Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US teen) a gang member, a 'hip' teenager; also attrib.

1959		‘Paul Merchant’ ‘Sex Gang’ in Pulling a Train’ (2012) [ebook] Pinchy was shacked with a working broad who didn’t like any of the coolsters around.
1967		G. Legman Fake Revolt 24: It comes as a wonderful moment of liberation for the emotionally-strangulated coolster to imagine for a moment that he or she believes in something.
1989		E. Dunkel (1991) Every Woman Loves a Russian Poet 372: Boris, dressed in leather pants and leather jacket, perched like a nouveau coolster on a pile of construction junk at Les Halles.
1997		Spin Jan. 37: The coolster postures that pushed a thousand lounge reissues our way.
2005		L. Savan Slam-Dunks and No-Brainers [ebook] Joe Camel, the retro coolster dromedary who sold so many Camel cigarettes.

(S.Afr.) relaxed, in control.

1967

M. Anthony Green Days by River 132: ‘Joe, you cool-brains?’ I said.

see separate entries.

a sophisticated, competent, unruffled, able person; also attrib.

1946		Tennessean (Nashville, TN) 17 May 4/4: [advert] ‘Serenade to a Jitterbug’ [...] by Abbey Brown’s Cool Cats.
1952		(con. 1948) G. Mandel Flee the Angry Strangers 342: Carter, he’s okay [...] He’s a cool cat.
1961		Mersey Beat 31 Aug.–14 Sept. n.p.: I think George is the utmost, ginchiest, skizziest, craziest cool cat I’ve ever seen.
1964		B. Jackson Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 66: All you cool cats, bop daddies, and pennyweight pimps who think you know the score, / listen while I tell you of your superior: Herman from the Shark-Tooth Shore.
1970		R.D. Abrahams Positively Black 88: The ‘cool cat’ figures in many of the stories in the Negro storyteller's repertoire.
1986		J. Ellroy Silent Terror 112: I started to get angry for real [...] Necktie noticed my change of expression, and said, ‘Strike a nerve, cool cat?
1994		Rebennack & Rummel Under A Hoodoo Moon 136: Wayne was a cool cat.
2000		(con. 1940s–60s) Décharné Straight from the Fridge Dad 36: Cool cat A dude, a hipster, a real gone daddy.
2010		A. Steinberg Running the Books 160: His cool-cat, late-night voice.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 7: I live by a cool-cat code.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 313: There’s four kool kats here for the bash.

1. a cool, calm, controlled and competent individual.

1840		R. Barham ‘Black Mousquetaire’ in Ingoldsby Legends II (1866) 210: A fact which has stamp’d him a rather ‘Cool hand’.
1855		T. Taylor Still Waters Run Deep II ii: I’m a cool hand, I flatter myself, but, by Jove, she nearly threw me off my balance last night.
1861		T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxford (1880) 56: Well, you’re a couple of cool hands, I must say.
1873		Sl. Dict. 186: ‘A cool hand,’ explained by Sir Thomas Overbury, to be ‘one who accounts bashfulness the wickedest thing in the world, and therefore studies impudence’.
1880		Bulletin (Sydney) 8 May 1/2: Butler is a ‘cool hand’.
1889		B. Mitford Fire Trumpet III 26: A fine, smart fellow [...] A cool hand, too.
1899		E.W. Hornung Amateur Cracksman (1992) 47: Well, he might; he’s a cool hand.
1907		W.M. Raine Wyoming (1908) 223: Y’u’re a cool hand, my friend.
1917		Nottingham Eve. Post 5 Jan. 5/3: [headline] A Cool Hand. Nottingham Lodger Robs lodger. A particularly impudent theft.
1924		Yorks. Eve. Post 28 Mar. 6/3: A cool hand was Roddy Owen.
1931		(con. 1918) C.W. Willemse Behind The Green Lights 213: A cool hand, that Schmidt.
1936		N. Marsh Death in Ecstasy 143: He’s a very cool hand is monsieur.
1965		D. Pearce [title] Cool Hand Luke.

2. (US) a cool, unruffled demeanour.

1916

Tomahawk (White Earth, Becker Co., MN) 19 Oct. 3/5: Supposin’ I hadn’t showed down a cool hand to him? You’d be swingin’ somewheres now.

