use to be known as ‘long grain rice’. That was durin’ the war time when we couldn’ get white rice from Hong Kong. [...] The banana vendor who use to get the attention was the one that sey ‘Jamaican long grain rice! Pap boil them!’.

see long belly n.

see separate entries.

(US) long underwear.

1947–53		W. Guthrie Seeds of Man (1995) 290: You had on yore army longhandlers last night.
1967		in DARE.

(Can./US) long woollen winter underwear, combinations.

1923		in M. Foley Best Amer. Short Stories 177: Silent Sam, also known as Dirty Sam, who changed his long handles only in the fall — late fall.
1943		Yank 18 June 6: One piece of shrapnel took out the seat of his G.I. long-handles [HDAS].
1950		N.Y. Times 20 Dec. 12: What few long-handled underwear we had for residents to send north as Christmas presents were grabbed up in a hurry [HDAS].
1953		M. Henry Brighty of the Grand Canyon 109: Why, I got on my long-handled drawers a’ready and an extry pair o’ wool socks.
1962		M. Engel Voyager Belsky 132: I should of known to wear my long handles.
1964		J. Thompson Pop. 1280 in Four Novels (1983) 388: I ain’t got no clothes on [...] Nothin’ but my long-handled drawers.
1977		J. Logan Outlaw Blood 27: He ripped off his long-handles so insanely that he lost a number of the buttons.
1988		B.E. Wheeler Outhouse Humor 56: He didn’t...button up the back flap of his long-handles [HDAS].
1999		G. Carden Mason Jars in the Flood and Other Stories 10: Now, stripped to his long-handles, he slid under the quilts.
2005		C.H. Williams Gratitude for Shoes 215: Dad was kindly [sic] bony, and slept in his long-handles.
2005		R.J. Blass Celebrate with Books 132: We all know that ‘a man can’t work in nothing but his long-handled drawers.’.

see separate entries.

(US, mainly Southern) a black person.

1983

I.L. Allen Lang. of Ethnic Conflict 47: Allusions to Other Physical Difference: long-heels.

see separate entry.

(US black) a brothel.

1935		Z.N. Hurston Mules and Men (1995) 69: What does he say when he gets to the jook and the long-house?
1948		Z.N. Hurston Seraph on the Suwanee (1995) 744: Fast Mary had a room at what was known as ‘The Long House’.

(Aus.) a tourist.

1980

M. Bail Homesickness (1999) 127: As they waved entering the bus [...] another pulled up and a group of long-jaws fell out, and stood blinking in anoraks.

see separate entries.

a hanging; thus take the long jump, to be hanged; in for the long jump, destined for/in trouble.

1935		Queenslander (Brisbane) 4 July 5/3: Well, there’s no time to argue [...] it's high time to do, me lad. or it strikes me we’re all for the long jump.
1936		A.J. Querle ‘Allah il Allah!’ 190: I guessed I was what we used to call in the old War-days ‘for the long jump ’.
1940		Sporting Globe (Melbourne) 23 Nov. 6/3: It is our first—and only—glimpse of his fear that the long jump at last awaits him.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 44: LONG JUMP, TO TAKE THE: To be executed by hanging.
1950		Sun. Herald (Sydney) 25 June 9/1: Consider the case of Richard Brinkley [...] who took the long jump after some of the most arrant carelessness in the annals of criminological history.
1955		N. Pulliam I Travelled a Lonely Land (1957) 235/2: long jump – hanging. to get the long jump – to be hanged.

a farthing candle.

1890–1904

Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

the vagina.

1837/8

‘The Mouthful’ Cuckold’s Nest 12: In Yorkshire lived Kitty, the pride of each swain, / Who all were so anxious to travel long lane.

(Aus.US) molasses; syrup.

1898		(con. 1875) F.T. Bullen Cruise of the ‘Cachalot’ 6: A pot of something sweetened with ‘longlick’ (molasses), made an apology for a meal.
1902		Bulletin (Sydney) 4 Oct. 17/1: He has to fetch in cows (often in the dark), milk, snatch some damper and cocky’s joy, drive to the creamery, feed the calves, scald the cans, cut chaff or cart maize, fill up again with bread and ‘long lick,’ go falling and grubbing, put up the calves, tea and treacle again, chop firewood, then shell corn or chop turnips.
1914		Townsville Daily Bulletin 10 Jan. n.p.: The rest of the spread was bread [...] and golden syrup, ‘long lick’.
1917		Boy’s Own Paper XL:1 10: The crew [...] had to content themselves with ‘long lick,’ which is only molasses.
1924		DN V 286: Few grocers outside of Cape Cod would know what to produce when someone asked for a gallon of ‘Porty Reek long lick.’ But a real Cape Codder would know that a gallon of Porto Rico molasses was desired [DA].

an exceptionally tall woman; thus as long as Meg of Westminster.

