spark, v.¹ — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

spark v.¹

also spark it, spark up to

[SE spark, a beau, lover or suitor]

1. (US) to pay court to, to make love to, to play the suitor; thus sparking n., courting.

1787		R. Tyler Contrast II ii: She promised not to spark it with Solomon Dyer while I am gone.
1804		T.G. Fessenden Orig. Poems (1806) 77: She’s courted been, by many a lad, And knows how sparking’s done [DA].
1815		D. Humphreys Yankey in England 19: Lydia Lovett, the Deacon’s darlin darter; with whom, both man and boy, I’ve sparked it, pretty often-times, so late.
1824		R.B. Peake Americans Abroad II ii: I’ve sparked pretty often at hum with the Deacon’s darter.
1832		Ely’s Hawk & Buzzard (NY) Sept. 8 n.p.: Sparking the sweet little creatures until two [...] o’clock in the morning.
1834		W.A. Caruthers Kentuckian in N.Y. I 100: I took a stroll round town, to see the lads and lasses [...] to see how they carried on their sparkin in a big town.
1846		C.M. Kirkland Western Clearings 16: That was the way young men cast sheep’s eyes when they went a sparking [F&H].
1855		T. Haliburton Nature and Human Nature II 28: When our young niggars go sparkin’, and spendin evenings, dey most commonly marries.
1867		‘Johnny Cross’ ‘Strike While The Iron Is Hot’ in Orig. Pontoon Songster 51: If a pretty girl you’re sparking, follow up this good old rule, / Keep up with the tongs and hammer, never let the thing grow cool.
1880		N.Z. Observer (Auckland) 2 Oct. 19/2: An’ onct were considered a booty / Wen the spoonies come sparkin’ around .
1883		G.W. Peck Peck’s Bad Boy and His Pa (1887) 65: She said Pa never laid out ten cents for ice cream or any luxury for her in all the five years he was sparking her.
1889		Kipling ‘Shadow of His Hand’ in Civil & Military Gaz. 2 Aug. (1909) 39: The old man did not see the merits of Lot when he went sparking after the girl .
1890		E. Custer Following the Guidon 314: Me and Eliza was mighty fond of each other, and off and on we was sparking.
1903		A. Adams Log of a Cowboy 72: It seemed that a number of the boys had sparked the bride in times past.
1903		‘Dads Wayback’ in Sun. Times (Sydney) 16 Aug. 1/4: ‘You wos talkin’ about courtin' [...] so I thought I’d bring my Jeff along ter get ther straight tip, seein’ as how he's sparkin’ ther gals’.
1917		Day Book (Chicago) 27 Mar. 25/1: Harry Farnham has got ‘yes’ from Miss Viola Trum,amn, after sparking her for eleven years and getting the mitten 1,000 times.
1922		‘Sparking’ or ‘Courting’ in T.W. Talley Negro Folk Rhymes 136: I sparks fast an’ hard [...] Dough I’se gittin’ ole, / I don’t co’t lak no snail.
1938		F. Anthony ‘Gus Tomlins’ in Me And Gus (1977) 169: We can have a bit of fun sparking with them.
1946		(con. 1910s) J. Thompson Heed the Thunder (1994) 22: Do you think you ought to be sparking up to your own cousin.
1953		Randolph & Wilson Down in the Holler 108: It is quite correct to remark that a young man is talkin’ or settin’ up or sparkin’ or courtin’, since all these terms may imply an intention to marry.
1965		Wisconsin State Jrnl 17 Jan. 1-2: In Grandfather’s time this activity [i.e. necking in a parked car] was called ‘sparking,’ a term which might even come back because it has been away for so long.
1970		B. Naughton Alfie Darling 152: There does seem something missing so far as sparking a bloke goes.
1975		J. Roe The Same Old Grind 128: Three couples who had been illegally attempting to spark in the park.
1986		J.B. Keane Bodhrán Makers 152: ‘He’s sparking.’ ‘Sparking!’ The Canon echoed the word in bewilderment. ‘Sparking with Daisy Fleece.’.
1999		Guardian Guide 5–12 June 55: The pair [...] spark and smooch happily.

2. (UK black) to hit, to punch.

2020

G. Krauze What They Was 153: Gotti follows [...] and sparks him in the face [ibid.] 312: [I] start sparking him in the top of his head.

SE in slang uses

In phrases

spark (it) (up) (v.) [the spark of one’s lighter flint]

1. (orig. UK/US black) to light a tobacco or cannabis cigarette; a crack pipe.

1947		D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam News 27 Sept. 21: The Teed Keed had already sparked his seed weed.
1988		Eble Campus Sl. Oct. 9: spark up [...] Spark me up a smoke, will you?
1992		S. Armitage ‘True North’ in Kid 3: Spark up, then take turns / to dimp burning cigs.
1993		Snoop Doggy Dogg ’Tha Shiznit’ 🎵 Spark the chronic bud real quick.
2000		N. Griffiths Grits 114: Ah [...] take ou’ me flask an spark up a spliff.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 20: Spark it up — To smoke marijuana.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 173/2: spark up v. to smoke marijuana.
2006		P. Shannon Davey Darling 112: She sat down, opened the pack and sparked up.
2007		D. McDonald Luck in the Greater West (2008) 9: Pete [...] sparked the rollie sitting on his lip.
2009		R. Milward Ten Storey Love Song 123: [S]parks up joints and gets stoned.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 352: Ted lights up [...] Once he’s settled and sparked up Ted half-orders me to call Roy.
2011		J. Cornish Attack the Block [film script] 83: PEST sparks his joint, lets out a cloud of smoke.
2012		R. Milward Kimberly’s Capital Punishment (2023) 253: [of crack cocaine] I spark up another semi-precious boulder.
2015		I. Welsh Decent Ride 3: He sparts up a fag and wonders how much of it he can suck back.
2015		L. McInerney Glorious Heresies 93: I spark up.
2015		P. Beatty Sellout (2016) 7: [I] stuff the bowl with homegrown and [...] the lady cop obligingly flicks her BIC and sparks me up.
2020		G. Krauze What They Was 115: I spark my zoot.

2. to turn on an electric or other fitting.

2013		N. Knight ‘Not Even a Mouse’ in ThugLit Nov.-Dec. [ebook] ‘[He sparked the storefront neon’.
2021		T. Pluck Boy from County Hell 203: Gruesome Gertie, the electric chair. She hadn’t sparked since 1991.

3. (US black) to fire a weapon.

2013		K. Koke ‘Lay Down Your Weapons’ 🎵 When the 9 spark mothers lose their baby boy.
2015		P. Beatty Sellout (2016) 237: Hopping through the dirt [...] hoping to spark a few rounds before the cops came.

spark v.1

SE in slang uses

In phrases

spark v.¹