Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (Aus.) sexually involved with.

1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1976		D. Ireland Glass Canoe (1982) 88: You were into her.
1999		J. Ridley Love Is a Racket 369: ‘Is he into you or not?’ ‘I think he loves me.’.
2001		N. Griffiths Sheepshagger 98: Was into Gwenno, tho, wanny?
2012		J. Díaz This Is How You Lose Her 7: I was into Magda for real.
2021		C. Hammer Opal Country 478: ‘I fucking hated it, man, those two, so into each other. I was so lonely and so jealous’.

2. aware of, interested in, involved with, attracted by; thus be into [abbr. deeply into or similar; a hippie n.² (3) phrase that emerged during the late 1960s and thence proceeded to general speech as well as use in a variety of New Age therapies; ult. from 19C SE into, meaning involved with].

1899		A. Binstead Houndsditch Day by Day 98: Betting is like swearing, you’re frequently right into it while framing the resolution to let it alone].
1916		E. Genet letter 20 June in Channing War Letters of Edmond Genet 12: Though you will know by now, you didn’t know [...] that your wild ‘third’ [...] was on his way from being a hardened légionnaire to become a merry aviator. How often you all must wonder—“What’s he into now!’ .
1967		A. Baraka Tales (1969) 21: Is it you saying that Hutchens and my man here are into some funny shit?
1977		C. McFadden Serial 13: The only other woman on the block who was heavily into macramé.
1989		T. Blacker Fixx 300: I’m not really into parties.
1997		(con. 1970s) G. Pelecanos King Suckerman (1998) 65: Jimmy [...] was totally not into BTO.
1996		P. Howard The Joy (2015) [ebook] I was mad into her.
1999		Guardian Rev. 23 July 13: I’m into men!
2000		N. Griffiths Grits 255: I thought you were into it . . . am sorry.
2007		W. Ellis Crooked Little Vein 243: What the fuck are you into, Mike?
2013		T. Black Ringer [ebook] n.p.: I mean, it’s into me big time, I can tell – it's a lassie after all.
2018		C. Hammer Scrublands [ebook] ‘He was into sheilas, not kids’.
2021		T. Pluck Boy from County Hell 123: ‘I ain’t into chicken’.

3. involved in a money-making scheme of some form, esp, criminal.

1936		in C.R. Cooper Here’s To Crime in Hamilton Men of the Und. 221: He was into so many things — owning a piece of a drugstore here, a restaurant there.
1941		Warner, Junker & al. Color & Human Nature 249: ‘You’re not really bad; you’re always into something. You remind me of your father. He wasn’t really bad. He was just always on the go’.
1965		C. Brown Manchild in the Promised Land (1969) 320: He seems to be dressin’ nice, so he must be into things.
1974		V.E. Smith Jones Men 121: What’s your man Tommy into? He a dope man too?
1981		H. Gould Fort Apache, The Bronx 45: The man sees four dudes like us walkin’ down the street at seven o’clock in the morning he knows we’re into somethin’.
1993		Smith & Noble Neddy (1998) 133: The next day I saw a friend who I knew was into armed robs. I mentioned that I had a sweet go, but didn’t tell him that it was with the police – not yet, anyway.
2001		(con. 1981) A. Wheatle East of Acre Lane 11: Chaks is into all sorts of shit. Pimping, money-lending, protection racket, drugs, cheque book.
2001		G. Pelecanos Right As Rain 68: She’s into selling first editions.
2012		L. Berney Whiplash River [ebook] ‘I don’t know exactly what all they were into. Scamming NGOs, fraudulent government contracts, moving the shells around’.

4. of the police, pursuing, investigating.

1978		R. Daley Prince of the City 220: ‘We got a good case going [...] We are into some major Mafia junk dealers’.
1980		J. McClure Spike Island (1981) 359: I’ve been into guys [...] who’ve paid private detectives to follow me round twenty-four hours a day.
1986		C. Stroud Close Pursuit (1988) 212: Are we blue-skying it here? Are we into a covert op situation-wise?
2005		R. Cea No Lights, No Sirens 166: ‘No way they’re into us for that [i.e. one aspect of corruption], and if they are, fuck ‘em, our word against theirs’.