1621		Jonson Gypsies Metamorphosed 32: pup: Peace, who’s this Long Meg? town: Long and foule Meg, if shee be a Meg as euver I saw of her inches praye God they fitt her with a fair fortune shee hangs an arse terriblie.
1651		T. Randolph Hey for Honesty III i: She is an Amashon [...] A Mall cutpurse, a Long Meg of Westminster.
1662		Fuller Worthies (1840) II 413: ‘As long as Megg of Westminster.’ This is applied to persons very tall, especially if they have hop-pole height, wanting breadth.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Long-meg, a very tall Woman.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

(W.I.) a boring, long-winded speaker.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

1. (W.I.) a glutton, one who is constantly hungry.

1910		Anderson & Cundall Jamaica Proverbs and Sayings 1: No cuss alligator long mout’ till you cross riber.
1929		M. Beckwith Jamaica Proverbs (1970) 88: [as cit. 1910].
1942		L. Bennett ‘Relationship’ Jamaica Dialect Verses 13: Yuh know long mout’ Joe Miss Anne son?
1966		L. Bennett ‘Careless’ Jamaica Labrish 192: Yuh memba long-mout Doris.

2. (W.I.) a boring, long-winded speaker; also attrib.

2005

(con. 1951) A. Wheatle Island Songs (2006) 83: Me know how yuh love to susu an’ spread rumour like de long-mout’ higgler ah market.

3. (W.I.) a liar.

1983

V. Bloom ‘Name Shame’ Touch Mi, Tell Mi 29: A long mout’ Kate cause i’, yuh know, / Yuh see how de ooman lie.

1. (Aus.) a camel.

1931		Transcontinental (Port Augusta, SA) 24 July 4: [photo caption] A Long Neck in Front. This Camel was determined to get a mouthful of green leaves.
1934		A. Russell Tramp-Royal 29: He is the despised ‘humpie’, the ‘filthy camel’, the ‘stinking old long neck’, that ‘mangy brute’ of the traveller, but he is also [...] the great utility animal of the Inland.

2. (Aus.) a 750ml bottle of beer with a long neck.

1988		Johansen Dinkum Dict. 483: Alcohol: […] longneck.
1996		Tracks (Sydney) June 42/1: [I]n the shade of palm leaf umbrellas Peruvians enjoy the civilised option of cold wet longnecks, served in glasses on a wooden tray with legs that nestle into the sand and keep your beer ‘grit free’.
2011		B. Fingerton in Rock The Bloody Boat! 31 Aug. 🌐 Resch’s is best drunk out of a longneck.
2015		Aussie Home Brewer 24 June 🌐 When I lived in Sydney I used to enjoy the occasional longneck of Rech’s Pilsenser [sic] from my local bottle’o.

3. (US) a 12 oz bottle of beer with a long neck, thus adj. long-necked.

1992		G.P. Pelecanos Firing Offense 55: McGinnes [...] emerged [from the bar] with two sixes of longnecks under his arm.
1993		G.P. Pelecanos Nick’s Trip 108: A confederate flag hung over the empty dance floor, surrounded by [...] T-shirted young men drinking long-necked Buds and Lights.

(US) a (second-rate) cigar; also long eighteen (if extra long).