1. a pleasant person.

1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 99: Cool head [...] A socially adept person. A quick or witty person.
1968		‘Sl. of Watts’ in Current Sl. III:2.
1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972) 57: cool head [...] 2. Someone whom you admire.

2. a calm, unflappable person, also attrib.

1913		Day Book (Chicago) 30 Sept. 11/1: Then there’s young Demaree, a cool head [...] the coolest recruit I ever saw under fire.
1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972) 57: cool head [...] 3. Someone who is self-assured. See cool.
1975		G. Underwood ‘Razorback Sl.’ in AS L:1/2 57: cool head n 1: Calm, unflappable person.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 65: [The break-in] vexed me and wrenched me. It mandated cool-head circumspection.

(US black/teen) one who deludes himself into a belief that he is sense 3; in fact he is a jerk n.¹ (2); thus do the cool jerk, to move in an ostentatious manner.

1966		Capitols 🎵 Look at them guys looking at me like I'm a fool / Ah but deep down inside they know I'm cool / [...] / Cause they know I’m the king of the cool jerk.
1968		‘Sl. of Watts’ in Current Sl. III:2.
1983		S. King Christine 54: They seemed to be waiting for the moment of combustion when Daddy would flatten my skinny friend and do the Cool Jerk all the way up and down his broken body.

(US black) a self-possessed, sophisticated and, as such, alluring man.

1947		B. Stiles Serenade to the Big Bird 59: When we were in school everyone called him cool papa, because he was such a major operator.
2002		St Louis Walk of Fame 🌐 Major league baseball was closed to blacks until 1947, relegating some of the game’s best players to the Negro Leagues. One of them was James Thomas Bell, who joined the St. Louis Stars in 1922. Nicknamed Cool Papa for his composure, Bell played and coached professional baseball for 29 years.

(US campus) something very new and appealing.

1989		Eble Campus Sl. Mar.
1996		Eble Sl. and Sociability 70: Cool whip was ‘something very new and appealing’, while granola was ‘something out of date’.

goodbye.

1984		Eble Campus Sl. Sept. 1: be cool – a farewell: I’ve got to go, so you be cool.
1986		J. Ellroy Suicide Hill 139: ‘Be cool, homeboy’.
1992		W.D. Myers Somewhere in the Darkness 72: ‘Be cool now.’ Jimmy saw him look out of the door and then get off the bus.

(US campus) an expression of approval.

1973		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 1: Cool as shit! – That’s fantastic!
1987		Eble Campus Sl. Oct. 2: cool as toast – the ultimate in cool.
2005		in J. Brown 50 Cent 129: 50 came out here to LA for a couple of days and he seemed like he was cool as shit.

(S.Afr.) a positive response to a question such as ‘how’s it going?’.

2004		Z. Fabris Last Diary Session 18: Something that [...] gives pleasure [...] a small taste of what God must have felt like when he lay back on the 7th day and said it’s all cool by the pool.
2010		Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) 8 Jan. 🌐 ‘Howzit’ — I use that word everyday, and the response should be ‘lekker, man’ or ‘cool by the pool’.

(US teen) all wrong, whether socially, regarding fashion, work, amusements, etc.

1960

Baltimore Sun (MD) Sun. Mag. 4 Dec. 9/3: Cool like a moose means all wrong, no good, and it applies to everything from dull parties and algebra to low heels and referees [...] overly fussy chaperones.

(W.I./UK black teen) a phr. meaning everything is fine, all is going smoothly.

1994		P. Baker Blood Posse 102: Cool runnings, boss.
1995		Francis-Jackson Official Dancehall Dict. 11: Cool-runnings a greeting: u. cool runnings, man/everything is O.K.
2005		R. Cea No Lights, No Sirens 37: ‘Yah, Officer, every-ting irie. Don’t fuckin’ wet me up, every-ting cool running’.

(US) as wished, desirable, satisfactory .

2005

R. Cea No Lights, No Sirens 60: [N]o street thug can feel that it is ‘kool and the gang’ to bust a shot at any one of us.

(US prison) a general intensifier, usu. meaning truthfully or its opposite.

