Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a derog. term for an Asian person.

1980

E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 57: Food-related pejoratives like ricer and chopstick are part of vernacular usage.

(US) East Asian.

2003

N. Green Angel of Montague Street (2004) 248: How can those riceball motherfuckers beat us? Look at this country, look at them!

(Aus./UK society) an inhabitant of a rice-growing country who volunteered for conversion less through religious fervour and more through a desire to gain food from gullible missionaries.

1895		Referee 11 Aug. n.p.: Natives in rice-bearing countries, who accept the missionaries in order to gain rice or food. [...] It is extremely doubtful, in these circumstances, whether such converts as the missions boast are ever more than the dregs of Chinese society, coolies without family, home, or pedigree, ‘rice-Christians’ as they are scornfully named.
1903		Aus. Town & Country Jrnl 27 May 35/1: The coast negro who becomes a convert is little if any better than what the Chinese call a ‘rice Christian’.
1912		P.C. Wren Dew & Mildew 398: Is it supposed that the English company will mutiny if not leavened with black ‘rice’ Christians?
1914		Bulletin (Sydney) 13 Aug. 26/1: There isn’t a bona-fide Christian native in all Papua [...]. The specimens who turn up to the church services are simply Rice Christians. They don’t attend to fill their souls with holiness, but to fill their innards with food, which is directly or indirectly obtainable by any native hypocrite.
1919		Dubbo Liberal (NSW) 6 May 4/4: Like most Chinese converts he was probably [...] a ‘rice Christian,’ i.eatere. one who gets converted for what he can secure in the way of rice and other comforts.
1929		Advertiser (Adelaide) 23 July 16/3: He is called a ‘rice Christian,’ a Bolshevik agent, a patriot, an ignoramus.
1939		West Australian (Perth) 3 June 6/4: It is bad for the non-Christian, who, unfairly we believe, flings the term of ‘rice Christian’ at the convert.

(Aus.) a derog. term for a Chinese or Asian person; also attrib.; thus rice-eating adj.

[1857		Argus (Melbourne) 26 Sept. 4/3: The Chinese — ‘the rice-eating and opium-chewing Mongolians‘ as he called them].
1888		Maitland Mercury (NSW) 7 Apr. 4s/3: The bolting horses [...] dashing the coach with tremendous force against a tenement occupied by a battalion of rice-eaters.
1913		L. Light Modern Hobo 19: He replied, ‘That’s nothing, this rice eater will come around all right.’ Sure enough the Chinaman ‘came around’.
1914		Ballarat Courier )Vic.) 22 May 3/4: The reference to rice-eating invaders moniopolising business was to Chinese and imported coolies.
1974		(con. 1930s) I. Agnew Loner 30: ‘How are you, you rice-eating, slant-eyed bastard?’ the more ill-mannered customers would greet the Chinese in charge of gambling.
1991		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read Chopper From The Inside 150: The balance of criminal power in Australia will tilt towards Asian gangs in the next ten years. These little fellows have already built themselves a sort of rice eater intelligence network.
2004		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read Chopper 3 22: There are three Vietnamese in the remand yard [...] rice eaters from Western Australia.

(US black) an East Asian man.

1944		D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 76: Chinese—Riceman.
1983		Maledicta VII 23: The Chinese were called rice belly and, in black street slang, rice man.

1. rural Chinese prostitutes.

1948

J.L. Riordan ‘A.V.G. Lingo’ in AS XXIII:1 31: Members of the Rice Paddy Navy were embarked upon amorous adventures with the local rice paddy Hatties34 [note 34. Rhyming expression for rural Chinese prostitutes].

2. (US gay) one who has a penchant for East Asian men.

1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.
1988		H. Max Gay (S)language.

(US black) a Chinese person.

2000

Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 rice picka Definition: a Chinese person Example: Last night I had some wanton soup from a rice picka’s restaurant, gave a nigga gas!

(gay) someone who favours Asian partners.