1830		American Mthly Mag. July 256: There are men who should never be allowed to smoke a cigar [...] That man would as soon devour a ‘long nine’ as revel upon a true luxury from l’Habana.
1831		Boston Transcript 13 Aug. 2/2: I tried a segar; a long eighteen, and puffed myself blind and sick [DA].
1834		‘Old Harlo’ Down the Hill 57: ‘Here’s your cigar for you.’ ‘A cigar!! Do, you suppose I would smoke a long-nine ? those are for boys to smoke’.
1842		C. Mathews Career of Puffer Hopkins 61: Smoking long-nines and talking over past achievements.
1844		J.C. Neal Peter Ploddy and Other Oddities 52: His Havanas are converted into ‘long nines’.
1851		Yale Literary Mag. xvi 315: Pete had [...] a cigar in his mouth, a long nine.
1868		J. Parton Smoking & Drinking 33: Ten or twenty smokers have introduced themselves, a long-nine projecting horizontally from beneath the nose of each.
1872		E.E. Hale Old & New V 326: Loaf man, smoke man, smoke old twisted long-nine; can't smoke him all, all too bad to smoke; man want talk, want swear, want fight, he throw away old long-nine all on fire.
1879		Bradstreet’s 31 Dec. 3/3: Boys smoke ‘long nines’ while they still wear jackets [DA].
1884		Ballou’s Mthly Mag. 59 25: We found the chief mate walking the quarter-deck, smoking a long-nine [...] and thought they were the equal of the rarest of Havanas.
1893		Young Woman 2 108: I smoked a ‘long-nine’ to the bitter end, because I was dared. Then I precipitately went to bed.

(Aus.) an observer, a lookout, e.g. for a game of ‘two-up’.

1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 13 Apr. 1/3: Business was booming when ‘long nit’ gave the ‘warehouse,’ and the ‘diamond gee’ repeated it that ‘John Hopper’ was in sight having a sscrew’.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 26 June 4/8: I am ‘long-nit’ on these jossers with the black ’ard ’ats / I’ve sighted them on ledgers and upon the tit-for-tats.

see separate entries.

1. see separate entry.

2. see long ’un

(W.I.) to purse one’s lips or stick out one’s tongue in a gesture of deliberate rudeness.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

(Aus./N.Z.) the road.

1897		Launceston Examiner (Tas.) 10 July 11/5: Owners of stock [...] who are in the habit of allowing their animals to depasture upon the ‘long paddock’ are warned that the road trustees have decided to impound all wandering animals.
1920		Advocate (Burnie, Tas.) 24 Nov. 2/4: It seems a strange thing, but the ‘long paddock’ seems to hold a great fascination for stock.
1933		(ref. to 1890–1910) L.G.D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs (1951) 386: Long paddock, the – Slang for the road.
1941		Baker N.Z. Sl.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl.
1955		N. Pulliam I Travelled a Lonely Land (1957) 235/2: long paddock – the open road to a tramp.
1965		J. O’Grady Aussie Eng. (1966) 96: ‘Got a small mob o’ sheep on the long paddock’ [...] The ‘long paddock’ is the open road.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 70/2: long paddock roadside, where free grazing available.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

see long shot n.¹

see under rod n.

see separate entries.

see separate entries.

(Aus.) Australia-brewed beer.

1862

Star (Ballarat, Vic.) 7 Apr. 4/1: Scrase Brothers, Neave, Cohn Brothers, and all the other firms dealing in what is vulgarly known by the different slang names of ‘sheoak,’ ‘colonial swankey,’ ‘long sleeve,’ &c.

a silk hat.

1866		British Army & Navy Rev. IV 546: A pair of duck trousers, a mile too short, and yards too wide, a blue long-tailed coat, a frilled shirt, and last of all, a long sleeved hat.
1871		Cambridge Chron. 20 May 4/7: The company then started [...] headed by an ancient individual with a ‘long-sleeved hat’ of considerable elevation.
1877		Northampton Mercury 15 Sept. 3/5: We take our place among the sight-seers and are very much anathemised sotto voce for [...] wearing a tall hat, which we hear called by long-sleeved, chimney pot, etc.
1881		Sheffield Indep. 2 June 8/4: An aged and devout superintendent of [...] Sunday School, wearing a long-sleeved hat.
1889		Clarkson & Richardson Police! 321: A silk hat ... A chimney-pot, long-sleeved top.
1889		Ipswich Jrnl 20 Sept. 5/7: A forest of real black long-sleeved top hats is what may now be seen.
1890		A.J. Vogan Black Police 2: A stately Maori chief, with dark, tattooed, thoughtful face, surmounted with the incongruous ‘long-sleeved hat’ of Europe.
1891		Gloucester Citizen 8 Dec. 3/4: He was attired in a decent suit of black, wore a ‘long-sleeved’ hat.
1899		E. Slow Humorous West Country Tales 102: Jim Bond [...] lived in a good cottage, put on a good zuit a clothes on Zundys, wore a long sleeved hat, and yaller kid gloves.
1903		Derbyshire Times 29 Aug. 8/7: Someone fastened a large sixpenny bottle of gum inside his long-sleeved hat.
1904		‘Dads Wayback’ in Sun. Times (Sydney) 10 Jan. 11/5: ‘[T]hem agents in ther long-sleeved hats u’d have to graft at some thin’ useful’.

