jungle, adj. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

jungle adj.

(US)

1. pertaining to the black area of a town or city.

1949		N. Algren Man with the Golden Arm 293: One of the jungle clubs between Madison and Lake.
1998		(con. 1986) G. Pelecanos Sweet Forever 67: Shit, Tutt. You better watch what you say with that jungle shit. Anyway, I thought your partner was a brother.

2. used, orig. derog., in reference to black people or culture.

1930		K. Brush Young Man of Manhattan 93: Black band. Jungle band.
1944		Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW) 26 Oct. 7/2: Jungle Jitterbug Context [...] All but the Fuzzy-Wuzzies are elgibile for an all-in jitterbug competition.
1965		H. Rhodes Chosen Few (1966) 215: The trick is t’git up there early, before them jungle folks overrun th’ place.
1965		J. Gielgud letter 11 Feb. in Mangan John Gielgud’s Letters (2004) 320: Unbelievably jungle dancing and steel guitar.
1973		C. Gaines Stay Hungry 218: Buck’s a gotdam jungle bomb, honeypot. Got all these things to turn you on.
1978		R. Price Ladies’ Man (1985) 249: Jungle disco.
1991		B. Quinn Smokey Hollow 101: Switch off that jungle music.
2001		G. Pelecanos Right As Rain 184: The rest moved their heads to some jungle-jump coming from a box.

3. unsophisticated, thus rural.

1961

T. Taylor Baron’s Court All Change (2011) 51: ‘Why don’t you go and do your jungle dances at the village hall in Clapton Pond wheree you come from!’.

In compounds

jungle bunny (n.) [their alleged origins in the jungle]

1. (US) a derog. term for a black person.

1956		Jrnl Educ. Sociology 28-29 72: The children [...] called Negroes ‘jungle bunny,’ ‘charcoal’ and other equally uncomplimentary names.
1959		Maier College Terms 2: Jungle bunnies – colored people [HDAS].
1961		H. Ellison Rockabilly (1963) 95: She isn’t a girl to you, she’s some kind of black plaything, she’s only a jungle bunny, anyhow. That’s why you stink.
1977		E. Torres Q&A 18: Fuck you, jungle bunny.
1983		S. King Christine 338: I hate that fucking spade [...] You taking up for that jungle bunny?
1998		I. Welsh Filth 27: No way am I going to visit a bunch of jungle-bunnies and their nursemaids.
2006		C. Carr Our Town 87: I was just setting back, relaxing and seeing how these dingo junglebunnies was jumping around from tree to tree wishing to get to the banana.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 68: She gets boned by some jungle bunny.
2017		D. Winslow The Force [ebook] ‘Did you think you were playing with children?” Malone asks. “Dumb cops and jungle bunnies?’.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1965		J. Gielgud letter 18 Jan. in Mangan John Gielgud’s Letters (2004) 320: Katherine Dunham dancers doing appalling jungle bunny ballets.
1978		(con. WWII) T. Sanchez Hollywoodland (1981) 73: A bunch of greasers [...] dressed in those jungle bunny suits they wear.
1989		(con. 1960s) M. Kingston Tripmaster Monkey 17: Do the two of us have to [...] admire their jungle-bunny house decorations?
2004		J. Ellroy ‘Jungletown Jihad’ in Destination: Morgue! (2004) 327: Cops call it the ‘Coal Chute.’ It’s a jungle-bunny juggernaut.

jungle fever (n.) (also black fever) [the term, generally outlawed as racist in white use, changed its emphasis with the release of Spike Lee’s film Jungle Fever in 1991]

1. (US) the desire of whites (usu. men) to have sex with black partners.

1964		J. Baldwin Blues for Mister Charlie 140: Richard would say that you’ve got — black fever.
1997–2002		Alt. Eng. Dict. 🌐 jungle fever (noun) Horny for black men. Racially biased preference or sexual desire for black men by a white woman.
2002		‘Touré’ Portable Promised Land (ms.) 160: We Words (My Favorite Things) [...] Jungle fever. Brown suga.
2017		D. Winslow The Force [ebook] ‘I mean, what is this, some kind of “brown sugar” thing? [...] Jungle fever? You just come over here and fuck me?’.

2. (US black) the desire of blacks to have white partners.

1991		S. Lee [film title] Jungle Fever.
2000		Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 jungle fever Definition: the attraction between a member of the african race, and the white caucasian. Example: Where’s your boy? Oh jungle fever? Probably bumpin his black beauty, word.
2006		C. Carr Our Town 261: The two Berrys and a white male friend walked past a black man who was talking to a white woman. One of them said, ‘Jungle fever,’ then ‘used a racial slur’.

jungle meat (n.) [meat n.]

(gay) a black man or his penis.

1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.
1986–7		Maledicta IX 52: jungle meat n [R] Black man’s penis; homosexual slang.