2000		Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 On the Cool: The meaning depends upon the intonation. Usually means something of a deceptive nature, however, spoken with intent it translates into pure truth. (TX).
2007		UGK ‘Heaven’ 🎵 But on the cool you know what else I hope is true / They got a heaven for me and got a heaven for you, too.

(orig. US) that’s satisfactory, that’s all right, don’t worry.

1972		O. Hawkins Ghetto Sketches 21: Awwwright . . . that’s cool . . . we’ll check . . . you.
1977		Fidrych & Clark No Big Deal 33: ‘I’m hopin’ that they don’t screw up. And if they do, all right. I’m just sayin’, Hey, that’s cool. Don't worry about it!’.
1989		P. Munro Sl. U.

very fashionable, well-dressed, obsessively so.

1997		E. Little Another Day in Paradise 151: He looks [...] too hip to slip, and way too cool for school.
2008		Garwood & Hole Rome 214: The interior is arty and contemporary, with streaky walls and flickering projections, and it’s almost too cool for school.
2010		Atkinson et al. N.Z. South Island 315: The hipster environment flies dangerously close to too cool for school but pulls back on the throttle before it's too late. Great coffee and fantastic brunchy food.
2018		I. Welsh Dead Man’s Trousers 113: I still saw her as the too-cool-for-school chick.

(US teen) excellent! wonderful!

1987		Eble Campus Sl. Spring.
1999		D. Lehane Prayers for Rain 281: He put his hand on my shoulder, leaned in close. ‘So we’re cool?’ ‘Cool beans,’ I said.
2010		M. Ringle What Scotland Taught Me 30: ‘Cool beans, huh?’ I had to love Shannon. She said stuff like ‘Cool beans’ in all sincerity. ‘Exceedingly cool beans,’ I agreed.
2014		B. Kroeber ‘Be My Alibi’ in ThugLit Sept. [ebook] Cool beans. That case, let me start by asking about this thing you got planned.
2018		‘Aidan Truhen’ Price You Pay 37: Charlie I need a makeover. I need a whole new look. [...] Cool beans can do.

(US campus) an exclamation of approval, admiration.

1990		Eble Campus Sl. Apr.
2001		Eble Campus Sl. Fall 3: COOL DEAL – expression of agreement, interest, or amazement.
2007		H. Heiman Running on Dreams 3: The gift's a double CD boxed set of hit singles of the 1960s. ‘It’s a cool deal, Mom!’.

a shroud; thus be put into one’s cool crape, to die.

1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: When a Person dies, he is said to be put into his Cool-crape.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. 1725].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

a female camp follower, specializing in selling brandy to the troops.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Cool-Lady a Wench that sells Brandy (in Camps).
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.

cognac.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Cool-nantz Brandy.
1702		Farquhar Twin-Rivals II ii: A moderate glass of cool Nantes is the thing.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1785		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (3rd edn) n.p.: Cool Nants. Brandy.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1796].
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 123: ‘Right Nantz,’ brandy. ‘Cool Nantz,’ the same.

(orig. US) in context of drinking, a bottle of beer, thus ext. as tall cool one.

1953		‘John Eagle’ Hoodlums (2021) 17: ‘How about a tall cool one’.
1954		Hepster’s Dict. 10: Tall cool one – A cool beer.
1961		(con. early 1950s) J. Peacock Valhalla 178: It’s a fine night for some cool ones.
1972		Eble Campus Sl. Oct. 2: cool one – a beer.
1985		(con. 1968) D.A. Dye Citadel (1989) 25: Thought I might have a few cool ones with you.
1998		R.G. Barrett Goodoo Goodoo 187: There was something else that would make him feel even better again. A nice cool one. He [...] walked down to the bar.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 234: Those boys in Neshoba. They’re sipping cool ones in Memphis right now.
2002		R.G. Barrett Mystery Bay Blues 21: Would you like a cup of coffee? [...] Or a cool one.

(drugs) a smoke of methamphetamine.

2002		‘Drug Sl. Vault’ on Erowid.org 🌐 Cool Smoke smoking Methamphetamine (‘ice’).
2003		‘Methamphetamine’ on Drug Rehabilitation Solutions 🌐 Users have referred to smoking ice as a ‘cool’ smoke, while the smoking of crack is a ‘hot’ smoke.