(Aus.) a drinking glass of the largest size; thus the drink it contains.

1873		Proceedings of the Parlt of Sth Aus. 210: I have heard them say, I wonder how many long sleevers he has had — meaning quarts of beer.
1881		Inquirer & Commercial News (Perth) 26 Jan. 3/2: Rose a barman nigh forty years, / Placed a long sleever in sight, / They saw him drink.
1885		Observer and Freelance (Wellington) 29 Aug. 9/3: Did he expect a long sleever every time he sang?
1887		Illawarra Mercury (Aus.) 4 Aug. n.p.: The Bulli gentleman, who knew his way about pretty well, and who felt that he could do a ‘long sleever’ himself, led the Civic Father into a hotel (we will not say which one).
1887		‘Aus. Colloquialisms’ in All Year Round 30 July 67/2: A frequent invitation is to take a ‘long-sleeved ’un,’ that is, a drink from a long pint glass.
1888		Cassell’s Picturesque Aus. III 83: Their drivers had completed their regulation half-score ‘long sleevers’ of ‘she-oak’.
1890		Hawke’s Bay Herald (N.Z.) 29 Dec. 2: I am, etc., One Who Loves a Cheap Long Sleever.
1898		Aus. Town & Country Jrnl 3 Oct. 19/1: A district in which I am certain of work has more than once caused me to throw hoofs after hide and ‘blue my last tanner’ on a ‘long-sleever’.
1901		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ In Bad Company 130: Bill confessed to two or three ‘long-sleevers,’ the day being warm and the lager beer cool.
1910		Bulletin (Sydney) 11 Aug. 38/2: Princes will offer all their wealth and their lands and their wives for a long sleever; the strong will upper-cut the weak, and the weak will hamstring the strong with their pocket-knives; [...] and Bung will hang himself from the balcony.
1919		Taunton Courier 18 June 3/2: Counsel, producibng a glass used by his client [i.e. a publican], said it was called a ‘long sleever’.
1922		E. Dyson Missing Link 🌐 Ch. iv: These young men must be divorced from the long-sleever, and rescued from the lures of the plump, peroxided barmaid.
1933		‘William Juniper’ True Drunkard’s Delight 250: Long-sleeved ’un – A long glass.
1934		Central Qld Herald (Rockhampton, Qld) 26 July 12/2: I was feeling a bit dry, so we brested the bar and after putting a long sleaver out of sight, I parked myself on an empty beer barrel.
1941		Northern Miner (Charters Towers, Qld) 3 Feb. 4/3: I’ll wager a long sleever to a pair of ‘Prince Alberts’ that Flossie wouldn’t be wearing costly dresses.
1955		N. Pulliam I Travelled a Lonely Land (1957) 235/2: long sleever – a long glass of beer or of some other drink.
1972		G.W. Turner Eng. Lang. in Aus. and N.Z. 107: Words now dated [...] long sleever ‘long drink’.

see big spit n.

(S.Afr. Und.) a lookout.

1949

H.C. Bosman Cold Stone Jug (1981) II 21: In house-and store-breaking one man stays outside to keep watch – the longstall, they call him. And when the johns come he tips his pals off. ‘I was longstall when Snowy and Fisher and Pap done the job in Jeppes.’.

(US drugs) an opium pipe.

1914

Amer. Mag. 77 June 31–5: Stopping only to lay in a supply of opium, we boarded a car and in half an hour were in the little furnished house I had rented, with the ‘long-stem’ (pipe) passing round and round the circle.

1. a voracious appetite.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

2. a greedy eater.

1788, 1796

Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn).

(Aus. Und.) a lookout.

1950		S.J. Baker in Sun. Herald (Sydney) 8 June 9/1: Detective Doyle [...] says that the ‘long-stopper’ is a superior type of ‘cockatoo,’ or man who gives warning at the approach of police—‘one who has graduated from a two-up school to a pub corner’.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 50: Equally Australian are a number of terms for the person who keeps guard for those involved in criminal activities, including cockatoo, nitkeeper (one who keeps nit), the crickety-sounding long-stopper.

the initial stage of sexual intercourse.

