Green’s Dictionary of Slang

tipsy, pleasantly ‘high’.

1971

L. Sanders Pleasures of Helen 175: To tell you the truth, she was feeling buzzy. Not drunk—but a small, relaxed buzz.

for combs. pertaining to pickpocketing, see under buz n.

1. (US) any sort of strong cocktail.

1945

Lindsay & Crouse State of the Union III ii: What’s in those buzz bombs?

2. (US drugs) nitrous oxide.

2001

ONDCP Street Terms 5: Buzz bomb — Nitrous oxide.

(US campus) anything or anyone that destroys a feeling of euphoria.

1987		Eble Campus Sl. Fall 2: buzz crusher – anything that depresses or deflates or ruins a good time [...] Also buzz stripper: Oh, no, my parents are here – what a buzz stripper.
1994		C. Tippit Red Licorice 16: Mrs Waller. Whoa! Talk about an old buzz crusher!
1996		Eble Sl. and Sociability 31: Often the second part of a noun + noun compound is derived from a verb by the suffix -er: buzz crusher ‘anything that destroys a feeling of euphoria’ (something crushes [verb] one’s buzz [object]).
2001		R. Gallagher Girl Who Loved Garbo 35: Come on, Reb, snap out of it [...] You’ve been acting like a buzz crusher ever since you got off the plane.
2002		W.J. Cobb White Tattoo 216: His lack of money and generally meager prospects working like a major buzz-crusher on his wobbly ego.

see sense 4 above.

(US black) strong alcohol.

1927

L. Johnson ‘Tin Can Alley Blues’ 🎵 I was down in Tin Can Alley, loaded down with that buzz-head gin.

see separate entry.

(Und., also buzman) an informer.

1832		Bell’s Life in London 10 June 3/1: Epsom Races [...] rendered the assemblage rather select [but] there was no sufficient to excite alarm in the Beaks, or to secure the countenance of a ‘buzman’ even of the third degree.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1877		Examiner 17 Mar. 13/2: It’s all along o’ that Fiddling Jack [...] He’s been about saying you was a buz-man.
1877		W. Black Green Pastures and Piccadilly xi: What was all this about ‘Billy Rowland,’ ‘Scotland Yard,’ ‘Spy,’ ‘Buzman,’ and the rest? [F&H].
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 38/2: Buzz-man. (P) An informer.

see buzzkill n.

to start experiencing the (pleasurable) effects of alcohol or a given drug.

1976		Eble Campus Sl. Nov. 1: catch a buzz – get intoxicated.
1985		Totally True Diaries of an Eighties Roller Queen 🌐 23 July In the day I walked to the store and saw Puffer. We smoked up. I caught a bit of a buzz but not much.
1992		D. Burke Street Talk 2 15: I’m catching a buzz off/from this wine.
2002		www.nakedgov.com 🌐 South Dakota NORML — advocating for medical cannabis and the rights of peaceful honest folks to catch a buzz.

(US) to get drunk, to get ‘high’ on a drug.

1984		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 2: cop – acquire: let’s cop a buzz.
1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 14: To cop or coppin’ may be associated with feelings or emotions. ‘He really copped a “buzz” from that marijuana.’.

1. (US Und.) to promise, to assure.

1919

C.S. Montanye ‘The Man Who Never Forgot’ in Detective Story 17 Dec. 🌐 Give me a buzz that I figure for half the stuff, and you’re on!

2. to call someone on the telephone.

