gutter, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

gutter n.

1. the vagina.

1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1896		Farmer Vocabula Amatoria (1966) 151: Gouttière, f. The female pudendum; ‘the gutter’.
1980		Maledicta IV:2 (Winter) 182: The simplest words in common use for this ‘nasty thing’ [...] are those accepting the female sexual apparatus as a simple receptacle. These include [...] furrow, ditch, gutter.

2. (drugs) a vein into which a drug is injected.

1936		D. Maurer ‘Argot of the Und. Narcotic Addict’ Pt 1 in AS XI:2 122/1: gutter. A conditioned addict who shoots narcotics into a vein where the blood, which has been congested, carries it immediately to the heart.
1959		J.E. Schmidt Narcotics Lingo and Lore.
1972		in Smith & Gay Heroin in Perspective.
1981		D.E. Miller Bk of Jargon 341: gutter: Those veins of the elbow area used for shooting heroin.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 11: Gutter — Vein into which a drug is injected.

3. see gutter-alley

SE in slang uses

In compounds

gutter-alley (n.) (also gutter)

the throat.

1607		Rowlands Diogenes Lanthorne 7: About a Barrell a day goes downe his gutter.
1654		Witts Recreations Epigram No. 409: At three go-downs Dick doffs me off a pot, The English Gutter’s Latine for this throat.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1937–84		Partridge DSUE (1984) 515/2: C.17-19.

gutter blood (n.) [SE gutter, suggesting low class + blood n.¹ (1)]

1. a lout, a hoodlum.

1818		W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian (1883) 193: They maun hae lordships and honours, nae doubt – set them up, the gutter-bloods!
1822		(con. early 17C) W. Scott Fortunes of Nigel I 136: In rushed a thorough Edinburgh gutterblood – a ragged rascal.
1853		Dickens ‘Slang’ in Household Words 24 Sept. 75/2: A low person is a snob, a sweep, and a scurf, and in Scotland, a gutter-blood.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 5: Gutter Blood - A low or vulgar man.

2. a parvenu, a vulgar man who puts on airs.

1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn).
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.

gutter chaunter (n.) [chanter n. (1)]

a street-singer.

1890–1904

Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

gutter glitter (n.)

(US drugs) cocaine.

2008		Urban Dict. 3 Nov. 🌐 Even though Nancy isn't out on the street yet, she will be if she keeps wasting her money on the gutter glitter .
2013		T. Dorsey Riptide Ultra-Glide 8: Coke [...] white lady, wings, yeho, nose candy, donut glaze, gutter glitter [etc].

gutter gripping (n.)

(Aus.) driving with one hand stuck through the open window, gripping the gutter that runs around the car’s roof; thus gutter gripper n., such a motorist.

1959		Bulletin 14 Oct. 9: The driver who draws some mysterious moral support from gutter-gripping.
1986		Sydney Morning Herald 6 Mar. 16: Even gutter grippers [...] respond to the backbeat with relish. We’ve all got rhythm [GAW4].

gutter hype (n.) (also gutter hyp, ...junkie) [SE gutter, suggesting low class + hype n.² (1)/junkie n.]

(drugs) a very low-level narcotics user.

1920		F. Williams Hop-Heads 40: He was hurrying, yet tarrying [...] with the shuffling, ambling gate of the typical ‘gutter hyp’.
1924		G. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 407: Gutter hype. A very low user of cocaine.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 110: gutter hype A very low user of cocaine.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 89/2: Gutter hype. A penniless addict of hypodermic injections who uses a safety pin to perforate the skin, heats the solution of heroin or morphine in a teaspoon over a lighted match, and slowly drops the drug through an eyedropper.
1968		S.G. Endore Synanon 248: Synanon has become far too expensive for the ordinary gutter-hype.
1974		B. Bullingdon Drug Use [...] in a Chicano Community 241: The fifth Chicano drug-using type [...] is the eclectic user or ‘gutter hype’. This addict is the antithesis of the regular [user] and is on the lowest rung of the ladder.
1997		Jim Crotty How to Talk American 94: There are two types of ‘hype’: a ‘gutter hype’: who lives on the street, and a ‘house hype,’ who lives in a stable dwelling.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 11: Gutter junkie — Addict who relies on others to obtain drugs.

gutter lane (n.) [? proper name Gutter Lane, a small street in 17C London and the source of phr. go down Gutter Lane, to be a drunkard or glutton. Partridge, however, suggests links to Lat. guttur, the throat and to Devon dial. gutter, to eat greedily, as well as to colloq. guttle, to eat heartily and guzzle v.¹]

the throat.

1652		Mercurius Democritus 27 Oct. - 3 Nov. 235: Governor of Gutter-lane, Duke of Dry-throat, Bailiffe of Bottles, &c.
1662		Fuller Worthies (1840) II 348: ‘All goeth down Gutter-lane’ [...] Common people (we must speak with the volge, and think with the wise) call it Guttur-lane, pleading for their mis-pronouncing it, that the narrow form thereof is like the throat or gullet.
1670		J. Ray Proverbs 243: All goeth down Gutter-lane. [...] This proverb is applied to those, who spend all in drunkenness and gluttony, mere belly-gods.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Gutter Lane the Throat.
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		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1889–90		Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

gutter rat (n.)

(N.Z. prison) one who spends most of their time in the cell.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 82/1: gutter rat n. 2 an inmate who spends much of his time in his cell.

gutter snipe (n.)

1. (UK tramp) a derog. term for a male servant.

1886

W. Newton Secrets of Tramp Life Revealed 9: Gutter Snipe ... Footman or Groom.

2. (US prison, also guttersniper) in a woman’s prison, an inmate who turns temporarily to homosexuality.

1967

in S. Harris Hellhole 239: True homosexuals [...] view the vast mass of House of Detention ‘jailhouse turnouts’ with a jaundiced eye, as is clearly revealed by the nicknames [...] ‘guttersnipers’ and ‘dogs’.