1891		Simple tale of Susan Aked n.p.: I bucked and he was all in! [...] and then began the splendid long strokes.
1908		Way of a Man with a Maid n.p.: Commencing slowly, I fucked Alice with long strokes, drawing my prick nearly out of her cunt and then shoving it well home again.
1960		in E. Cray Erotic Muse (1992) 341: Last night I stayed up late to pull my pud. / It felt so good! I knew it would. / You should see me working on the short strokes; / I use my hand. It’s simply grand! / You should see me working on the long strokes. / I use my feet. It’s really neat.
1979		‘Donna Allen’ Wide-Open Wife n.p.: His mammoth cock slammed in and out of her tight, hot pussy. He used long strokes, bringing it out so far that she was terrified it would slip out all the way.
1991		‘Dark Dreamer’ Mom and Sis in Chains n.p.: He pulled her legs up onto his shoulders and he began to fuck into her with harsh long strokes that [...] made the entire bed shake.

see separate entries.

see long-tailed ’un n. (1)

(UK juv.) urine.

1890–1904

Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

see thing n. (14)

see under tickey n.

(US prison) a prisoner with a very long sentence; thus used adj.

1884		Joint Docs State of Michigan 3 50: Short time prisoners should be subjected to reformatory or educational treatment as well as the long timer.
1907		J. London Road 99: We were a hungry lot in the Erie County Pen. Only the ‘long-timers’ knew what it was to have enough to eat.
1912		D. Lowrie My Life in Prison 234: The band has a custom of playing a short concert the night before a ‘long-timer’ or a popular prisoner is discharged.
1918		H. Simon ‘Prison Dict.’ in AS VIII:3 (1933) 29/2: LONG-TIMER. Prisoner with long sentence before him. Eight years? Jees! you’re a long-timer, big boy!
1927		P.T. Crowe Spreading Evil 181: Yet there was one long-timer whom Pat was glad to meet, while he avoided such men as Al Sly, doing twenty years.
1933		B. Karpman Studies in Psychopathology of Crime I 526: You will very seldom find a long-timer afraid to admit that he has what he had coming to him,.
1933		C. Himes ‘Prison Mass’ in Coll. Stories 160: Why, if God was so great and loving and all mighty, [. . .] why didn’t he free some of those long-time suckers who believed in Him.
1944		Authority & Frustration 169: There is a widespread belief among the prisoners that the ‘short-timer’ suffers more than does the ‘long-timer’.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 128/2: Long-timer, A convict serving a long sentence.
1967		M. Braly On the Yard (2002) 10: Only lifers and a few other longtimers stood outside this process.
1975		L. Eisley All the Strange Hours 254: One, ‘Shorty Gray,’ a long-timer, had been sentenced for bank robbery in Aurora.
1983		N. Heard House of Slammers 34: To [...] long-timers, prison reform was little more than diversion.
1984		B. Ellem Doing Time 120: And when the long timers are not in it, the fellas who are doing two or three years take notice of the lifers’ attitude too.
1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 28: Long also Longtimer An inmate with many years to serve. Although a prison sentence of 10 years or more is generally considered to be long, it is more frequently associated with prison sentences of 25 years to life.
2009		G. Sabbe Yellow Van 68: I first started to go back to church the year that I worked on the long-timer unit. [...] He was sentenced to life in prison, with no parole.

see under tog n.

see separate entry.

see separate entries.

(Anglo-Irish) London.

1823

‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc.

1. a hare.

1887

Cardiff Times 26 Nov. 2/4: ‘I wants to look for a long ’un [...] [My daughter] asked her mother if I’d catch her a hare, and that’s where I’m gwain’ .

2. a pheasant [the length of its tail].

1909

J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.

3. a tall person.

1851		Bell’s Life in Sydney 22 Feb. 2/7: ‘Alderman Fisher is looking very ill,’ observed Charley Kelly to Long Scrutton the other day. ‘Well, there’s nothing wonderful in that,’ replied the Long’un, ‘people generally look queer after making their wills’.
1891		R. Morton ‘Gay Paree’ 🎵 Tom’s a thin and lanky long ’un.
1903		Bulletin (Sydney) 9 July 21/2: D’ye think yer cobber’s got any chanst, Long ’Un?
1916		All Abaht It Nov. 11: Then there’s our long ’un, Alfy J., / Who’s fond of Bass’s fizzy.
1924		S. Scott Human Side of Crook and Convict Life 190: Long ’Un [...] turned out to be a thin rake of a man, 5ft. 11in. in height.