1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.
1980		Maledicta IV:2 (Winter) 235: Rodgers has [...] yellow fever = penchant for orientals (ornamentals, Susie Wongs. or Susie Wangs where wang = penis) and rice queen.
1988		H. Max Gay (S)language.
1997–2002		Alt. Eng. Dict. 🌐 rice queen gay male who is attracted to Asian homosexuals.
1999		Gaymart.com Queer Sl. in the Gay 90s 🌐 Rice Queen – A gay man that exclusively prefers Asian men.
2003		K. Cage Gayle.
2012		(con. early 1960s) E. White in N.Y. Rev. Bks 25 Oct. 🌐 I would in effect teach them how to camp—[...] how to label a guy who likes blacks (‘a dinge queen’) or Asians (‘a rice queen’).
2017		http://www.thestranger.com 21 June 🌐 ‘Queer Issue’ [headline] My First (and Last) Time Dating a Rice Queen.

(US) an enthusiast of hotted-up Japanese cars.

1999		Google groups: aus.cars 11 Oct. 🌐 The term [sc. ricer] was originally ‘Rice Rocket’ or ‘Rice Racer’ (i think) used by bike guys to describe fast asian bikes (not the riders). The term ‘Rice Boys’ is now used to describe people who buy Asian cars (usually base models) who then try to make them look fast by putting big stickers, wings, wheels, lights, body kits on them.
1999		Google Groups: aus.cars 11 Oct. 🌐 Nismo = Nissan Motorsport, Rallyart = mitsubishi, I have seen rice racers with all of these stickers on simultaneously!

1. (US campus) a Japanese manufactured motorcycle.

1982		Wash. Post 9 Mar. n.p.: With all those ‘I’d rather push my Harley than drive a rice burner!’ Main Street is a Harley-dominated scene.
1996		Eble Sl. and Sociability 31: Often the second part of a noun + noun compound is derived from a verb by the suffix -er: [...] rice burner ‘Japanese motorcycle’.
2001		A. Vachss Pain Management (2002) ‘You don’t fancy the ricer burners, right?’ ‘I’m from a different generation [...] No substitute for cubic inches.’.
2011		C. Faust Choke Hold [ebook] [T]he rice-burner rear-ended me.

2. a Japanese automobile.

2005

G. Pelecanos Drama City 112: Young men [...] who knew only of German luxury automobiles and upscale riceburners.

3. used attrib., to denote Japanese origin.

2020

D. Whish-Wilson Shore Leave 31: [I]n 1970, Japanese imports were limited [...] now the plastic bumpers and rice-burner engines were common.

an automobile manufactured in Asia.

2004

H. Kunzru Transmission 178: A new radiator and windshield would probably already come to more than the battered twelve-year-old Honda was worth. [...] She was not entirely sure she wanted the old rice-cooker back.

a Japanese-made motorcycle, or, sometimes, car.

1996		Google Groups: rec.motorcycles.harley 4 Feb. 🌐 I started riding in ’71 on a rice grinder. in ’72 I got my first Harley.
1999		Google Groups: aus.cars 11 Oct. 🌐 Jap bikes are referred to as ‘rice grinders’.
2006		Google Groups: aus.motorcycles 24 Apr. 🌐 I gotta get a super loud horn for my rice grinder.

1. (orig. US black) a Japanese-made car (usu. a four-wheel drive Jeep clone, e.g. a Shogun) or motorcycle.

1990		Google Groups: rec.motorcycles 27 Feb. 🌐 A lot of people riding the rockets are young inexperienced riders .
1992		Google Groups: rec.autos 22 May 🌐 Lastly, in all the rice rockets I’ve ever ridden in, I’ve never felt I was in a sports car.
1993		J. Mowry Six Out Seven (1994) 355: Some white-ass cocksuckas roll by in one of them jacked-up rice rockets.
1997–2001		Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 rice-rocket n 1. any sport motorcycle or replica of a race motorcycle, usually Japanese in origin. (‘Mongo kicked over that nerd’s rice-rocket last night.’).
1997		(con. 1970s) G. Pelecanos King Suckerman (1998) 99: Rice rocket ain’t no bike.
2001		Google Groups: aus.cars 4 Feb. 🌐 [A] rice rocket is "a car that looks fast but goes slow." .