1921		College Humor 75/2: Don’t hesitate to give me a buzz when the spirit move you.
1929		‘Ellery Queen’ Roman Hat Mystery 22: Give headquarters a buzz about the murder.
1930		R. Whitfield Green Ice (1988) 126: If they hole in anywhere that looks permanent, give me a buzz.
1938		D. Runyon ‘What, No Butler?’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 387: She gives the gendarmes a buzz.
1945		A. Kober Parm Me 25: If you wanna, you can gimme a buzz at home.
1951		M. Spillane One Lonely Night 154: There was no out until Lee [...] gave you a buzz.
1958		P. Larkin letter 28 Oct. in Thwaite Sel. Letters (1992) 290: The visit will be so quick I doubt if I’ll have time to kill. Give you a buzz if I do.
1962		F. Norman Guntz 60: He gives the director a buzz and asks him what the strength is.
1975		L. Rosten Dear ‘Herm’ 152: When you return [...] give me a buzz – and we will see.
1977		‘John le Carré’ Honourable Schoolboy 133: Want me to give her a buzz?
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 220: [I] found a pay phone on P.C.H. and gave old Cal a buzz.
1986		C. Stroud Close Pursuit (1988) 237: Can you give her a buzz at 1430 hours. Tell her I’m on a surveillance detail.
1992		M. Frayn Now You Know 74: I’ll give you a buzz some time.
2000		T. Blacker Kill Your Darlings 218: Give me a buzz when you have a moment.
2015		N. Cummins Tales of the Honey Badger [ebook] But if you give me a buzz, I can tell you three wingers in the current Wallabies squad who have [drunk alcohol on planes].

3. to excite, to thrill (usu. sexually).

1899–1900		C.L. Cullen Tales of the Ex-Tanks 90: It’s a queer old bug, the boyhood home bug [...] and every time you hear flute music and you’re sogged right it’s bound to give you a buzz.
1965		W. King ‘The Game’ in King Black Short Story Anthol. (1972) 304: Hey, mamma, you putty thang ... shorr look foine. Come mere, let Hoim give you this buzz.
1977		C. McFadden Serial 66: It gave me this terrific buzz.

to run away from, to elude.

1930		G. Milburn ‘The Stew-Bum’ in Hobo’s Hornbook 137: Yes, ’twas a woman – and I give the moll the buzz.
1966		M. Rumaker Exit 3 and Other Stories 106: They chased us to the bridge. We gave them the buzz.

1. (orig. US) to be drinking and mildly intoxicated but not drunk.

1955		W.H. Kayy We Can’t All be Sane! 186: When he is put under insufferable tensions [...] he flees into his easiest escape world — namely intoxication. Why slip into an anxiety when you can also have a buzz on?
1960		Southern Reporter: Cases Argued 879/1: Defendant [...] testified that these six highballs had no effect on his driving ability. However, he did admit on cross-examination that he had a ‘buzz-on’ and that he wasn’t feeling like normal.
1978		S. King Stand (1990) 794: He hoisted the jug of wine and had a swallow. ‘I got quite a buzz on myself.’ [Ibid.] 1262: Lloyd was pouring the gin freehand, and Whitney had a nice buzz on.
1983		R. Price Breaks 237: I get a little buzz on [...] and I can stare at a goddamn beer glass.
1983		S. King Christine 424: The way he sometimes goosed her when he got a buzz on.
1998		Source Nov. 161: Even Grandma was getting her buzz on.
2020		L. Lungaro The 3-0 309: They popped open a couple of beers and were getting quite a buzz on.

2. (orig. US) to be slightly intoxicated from drugs.

1956		South Wester Reporter: Cases Argued 260 2/1: Having taken any codeine before, he could have probably got a ‘buzz’ on — kind of a slight drunk with half a grain of codeine.
1966		T. Keyes All Night Stand 123: I get a very nice buzz on the two times I get hold of it.
1976		P. Theroux Family Arsenal 72: You got a buzz on.

(US campus) to depress someone, to destroy someone’s enjoyment or pleasure, to disappoint someone.

1989		P. Munro Sl. U.
1993		Eble Campus Sl. Oct. 5: stomp on someone’s buzz – put a damper on one’s good time or pleasure: ‘That pop quiz in English really stomped on my buzz’.
2007		T. Dorsey Hurricane Punch 177: He’s killing my storm buzz!

busy, excited.

1919		C.E. Piesbergen Overseas with an Aero Squadron 60: John made quite a racket around the supply department, where he was always ‘on the buzz’.
1926		‘Sapper’ Final Count 799: I’ve just come from the War Office, and they’re somewhat on the buzz.

(US) to pressurize, to bribe.