4. (Aus.) £10,000.

1914

Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 21 Jan. 3/3: He selects a Ruby necklace / Worth about ten thousand pound / [...] / When she viewed the Ruby necklace / And did hear the price to pay, / ‘If,’ sez she, ‘it are a long ’un,’/ It are worth it any day’.

5. see also under sl. compounds above.

see separate entry.

see long johns n.

(UK Und.) London.

1852

Kendal Mercury 17 Apr. 6/1: Ven the coves in the long village (London) get a new dodge, in course, they makes a regular haul before they leaves it.

(US black) a cigarette.

1944

D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 76: Cigarette — Long white roll.

see separate entry.

any statement that implies a long time, e.g. never is a long word.

1891		Coventry Eve. Teleg. 21 Sept. 4/3: ‘I shall never live in Dillford.’ ‘Never is a long word, Mr Graham’.
1913		Galsworthy Dark Flower Pt I. Ch. IX 🌐 ‘Let me know when you change your views!’ ‘I never shall, sir.’ ‘Ah, ah! Never is a long word, Lennan.’.
1925		J.K. Jerome Soul Of Nicholas Snyders 🌐 ‘A true woman does not marry the man she does not love.’ ‘I shall never marry,’ she answered. ‘Never is a long word, little one.’.

see as long as one’s arm under arm n.

a very thin person.

1907		St Louis Post-Despatch (MO) 14 Aug. 7/1: She was sugar and molasses on a Long Drink of Water that bunked up in the garret.
1908		Eve. World (NY) 22 Aug. 8/5: One long drink of water alongside me said, ‘They ought to introduce that kid to the heavy hand’.
[1914		Indianapolis Star 5 Apr. 29/4: When Lew Shank walked out on the McVicker’s vaudeville stage last evening he reminded me of a long drink of water. That’s a funny expression, and I can not further explain the phenomenon, unless I was unconsciously thirsty, or mighty glad to see and hear some one from the old sod].
1914		Logan Republican (UT) 24 Dec. 4/3: See that long drink of water at the second table wearing a glad smile.
1915		Wash. Post Mag. 1 Aug. 3/1: Other acts will include Klein, Abe and Nicholson, ‘the fat bellboy, the corpulent Scot and “the long drink of water,”’ in a comedy of melody.
1925		Bismarck Trib. (ND) 9 Feb. 4/6: Saw Gilbert Emery, the playwright and actor, and a long drink of water he is.
1939		Howsley Argot: Dict. of Und. Sl. 31: long drink – tall, thin person.
1947		W.D. Overholser Buckaroo’s Code (1948) 103: He’s a long drink of water that used to buckaroo for Malloy.
1964		B. Jackson Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 148: Now there was Nailhead, Railhead, Long-Drinkawater.
1966		R. Stone Hall of Mirrors (1987) 311: How you gonna stop ’em you long drink o’ water?
1974		(con. 1945) M. Angelou Gather Together In My Name 206: He reminded me of the phrase often used to describe me, ‘A long drink of water’.
1976		R. Carver Stories (1985) 292: Fran’s a big tall drink of water.
1980		W.C. Anderson Bat-21 157: Physically he’s not much out of the ordinary. A tall, lanky drink of cactus juice.
1981		(con. 1920s) P. Crosbie Your Dinner’s Poured Out! 218: You big long drink of water! (name-calling).
1993		(con. 1945) S. McAughtry Touch and Go 173: You look easy enough to me, you long drink of pump water.
2004		‘Belle de Jour’ [blog] 19 July 🌐 So far I have heard from [...] the long drink of water my housemate wrote short stories about.
2005		Hartford Courant (CT) 5 Dec. A09/3: Being 6-foot-7 [...] a large, very jovial Southern lady once told me that I must be the tallest drink of water she had ever seen.
2020		S.A. Crosby Blacktop Wasteland 175: She was a tall drink of water with long brown hair.

see under arm n.

(W.I.) to be covetous for.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

see drop n.¹ (2a)