Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. of a man, to have an erection; of a penis, to be erect.

c.1505		R. Copland Complaynte of Them that ben To Late Maryed 11: But comynge to bed delycyous / For to holde the spere in full hande, / It plyeth and fayleth, for wyll not stonde.
1540		D. Lyndsay Satyre of Thrie Estaits II ix: Fair Damessell, how pleiss ye me? I haif na mair geir nor ye fie. Swa lang as this may steir, or stand, It fall be ay at your command.
1546		J. Heywood Proverbs II Ch. iiii: So is it an ill stake I have herd amonge, / That can not stande one yere in a hedge.
1593		Nashe Choise of Valentines (1899) 12: ‘Unhappie me,’ quoth shee, ‘and will’t not stand? Com, lett me rubb and chafe it with my hand!’.
c.1600–20		‘A Mans Yard’ in Farmer Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) I 10: It is Venus wanton staying wand, / That ne’re had feet, and yet can stand.
1607		Middleton Michaelmas Term II iii: Methinks it does me most good when I take it standing, I know not how all women’s minds are.
1608		Machin & Markham Dumbe Knight II i: She may seeme a little rough at the first; but if you stand stifly to her, shee’le fall.
1616		W. Drummond ‘Thais’ Matamorphosis’ in Chalmers Eng. Poets V 666/1: I wish you not a hundred arms nor hands, But hundred things like those With which Priapus in our garden stands.
1620–50		‘Walking in a Meadow Green’ in Farmer Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) II 14: Yett with her hand shee made it stand / soe stiffe she cold not bend it.
1647		Remonstrance of the Shee-Citizens 3: That stiff stander for the subjects Liberties Col. Lilburn .
1654		Mercurius Fumigosus 26 22–30 Nov. 223: My Husbands timbersome enough too, and hath a Trap-stick more like a Constables-staff than a watch bill, yet will do no duty at all, though I have taken it in my hand, and gave it the word of command, bid it stand.
c.1673		Dorset ‘The Debauchee’ Works of Dorset et al. (1720) n.p.: I send for my whore, when for fear of a clap, / I stand in her hand, and I spew in her lap.
1688		‘Session of Ladies’ in Wilson Court Satires of the Restoration (1976) 209: His prick to a courtesan never yet stood, / Who is fucked by her black and frigged by her valet.
1691		‘Present to a Lady’ in Ebsworth Merry Drollery Compleat (1875) 241: Though he want legs, yet he can stand, / With the least touch of your soft hand.
1700		‘The Riddle’ in Playford Pills to Purge Melancholy II 71: What thing it is will breed Delight, / That strives to stand, yet cannot go, / That feeds the Mouth that cannot bite.
1732		Ladies Delight 3: Tho’ as one shrinks and will not stand, / This rises at a Lady’s Hand.
1748		Spy on Mother Midnight I 3: It was strong, lusty, and vigorous [...] I stood in no need of a P—k in the Flesh to remind me of Mortality.
a.1749		Robertson of Struan ‘To Priapus’ Poems (1752) 134: Jove’s Bosom-Darling makes a Shift, / Kindly t’ assist him with a Lift; / Or otherways, as Matters stand, / He lends himself a helping Hand.
1750		A. Hamilton Tuesday Club in Micklus (1995) 164: Why is the king’s prick, in marking down a Sheriff like an Elephant? [...] Because it always Stands.
1762		Bridges Homer Travestie (1764) I 189: With nimble bum, or nimbler wrist, / She guides his weapon where she lift; / Nay more, a touch of her soft hand, / If fallen down, will make him stand.
1772		G. Stevens Songs Comic and Satyrical 124: Ye Fowlers who eager at Partridges aim, / Don’t mark the maim’d Covey, but mind better Game; / ’Tis Beauty’s the Sport to repay Sportsmen’s trouble, / And there may our Pointers stand stiff in the Stubble.
1786		Nunnery Amusements 14: And stiff Sir Roger stands like any steel.
1787		Harris’s List of Covent-Garden Ladies 25: Though not naturally religious, yet she concurs in one part of the liturgy of the church of England, namely ‘to strengthen such as do stand, to comfort and help the weak, and to raise up them that fall’.
1790		Banquet of Wit 14: Gentlemen [...] our yards dont seem to stand well this morning; we must have them braced up, and not keep them hanging in this manner.
1790		Banquet of Wit 86: I’ll tell you how you may please both me and my daughters, only take down your breeches and let your cock stand.
1837–8		‘The Rare Old Root’ Cuckold’s Nest 9: But it showeth its might in that grove of delight, / Betwixt two pillars stout, / Then here’s to the root, the rare old root, That stands whenever ’tis shown.
1842		Wkly Rake (NY) 9 July n.p.: The last named gentleman’s ‘girl’ [...] gave [the toast] ‘The Standing Army.— though sometimes brought down may they always be, as now admired by the ladies’ [...] ‘The gentlemen — may they always be able to stand by their ladies, as men should’.
1845		T. Rowlandson Pretty Little Games (1872) plate viii: With holy love he rolls his eyes, / Yet view his stout man Thomas rise. / ’Tis sure enough to make it stand / To have it stroked by such a hand.
c.1850		Peeping Tom (London) 3 12/2: [of the vagina] She told him her watch stood. ‘I don’t wonder that [...] when it is so near your what d’ye call it’ .
1865		‘The Brave Old Jock’ Rambler’s Flash Songster 13: A song to the jock, the brave old jock, / Who has stood so stiff and strong, / Here’s health and renown, to his crimson crown, / And his stump so stout and long. / He’s out on the town, when the sun goes down, / In every corner dark.
1889		C. Deveureux Venus in India I 34: She was within a nails breadth of the side of my prick which was now standing furiously!
1892		‘Lais Lovecock’ Bagnio Misc. 44: We [...] saved out blushes from the sight of their standing truncheons by hiding them in our gaps.
1904		Lustful Memoirs of a Young and Passionated Girl 44: Lying on his back with his arm stiffly standing he seemed pleased to have us examine and handle it.
1927		‘J.M. Hall’ Anecdota Americana I 55: As they embraced he grew horny, and pleaded with her to lift her skirt. She refused. [...] Finally, in sheer disgust he left her, saying, ‘You won’t, eh? Well, there’s no use the three of us standing here then’.
1941		in G. Legman Limerick (1953) 295: There was a young lady named Hicks / Who delighted to play with men’s pricks, / Which she would embellish / With evident relish, / And make them stand up and do tricks.
1952		in G. Legman Limerick (1953) 89: It’s one of her jests / To suck off her guests— / She hates to keep gentlemen standing.
1960		in E. Cray Erotic Muse (1992) 188: I took out a dollar and I put it in her hand, / And she says, ‘Young man, will your long pecker stand?’.
1970		E. Thompson Garden of Sand (1981) 90: He slapped his flaccid member sharply [...] ‘Stand now, bastard, if you never stand again!’.
1979		Maledicta III:1+2 25: It’s a quivering pigeon caressing your hand, / Or that sweet little pussy that makes a man stand.

2. to cause a man to become erect.

1725		View of London & Westminster (2nd part) 39: [in a list of prostitutes] Miss Stand-all [Is Visited] By Sir Richard Rump.
1840		Flash Mirror 11: Why is a lecherous mot like a mendicant? — Because she wishes you to stand her friend.