2. a cheap or old automobile, usu. owned by someone of Hispanic descent.

1997–2000

College Sl. Research Project (Cal. State Poly. Uni., Pomona) 🌐 Rice rocket {derogatory}(noun) A cheap or old automobile, usually owned by someone of Hispanic descent.

to hot up a car with detailing and modifications for speed.

1999		Google Groups: aus.cars 12 Oct. 🌐 Pretty much a homeboy trait, which commonly rice their cars.
1999		Google Groups: aus.cars 14 Oct. 🌐 Actually it’s the folks who rice up already Hi performance cars [...] with big wings and humungous exhausts. It’s not a ‘better’ performing car now, it’s a desperate cry for help.

trousers.

[1867		Chester Chron. 9 Mar. 7/5: It appeared that the prisoner had been tearing his clothes at the Wrexham Workhouse, and had been supplied with some rice-bags as substitutes, and when apprehended he had nothing on except his trousers].
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1934		Framlingham Wkly News 10 Feb. 3/3: ‘Who is the old blighter in the rice-bags?’.

(drugs) amyl nitrite.

1972

B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.

(W.I.) a mongrel, fed on scraps (mainly rice) and useless as a watchdog.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

(US black/P.R.) very closely.

1935		Z.N. Hurston Mules and Men (1995) 145: She better not vary, do Ah’ll be all over her jus’ lak gravy over rice.
1935		Archie Seale Man About Harlem 16 Nov. [synd. col.] Doothy Saunders and Teddy Butler are sticking like gravy on rice.
1938		‘Sl. among Nebraska Negroes’ in AS XIII:4 Dec. 317/2: Last may be noted some picturesque similes: [...] stick like white on rice.
1944		C. Himes ‘A Penny for Your Thoughts’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 58: They were on him like white on rice.
1955		Sports Illus. 3 1-12 11: I’m going to be on you club owners [...] like gravy on rice.
1956		‘Ed Lacy’ Men from the Boys (1967) 70: The second you buy a house, a car, take a cruise, they crack down on you like white on rice, asking where you got the dough from.
1965		C. Himes Rage in Harlem (1969) 108: If the cops find him here they’re on our trail like white on rice.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 118: On me like white-on-rice.
1981		H. Gould Fort Apache, The Bronx 82: We’ll be on you like white on rice.
1985		K. Young Wilder Passion 14: ‘Stan’s going to be on you like gravy on rice, I’m telling you’.
1987		‘Joe Bob Briggs’ Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In 35: That face job stuck to her like ugly on a pit bulldog.
1997		Simon & Burns Corner (1998) 223: Tyreeka is on her son like white on rice.
2002		‘Touré’ Portable Promised Land (ms.) 159: We Words (My Favorite Things) [...] Like white on rice.
2004		S. Farber Radical Leap 60: ‘I’m on you like white on rice, like spots on dice.’ ‘Like cold on ice, but twice the price,’ chimed Pop.
[2009		N. Flexner Disassembled Man [ebook] From now on we’re going to be stuck to each other like yellow on piss].
2010		L. Berney Gutshot Straight [ebook] [H]is parents would have put the family lawyers on the local D.A. like white on rice.
2002		M.A. Collins Sin City 123: [T]he next thing I know, this guy is all over me, like ugly on a bulldog.
213		A.R.E.M. Abajam Chonicles 3: [T]hose North Dakota border guards were all over me like ugly on a bulldog.

see not for all the tea in China under tea n.

(US Black) as a statement of absolute impossibility: if...[then] there’s no...

1939

Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 1 July 11/1: If that cat isn’t in the [illeg.] there’s no white on rice .