Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(a) (mid-17C, 1930s+, also bunion) in pl. the testicles.

1661		Mercurius Democritus 22 May 5: The other [girl] long’d for a Leek, and the other laying down his Lass, gave her a Leek that fill’d her Belly, and two raw Onions very large and fair.
1971		K. Gilbert Cherry Pickers III ii: (Grabs at toodle’s crotch) How’s ya bunions? [...] How’s yer knackers?
1987		(con. 1930s) L. Redmond Emerald Square 296: Would I ever have the money to go to France before the war started, or would I die a virgin boy, fighting for his onions in this sexual desert.
2000		M. Manning Get Your Cock Out 64: The poor bastard ended up in hospital after nearly losing his onions on one of the monitors.

(b) (UK Und.) a watch-seal; thus bunch of onions n., a number of seals worn on one ring; onion hunter n., one who steals such seals.

1811		Lex. Balatronicum n.p.: Onion. A seal. Onion hunters, a class of young thieves who are on the look out for gentlemen who wear their seals suspended on a ribbon, which they cut, and thus secure the seals or other trinkets suspended to the watch.
1822		D. Carey Life in Paris 101: ‘It is enough for me,’ replied the other, ‘that I slogger the onions and the ticker once more.’.
1829		‘Pickpocket’s Chaunt’ (trans. of ‘En roulant de vergne en vergne’ in Vidocq 1829) IV 261: Then his ticker I set a-going, [...] And his onions, chain, and key.
1834		(con. 1737–9) W.H. Ainsworth Rookwood (1857) 247: A handsome gold repeater [...] with a monstrous bunch of onions (anglicé, seals) depending from its massive chain.
1840		Flash Mirror 7: [A] light-coloured neck scrag, gold chin prop, turnip and bunch of onions, pinched-in pin covers and Wellington mud-rakers .
c.1850		Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict. n.p.: Flashing a bunch of onions sporting a gold chain and seals.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 55: Onions, watch seals.
1901		Argus (Melbourne) 20 Sept. 6/4: The red ’un is a gold watch, the white ’un only silver, while a gold chain is a red jerry, and the seals danglers or onions.
1927		(con. 1835–40) P. Herring Bold Bendigo 210: The two ruffians set upon him and robbed him of his purse and ‘string of onions,’ by which elegant phraseology, he meant his watch and seals.

(c) the head, thus the individual who has it.

1824		Pierce Egan’s Life in London 21 Nov. 341/2: ‘Tom lives in hope to top Mat's bean yet, and tauk to his onion to boot.’ In fact, much wrangling and slaunt took place between the parties.
1890		Sporting Times 8 Feb. 6/1: It affec’s diff’rent people in diff’rent ways. Now, with me, I allus feel as if my bloomin’ onion was ’arf off, with a taste in my mouth as though I’d been a suckin’ pennies all night.
1910		Magnet 27 Aug. 1: Are you your silly onion?
1917		N.Z. Truth 14 Apr. n.p.: Now, some blokes dey losa da onion / On looksa da sweet country lass.
1925		Wodehouse Carry on, Jeeves 167: I lifted the old onion and her eyes looked straight into mine.
1933		J. Spenser Limey 90: I gotta hand it to ya, Jack. You sure kept the old onion workin’.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1998		(con. 1986) G. Pelecanos Sweet Forever 152: Girl had a nice onion on her, too.
2002		J. Lerner You Got Nothing Coming 56: Keep up with that asideways shit, O.G., and I’ll just reach up and [...] peel your fucking onion.

(d) (US Und.) a watch or clock.

1924		in N.Y. Times 3 Aug. viii 16: Watch – thimble, kettle, turnip, souper, onion, a red or white, according to its metal [HDAS].
1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks n.p.: Onion, the clock (prison).
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

(e) in pl., the eyes.

1943

R. Llewellyn None But the Lonely Heart 83: Old Nick was sweating angry, he was. His old onions was washing about like a couple of loose ball bearings.

(f) a ball.

1956

Mad mag. Nov.–Dec. 38: The crowd roared as Fenwick snafued the onion.

(g) (US campus) the buttocks; thus generic for sexual intercourse.

1995		G. Pelecanos Down by the River 70: Barry’s younger brother said, ‘Maybe he could find Roger some onion [...] ‘Cause Roger ain’t had none in a long time’.
2002		G. Pelecanos Hell to Pay 94: You black guys do love the onion.

(a) (US) an fool; a term of general abuse.

1894		F.P. Dunne in Schaaf Mr Dooley’s Chicago (1977) 110: Casey’d call on Doolan f’r to shtand his ground an’ destroy th’ polis – ‘th’ onions iv th’ monnopolists,’ he called them.
1904		G.V. Hobart Jim Hickey 20: The lobster! Oh, oh ! what an onion that slob is!
1907		‘Hugh McHugh’ Beat It 63: He is the original onion collector, and he spends his waking moments falling for dead ones.
1916		O.O. McIntyre New York Day by Day 28 Jan. [synd. col.] The male onion popularly known as ‘the life of the party’.
1925		Wodehouse Carry on, Jeeves 231: I am feeling more or less of an onion.
1934		F. Nebel ‘Take It and Like It’ in Ruhm Hard-Boiled Detective (1977) 103: I’m going to hate to prosecute that onion for murder. Yes, I am, I am!
1944		P. Kendall Dict. Service Sl. n.p.: an onion . . . a dope or a wet blanket.

(b) (US Und.) of a crime, a failure.

1933

Ersine Und. and Prison Sl.

(a) (US) $1.

1905		G.W. Peck Peck’s Bad Boy Abroad 66: Dad was just going to get his roll out and peel off some more onion.
1928		E. O’Neill letter 22 Apr. in Bogard & Bryer Sel. Letters (1988) 293: But to get back to our onions [...] I’m not subsidizing husbands for her.
1936		J.T. Farrell World I Never Made 118: ‘Has he got plenty of onions in the bank?’ ‘He’s a millionaire.’.
1952		L. Hughes Laughing to Keep from Crying 63: Autumn in Reno! Dog-bite my onions! Stacks of shining silver dollars on the tables.

(b) (US campus) $100.

1988

Eble Campus Sl. Oct. 7: onion – $100.