1929		C. Coe Hooch! 120: I think he’s puttin’ the buzz on Swinnerton for dough. [Ibid.] 167: This rat was puttin’ the buzz on you fer dough. You know he had your number!
1929		Hostetter & Beesley It’s a Racket! 221: buzz—To interview; also in the sinister meaning of visiting and intimidating someone, especially with the ultimate purpose of extorting money, as ‘to put the buzz on.’.
1930		Proc. All-Ohio Safety Congress 615: I do not mean to put the buzz on the fellow that had the accident, to put him on the spot.
1942		Billboard 23 May 19/4: [Irving] Berlin put the buzz on the War Department to give temporary furloughs to some 20 or 25 songpluggers now in khaki.
1951		H. Kane Corpse for Christmas (2012) n.p.: How do you like that guy? Putting the buzz on me for two hundred G’s.

(US campus) to put a damper on someone’s pleasure.

1986		Eble Campus Sl. Oct.
1996		Eble Sl. and Sociability 55: In the expression rape my buzz, buzz is generalized from the ‘pleasant euphoric feeling caused by drinking a small amount of alcohol’ to a generally happy or pleasant feeling; as in ‘My dad phoned this morning and raped my buzz’.

see separate entry.

see buzzkill! excl.

an automobile.

1911		Arizona Republican (Phoenix, AZ) 10 Dec. 22/3: Mother, thee knows thy scriptures, but thee knows nothing about a buzz box.
1920		‘Sapper’ Bulldog Drummond 216: How long will it take me to get the old buzz-box to Laidley Towers?
1922		Eve. Public Ledger (Phila., PA) 28 Aug. 27/1: He constrained himself to use Bill’s services with the ‘buzz-box’.
1960		(con. 1930s) R. Barber Night They Raided Minsky’s (1968) 306: Instruction book for buzz-box.

1. (US) an automobile, esp. a cheap one.

1905		Wash. Times (DC) 29 May 9/3: One thing at which I insist upon drawing the line now is racing on tracks not fit for automobiles [...] I figured out about one thousand ways in which a buzz-buggy might bump into bits.
1907		Reformatory Press (Iowa) 30: Next morning I went down town and soaked my Waterbury, got the buzz buggy and a pair of goggles, called for Gladys, and away we went.
[1913		Pop. Mechanics Dec. 872/1: [report on adding a propellor to an automobile to increase the speed] The method of changing an automobile into a ‘buzz buggy’ is clearly shown in the photograph].
1914		‘Hugh McHugh’ You Should Worry 44: Then the Buzz Buggy turned around and barked at them, and with an excited wag of its tail scooted for home.
1919		T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 23: She was fond of you too eh — She offered you her 90 horse power buzz buggy and diamond rings did she not.
1922		Progressive Grocer 1 60/2: I sold a man ten gallons of gas for his buzz-buggy and gave him coal oil by mistake.
1938		Beekeepers’ Item May 90/2: Henry Ford makes a buzz-buggy which fifty million Americans understand so well that they teach it tricks like climbing trees and jumping puddles.
1960, 1975		(ref. to 1915) Wentworth & Flexner DAS.

2. in attrib. use of sense 1.

1920

Medical Insurance 36 346/2: Young Doctor — That patient has St. Vitus’ dance, hasn’t he? Old Doctor — No. He has ‘the buzz-buggy twitch,’ caused by dodging autos.

(N.Z.) an automobile.

1914		N.Z. Truth 4 July 4/6: An elegantly appointed buzz-car pulled up at his joint.
1916		C.E. Beals Passaconaway in the White Mountains 298: He saw a ‘blue-coat nip a buzz-car’ (auto) because it did not wait for the pedestrians to pass.

an automobile.

1903		R. McCardell Conversations of a Chorus Girl 68: One who will take you to the pony ring in a big red buzz wagon.
1908		K. McGaffey Sorrows of a Show Girl Ch. xvii: I landed this buzz wagon out of a ten dollar pike bet.
1913		J. London Valley of the Moon (1914) 23: We’re the real goods, Saxon an’ me, if anybody should ride up on a buzz-wagon an’ ask you.
1917		F. Packard Adventures of Jimmie Dale (1918) I vi: When I’m ridin’ in me private buzz wagon, Wowzer, youse stick around.
1920		Ade Hand-made Fables 4: [They] were piling into the high-powered Buzz-Wagons for a Spin out to the Home for Polite Souses.
1943		J. Mitchell McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon (2001) 61: If all the perverted ingenuity which was put into making buzz-wagons had only gone into improving the breed of horses.
1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS.