Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(N.Z. prison) used as the antithesis of sense 7.

1999		D. Looser ‘Boob Jargon’ in NZEJ 13 33: not the one n. A person whose behaviour is considered to be offensive or substandard, or something unpopular, disgusting.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 130/1: one, the not the one 1 (of an object, event or person, esp. an inmate's personality or behaviour) offensive or substandard 2 (of a person) ostracised, unfavoured, despised. 3 untrue.

to attack someone, to give someone a blow or a beating.

1982

H. Beaton Outside In I i: Just look at this mess. Y’want me to deal ya one? She holds up her arm in a backhand, threateningly.

(mid-19C) to pay someone back (for an injury or slight).

1868

Sportsman 7 Nov. 4/1: Notes on News [...] This precious constable, [...] said on entering the beershop that somebody had ‘done him one, and he (the constable) should do him one.

(Aus.) to place at a disadvantage.

1991

R.G. Barrett Between the Devlin 38: ‘Hah! You’re not doing me out of job, mate. I was pissin’ off anyway.’ Acting like he’d just got one up on Les, the little caretaker continued.

1. to hit; thus give him two/three etc.

1837		A. Greene Glance at N.Y. II i: I’d like to give you one! [shaking his fist].
1845		J. Lindridge Sixteen-String Jack 83: ‘I say, my hearty,’ said she, ‘didn’t I give that old Charlie a one-er, eh?’.
1846		Thackeray Diary of C. Jeames de la Pluche in Works III (1898) 396: I gave him just one on the noas, which sent him down on the pavemint as if he’d been shot.
1850		‘Ned Buntline’ G’hals of N.Y. 197: If a feller should give yer one under the smellers, yer confidence would be nowhere!
1858		A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 141: I should give him three or four over his ’ead to let him know who I was.
1893		J. Walsh [perf. Vesta Tilley] Fairly Knocked the yankees in Chicago 🎵 Said the barman, have a coffin and the people started laughing, / But I gave him one for chaffing then he created quite a row.
1895		E. Townsend Chimmie Fadden Explains 37: De next time dat sporty Boston boy tackles me for a scrap I’ll give him one, instead of fetchin him to one.
1901		A. Binstead More Gal’s Gossip 147: Medicine-man or no medicine-man, what’s the matter with handing him one?
1906		Punch (Melbourne) 27 Sept. 4/2: Baldy passed ’im one, as fair a bump’s I ever seen.
1905		A. Binstead Mop Fair 162: An athletic young stranger [...] gave hubby one on the sub-maxillary gland and two on the bugle.
1917		F. Packard Adventures of Jimmie Dale (1918) II xi: He’s de guy dat handed her one when she was young, an’ she’s been layin’ fer him ever since!
1918		J.S. Finney 7 Aug. diary 🌐 ‘Good Luck, Digger’ and ‘Give him one for me’.
c.1921		T. Norman Penny Showman 51: Come on, then, give me one in the ear!
1930		L. Lower Here’s Luck 112: ‘Slam him!’ I shouted to George. ‘Hand him one and then run for it!’ .
1933		N. Algren ‘So Help Me’ in Texas Stories (1995) 19: He run after me and give me one on the side of the head.
1937		J. Curtis You’re in the Racket, Too 79: If that didn’t work, well, bash, he’d give him one.
1947		N. Algren Neon Wilderness (1986) 43: That’s when he gimme one — right in the teeth.
1959		E. De Roo Go, Man, Go! 141: Then he gave Dick two fast ones to the sides of his face.
1973		T. Lewis Billy Rags [ebook] Copley is on the verge of fetching me one.
1975		J. Wambaugh Choirboys (1976) 35: Give em one for me, Dean! [...] Make em bite their own balls! Then play catch-up with your stick!
1985		E. Leonard Glitz 273: I step out, I give him one. Drop him like a sack of shit.
1989		(con. 1950s–60s) in G. Tremlett Little Legs 1: She would give my father one if he came home pissed.
1999		Guardian G2 29 Dec. 5: Blind Date hunk gives bar brawler one in the kisser.

2. see also phrs. under Pertaining to the body below.

1. to hit someone, to have a fight; also in fig. use.

1908		K. McGaffey Sorrows of a Show Girl Ch. xvii: And hauling off wifey hangs one on Alla’s map.
1911		G. Bronson-Howard Enemy to Society 295: You call her a ‘dame’ again, and I’ll hang one on you right from my heel, un’stand?
1918		R. Lardner Treat ’Em Rough 16: The next time them wops trys to slip me something to eat or drink I will hang one on their jaw.
1932		(con. 1910s) J.T. Farrell Young Lonigan in Studs Lonigan (1936) 123: You hung one on ‘im? Good!
1934		J.M. Cain Postman Always Rings Twice (1985) 170: Next time I try to act smart, will you hang one on my jaw?
1947		B. Schulberg Harder They Fall (1971) 112: Copper hangs one on the guy.
1959		D. Niland Gold in the Streets (1966) 111: A shame you didn’t hang one on his detestable puss!
1968		A. Buzo Norm and Ahmed (1973) 12: He tried to hang one on me.
1976		D. Ireland Glass Canoe (1982) 42: Righto you two molls, I’d say. Stop it or I’ll hang one on you.
1983		J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 136: ‘I don’t want to have to hang one onyer, sport’.

2. to impose a task or burden.

1918

R. Lardner Treat ’Em Rough 38: They hung a new one on us this P.M. Instead of giving us upseting exercises from a quarter to 4 till a quarter after they made us all run 20 minutes without stopping.

3. (US) to have an affair.

1974

C. Loken Come Monday Morning 203: She was a helluva one to look down her nose at him for goin’ out hangin’ one on.

(US) to hit or beat someone.

1934		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 225: I didn’t have the heart to lay one on him.
1947		B. Schulberg Harder They Fall (1971) 78: The Killer [...] feinted with his left as if he were going to lay one on Toro.
1951		J.D. Salinger Catcher in the Rye (1958) 57: The cold made my nose hurt, and right under my upper lip, where old Stradlater’d laid one on me.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 810: [H]e laid one on her... punched her... that’s where the shiner came from.

a blow or punch to the head.

1879		‘’Arry on Niggers’ in Punch 15 Mar. 113/2: I should like to ha’ landed him one for his nob.
1896		J. Nash [perf. Jolly John Nash] ‘A Frenchman and an Englishman’ 🎵 So the Englishman knocked him head over heels, / And Frenchy got ‘one for his nob, nob, nob’.

(Aus.) to hit someone.

1910		L. Esson Woman Tamer in Ballades of Old Bohemia (1980) 62: I’ll pass you one to go on with, if you don’t. […] I’ll – I’ve a good mind to throttle you, d’you hear?
1914		Bulletin (Sydney) 20 Aug. 24/4: [H]e’ll pass Andy wan if he persists wid this publicity ’n’ indecoroum [sic].
1915		C.J. Dennis ‘Beef Tea’ in Songs of a Sentimental Bloke 86: ’Twus orl becors uv Ginger Mick – the cow! / (I wish’t I ’ad ’im ’ere to deal wiv now! / I’d pass ’im one, I would! ‘E ain’t no man!).

1. to surpass.

1913

Sun (Kalgoorlie, WA) 27 July 8/6: [US speaker] ‘We won’t altogether admit that [Australian girls] “put one over” Uncle Sam’s daughters’.

2. (orig. Aus.) to hit.

1915		Wodehouse Psmith Journalist (1993) 247: It’s often like that when a feller puts one in with a bit of weight behind it. [Ibid.] 303: One of de boys [...] lays for him and puts one over him wit a black-jack.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 89/1: put one on to punch.
2001		K. Waterhouse Soho 55: Alex wondered why no one ever put one on the cheeky sod. Or maybe they did. On the other hand, he was a beefy bugger.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

3. (N.Z.) to confront (without violence).

2003

McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.

to hit.

1915		Van Loan ‘Sporting Doctor’ in Taking the Count 53: Stick one on Bradys chops.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 549: Eh, Harry, give him a kick in the knackers. Stick one into Jerry.
1959		F. Norman Fings II i: So I sticks one on his hooter – makes a bloody mess of him.
1966		T. Keyes All Night Stand 39: Yer old feller will stick one on me in two seconds.
1974		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell Plays Solomon (1976) 146: I was as near to sticking one on him then as made no difference.
1975		A. Bleasdale Scully 179: I only did it so I could stick one on Rudolph.

1. to lose one’s temper, to lose emotional control.

1997		C. Newland Scholar 131: I call him over, jus’ to chat an’ dat, and Ricky . . . fuck star, Ricky went inta one.
2001		(con. 1981) A. Wheatle East of Acre Lane 33: We’re fucked, totally fucked. An’ Smiley’s gonna go into one.

2. to launch into a speech or diatribe.

2001		(con. 1981) A. Wheatle East of Acre Lane 101: After that he really went into one, telling me about St Patrick, Pope Celestine and some bishop.
2015		I. Welsh Decent Ride 80: But she ’s oaf on one but. ay. [...] All I ever wanted to do was write, she shouts.

(orig. US) to cheat, to deceive.

1899		Ade Fables in Sl. 163: There was one boy who could put it all over the other members.
1907		B. Fisher A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 16: Old Mutt slipped a couple over on the books yesterday, swelling the assets just 407 piasters.
1911		G. Bronson-Howard Enemy to Society 329: And don’t be acting as if you weren’t used to big money, or else the boy will put it all over you.
1912		B. Fisher Mutt & Jeff 29 Feb. [synd. cartoon] We put one over on the railroad alright.
1915		Van Loan ‘One-Thirty-Three – Ringside’ in Taking the Count 70: You might have known that Badger would slip one over on you somehow.
1915		E.W. Rogers ‘The Bus Conductor’ 🎵 My bus is called the Favourite, and I'm a trifle fly / If you think you'll get one over me, why just you have a try.
1917		Wodehouse ‘ At Geisenheimer’s’ in Man with Two Left Feet 116: It begins to look as if she had sort of put one over on somebody, don’t it?
1920		S. Lewis Main Street (1921) 281: Wasn’t it true that American aviators put it all over them French-men? [Ibid.] 297: I’ll show this burg something like a real house! We’ll put one over on Sam and Harry! Make folks sit up an’ take notice!
1921		N. Putnam West Broadway 147: ‘They shan’t get him [...] we’ll put one over, that’s what!’.
1923		Wodehouse Leave it to Psmith (1993) 507: Lemme tell you it’ll take someone better than a half-baked string bean like you to put one over on me.
1931		W.N. Burns One-Way Ride 71: The O’Donnells slipped over on him a few barrells of needle beer instead of the real stuff.
1936		C. Drew ‘Nosey’ in Bulletin 24 June 28/2: ‘You wouldn’t try to slip one over if our boy got sort of careless?’.
1938		G. Kersh Night and the City 93: Catch a weasel asleep, then put one over on Phil Nosseross!
1938		X. Herbert Capricornia (1939) 370: You aint gunner put nuthen over me, boy.
1944		E.S. Gardner Case of the Crooked Candle (1958) 23: You didn’t think you were really going to slip one over on me, did you, Mason?
1946		S. Jackson Indiscreet Guide to Soho 50: The sharp young men who come in to sell instruments know that they can put very little over on Barney.
1959		D. Niland Big Smoke 162: They don’t put nothing over me, Ocker thought.
1963		‘Nino Culotta’ Gone Fishin’ 172: No, matey. Me an’ Den’ve been fishin’ for years. Yer might put that over a mug like Nino. But not us.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 51: The dummy put one over on Jesus and busted Oscar.
1970		S. Naipaul Fireflies 118: You was trying to put one over on old Eustace, eh!
1989		M. Amis London Fields 374: The fast-throwing oriental had what it took to put one over on the South London drayman.
1998		G. Burn Happy Like Murderers 185: Making a monkey out of. Pulling the wool over. Putting one over on. The chisel. The blag.
1998		I. Welsh Filth 208: He thinks that he’s got one over on Bruce Robertson.
2002		J. Cameron Hell on Hoe Street 227: You put one over on me here mister. I not going to forget that.

to lose one’s temper, to have an emotional outburst.

1997

N. Barlay Curvy Lovebox 110: She’s enough wound up already an’ I know she’d really throw one.

1. to become very excited.

1932

(con. 1910s) J.T. Farrell Young Lonigan in Studs Lonigan (1936) 7: He’d almost told his sister not to get one on.

2. of a man, to have an erection.

1973

Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 2: get one on – applied to males, to become sexually aroused.

1. to have sexual intercourse, to kiss etc; thus the common male phr. I’d give her one.

1882		W.S. Gilbert Iolanthe 16: I heard the minx remark, / She’d meet him after dark / Inside St. James’s Park / And give him one!
1954		Wodehouse Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit 150: She gave the sofa another juicy one.
1959		F. Norman Fings I i: ’Ow’s the missus?... Yeah? Give her one for me will yer.
1965		L. Dunne Goodbye to The Hill (1966) 26: He went on about using your tongue when you kiss women and how you should play with them when you were going to give them one.
1966		T. Keyes All Night Stand 93: I told them to go off with their birds and give them one for me.
1974		G.F. Newman You Flash Bastard 43: ‘She’s not bad.’ He considered a picture of Gina who was stroking her undilated self. ‘Give her one, and plead guilty to it.’ The DC chuckled as though sharing some intimate secret with his governor. [Ibid.] 67: Who’s that bird downstairs? [...] Got off on the floor below. In the flat right under this, I think. Got some form, wouldn’t mind giving her one.
1976		D. Ireland Glass Canoe (1982) 74: So I say to her, ‘Give him one.’ She makes a fuss but in the end she says to me, ‘Only for you’.
1985		B. Humphries Traveller’s Tool 21: He never gives his wife one without first asking if she’s awake.
1989		M. Amis London Fields 54: Give every barmaid in Britain one: no female pubgoer on earth can resist a celebrity darter. [Ibid.] 167: [He] woke up the wife and gave her one. [Ibid.] 385: To ensure that her little Debbee didn’t give Keith one on the house.
1992		R.G. Barrett White Shoes 79: KK probably would have given her one; maybe even two.
1999		Guardian G2 29 July 3: Liza is often referred to as ‘down-to-earth’, a tabloid euphemism for ‘we’d much rather give Gail Porter one’.
2004		P. Howard PS, I Scored the Bridesmaids 76: These two rednecks who used to be giving each other one.
2007		D. McDonald Luck in the Greater West (2008) 128: You can hang if ya want. ’Cept when I’m givin’ her one.

2. see also phrs. under Pertaining to violence above.

of a woman, to be pregnant.

1966

T. Keyes All Night Stand 48: She got one up, then?

to masturbate.

2001		P. Meditzy ‘A Day In The Life Of...’ 29 Apr. 🌐 I was spending the day in the house on my own and had already ‘knocked a few out’ including a couple of ‘arm breakers’ when I decided there was more to life than ‘burping the worm’ all the time.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 169: Sonny thinks I’m just having a perv [...] ‘You gonna knock one out later?’.

to break wind; to burp.

1654		Merry Mercurie 14 July 7: What how now houswife quoth the Gentlewoman, doe you fart before me? truly forsooth mother answered the maid, I knew not that you had occasion to let one.
c.1660		‘Fryar and Boye’ in Furnivall & Hales Bishop Percy’s Folio Manuscript of Loose and Humorous Songs (1868) 15: With that shee let goe such a blast / that made the people all agast, / itt sounded through the place.
1888–94		‘Walter’ My Secret Life (1966) VI 1181: In trying to check the cough I farted rather loudly. The waiter most likely thought it was she who had let it go.
1927		‘J.M. Hall’ Anecdota Americana I 148: Suddenly the short man let one go. ‘Madam,’ said the tall man, ‘did you hear that little son-of-a-bitch fart?’.
1960		E. De Roo Big Rumble 27: He let one go right in Larry’s face. Larry didn’t bat an eye about it.
1976		D. Ireland Glass Canoe (1982) 92: He waits till she’s about to come in his office and he lets one go.
1989		P. Munro Sl. U. 121: Mary was so embarrassed—by accident she let one go in the movie theatre [...] During my psychology midterm, the guy behind me let rip.
1992		R.G. Barrett White Shoes 250: Every now and then [...] he [i.e. a dog] lets one go. I swear it would strip the husks from a field of Idaho corn.
1998		I. Welsh Filth 19: I’m about to pull up that scummy bastard for letting one go.
2001		I. Welsh Glue 58: This cunt here [...] he’s jist fuckin will lit one go.

the act of masturbation.

1965		L. Dunne Goodbye to The Hill [ebook]There wasn’t a picture house. So all they could do was drink or play pitch and toss, or take one off the wrist .
1971		T. Lewis Plender [ebook] But the next time you got a hard on it was always straight to the toilet for a quick one off the wrist.
1997		(con. 1960s) A. Frewin London Blues 67: Dirty old men giving themselves one off the wrist.
2002		Coren & Skelton Once More With Feeling (2003) 41: Charlie has no problem watching a sharply manicured lady give herself one off the wrist.
2004		P. Howard PS, I Scored the Bridesmaids 29: I don’t want her to think I was knocking one off the wrist.

of a man, to have sexual intercourse.

1976

H. Selby Jr Demon (1979) 54: Thinking about throwing a good one into this Cherry.

to order and pay for a round of drinks, esp. as excl. get them in!

1998		I. Welsh Filth 225: I stand up and think about getting them in.
2001		K. Waterhouse Soho 221: They were in the pub, with Alex getting them in.

to be drunk.

1945		G. Seaton Billy Rose’s Diamond Horseshoe [film script] The assistant stage manager hung one on last night [HDAS].
1953		L. Uris Battle Cry (1964) 82: You really hung one on.
1962		(con. WWII) J.O. Killens And Then We Heard The Thunder (1964) 396: I must’ve really hung one on. I don’t remember.
1967		R. Conot Rivers of Blood 39: Look at good old so-and-so hanging one on!
1979		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 4: hang one on – to get very drunk.

(US) to have a drink of water.

1926		Maines & Grant Wise-crack Dict.
1936		Charleston (WV) Daily Mail 9 Oct. 8/8: This is the fantastic jargon of the soda jerkers: [...] ‘One on the city’ is a request for a glass of water.
1993		I.L. Allen City in Sl. (1995) 72: Few drinking New Yorkers were content to have one on the city, as an old slang expression said of taking a glass of water.

to be drunk.

1908

‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘A Consistent Consort’ Sporting Times 13 June 1/3: Our landlord knows well, I dare-say, / That Ned won’t pay his rent when he’s had one or two, / And when sober he likewise won’t pay.

to be drunk (cf. have a few under few, a n.).

1946		S. Jackson Indiscreet Guide to Soho 60: A camera man, who has had one or two too many.
1949		J. Archibald ‘Dying to See Willie’ in Popular Detective Mar. 🌐 I figgered he had one too many an’ that was why he staggered.
1962		W.R. Burnett Widow Barony 15: ‘Did Jeff ever talk about his family much?’ asked Gerstle. ‘When he’d had a few too many—and then you couldn’t stop him’.
1982		J. Sullivan ‘No Greater Love’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] I had one too many like, and I fell down the stairs.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.

(US) a large drink.

1899–1900		C.L. Cullen Tales of the Ex-Tanks 57: I had the man bring me three high ones, to sort o’ get me around to a deep-water way of thinking.
1908		Eve. World (NY) 5 Dec. 3/3: The Bowery, from where Andy Horn passes out the high ones at five a tureen.

1. to join in with, e.g. for a drink.

1975

‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell and the Three-card Trick (1977) 121: Let’s git up the Wardorf for a taste, celebrate our big deal an’ that. Yer welcome to make one wiv us, Mister Hazell.

2. see also phrs. under General uses below.

(Aus.) a last drink, before starting a journey or leaving.

1946		Swan Exp. (Midland Jnct, WA) 2 May 4/5: The night was far spent when the secretary said: ‘One for the bitumen, boys.’ And so to bed,.
1953		Shepparton Advertiser (Vic.) 26 June 2/6: But the actual journey to respective homes was the real ordeal. What with nightcaps and ‘one for the bitumen’ it proved a 5 a.m. home arrival.
1983		R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 19: Bitumen [...] (One For The) Street.

(US) a final drink, but, rather than the trad. one for the road, this var. acknowledges the perils of drunken driving.

2003

T. Evans ‘Dropping It’ on Leicester Phoenix Motorcycle Club Archive 🌐 I remember one trip back from the Dunton Bassett Arms down the A426 Blaby by pass after the customary ‘one for the ditch’ last half when Howard Wykes had difficulty negotiating one of the traffic islands and opted for the straightest route straight over it.

1. a final drink before departure; ext. to a measure of drugs, i.e. cocaine.

1889		B. Mitford Fire Trumpet II 34: ‘Awfully sorry, old man, but I must get back to-night.’ ‘Hang it! Well, then, have another drink—just an “off-setter”,’ persisted the other.
1933		‘William Juniper’ True Drunkard’s Delight.
1938		Sun. Dispatch (London) 3 July n.p.: Publand...first round is known as ‘one’, second as ‘the other half’, third as ‘same again’, fourth as ‘a final’, fifth as ‘one for the road’, sixth as ‘a binder’, and seventh as ‘swing o’ the door’ [DSUE].
1945		(con. 1928) R. Westerby Mad in Pursuit 110: Like to come along to the flat and have one for the road?
1958		Southern & Hoffenberg Candy (1970) 48: Well, one for the road, and we’re off.
1960		H.E. Bates When the Green Woods Laugh (1985) 263: One for the road? [...] Come on, one more for the road.
1979		F. Norman Too Many Crooks Spoil the Caper 85: One for the road?
1981		A. Payne ‘You Need Hands’ in Minder [TV script] 21: Come on, Terry, one for the road.
1997		C. McPherson Weir 65: Jack, you’ll have a small one, for the road.
2001		K. Sampson Outlaws (ms.) 40: I’m wishing I’d thought to say ‘one for the road’ instead of ‘time for one more’.

2. in fig. use.

1967		R. Daley Only a Game 170: ‘There you go, Duke, boy’ Stitch. ‘And another, Duke, boy’ Stitch. [...] ‘And one for the road, Duke, boy’ Stitch.
1985		R.G. Barrett You Wouldn’t Be Dead for Quids (1989) 70: [of sexual intercourse] Come on darling [...] one for the road.
1993		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read How to Shoot Friends 46: Bobby always liked to finish a fight with one for the road — a running jump with both feet ending up on the head.

1. (Aus.) to have a drink.

1902		Bulletin (Sydney) 6 Sept. 29/1: An’ the cook an’ groom, d’ye see? / Said they’d stop one, too, with me. / And the ladies – bless their little hearts! – indulged in something soft. / Soft – something soft – an’ they sipped their wine an’ coughed, / An’ I slung ‘em each a fiver as the whisky went aloft.
1918		Aussie (France) 9 Dec. 19/2: The big Melbourne Show is in sight, and it’s going to be a ‘Dry’ Show. That means that the visitors can’t ask each other, ‘Can you stop one?’ or ‘Can you keep one down?’ or ‘What about it?’ or ‘Let’s kill a dog.’.
1924		G.H. Lawson Dict. of Aus. Words And Terms 🌐 STOP ONE—To take a drink.
1926		M. Forrest Hibiscus Heart 92: Their owners were inside the bar ‘stopping one’.
1929		K.S. Prichard Coonardoo 279: ‘Hi, Dick,’ he called, ‘could you stop one?’.
1936		A. Russell Gone Nomad 78: ‘I suppose yer could stop one?’ I could. I needed that rum.
1942		A.L. Haskell Waltzing Matilda 38: ‘Stop one?’ ‘Nmineeiffido.’.

2. see also phrs. under General uses below.

1. (UK prison) to plan and effect an escape.

1977

G.F. Newman A Prisoner’s Tale 148: I want to make one as bad as you do, Bri.

2. (UK Und.) to put together plans for a crime, esp. a robbery, and then carry out that crime.

1977

G.F. Newman Villain’s Tale 27: Names were being ticked off the shortlist [...] A couple of them had said straight out that they didn’t fancy making one, without even hearing what it was.

3. to commit a murder.

2000

J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 126: Call it manslaughter or murder, making one or serving ’um up, offing or topping, in ain’t gonna do your reputation any harm.

4. see also phrs. under Pertaining to consumption above.

(US) to shoot (dead).

1981		H. Gould Fort Apache, The Bronx 332: You did it bro [...] You put one right in that motherfucker.
2000		C. Cook Robbers (2001) 143: That’s when he raised up behind a prickly bush and put one in me.

(UK Und.) to plan a crime.

1977

G.F. Newman Villain’s Tale 51: You think I don’t know you after all this time? Don’t know how you behave? You’re putting one together all right, I can tell.

1. see stop one under stop v.

2. (Aus.) to receive a blow.

1910

Sun. Times (Perth) 20 Mar. 2nd sect. 10/6: The next English ‘captain’ who attempts to play the game on the Terrace odds-yellers is likely to ‘stop one’ at the beginning of the piece.

3. see also phrs. under Pertaining to consumption above.

(W.I.) a large, round dumpling, using a pound of flour.

1959

cited in Cassidy & LePage Dict. Jam. Eng. (1980).

£150.

1989

in G. Tremlett Little Legs 196: one-and-a-half £150.

(W.I.) intimately, on a one-to-one.

1995

Francis-Jackson Official Dancehall Dict. 38: One-away one to one; intimate: u. a wi’ check yuh one-away later.

1. (drugs) crack cocaine.

2001

ONDCP Street Terms 1: 151 — Crack Cocaine [Ibid.] 16: One-fifty-one — Crack; crack sprinkled on tobacco.

2. (also one-five-o) heroin.

1985

T.R. Houser Central Sl. 309: one-five-o Heroin.

(US) an act of (casual) sexual intercourse (with a stranger).

1986		R. Campbell In La-La Land We Trust (1999) 132: Having a one off in some hot pillow joint along the boulevard where fifty bucks bought the works.
2005		R. Cea No Lights, No Sirens 120: I knew this was not going to be a one-off, hit it, and move on.

1. a portion of oyster stew.

1886		Marion (OH) Daily Star 22 Nov. 3/3: ‘One on,’ usually brings an oyster stew.
1887		‘Dict. of Diningroom Sl.’ in Brooklyn Daily Eagle 3 July 13: ‘One,’ is an oyster stew.

2. a hamburger.

1957

Morn. Call (Allentown, PA) 24 Feb. 17/2: A hamburger may be ‘one on,’ and a hot dog a ‘special’.

(US) somethat is is equal to, on a par with.

1896

F. Hutcheson Barkeep Stories 19: ‘Talk about yer continyous teeayters — dey ain’t one-two-seven wid de snaps dat come off in dis joint!’.

to leave, to run away; often as imper. meaning go away!

1917		G. De S. Wentworth-James Man Market 240: No! You have-er-what you call ‘done one on me’ when you go away from that other room.
1998		K. Sampson Awaydays 66: ‘Come ’ead!’ I gasp, grabbing Elvis and pulling him with me. ‘Let’s do one!’ [Ibid.] 114: Do one, you weird bollix!
2004		Guardian 23 Jan. 6: There’s a better than even chance they will gratefully accept this speedy answer to their problem and do one lively.
2009		T. Black Gutted 17: A jakey was sleeping in the doorway [...] I lifted his collar, told him, ‘Do one’.
2013		K. Sampson Killing Pool 184: Neither of them laughs, I slot a grand and do one.
2021		B. May Twitter 22 June 🌐 If you think my children are taking part in this pathetic Kim Jong-un tribute act, you can absolutely do one. #idiocracy #BrexitBritain.

to be praised, to be applauded.

1908		Bulletin (Sydney) 19 Nov. 14/4: At the critical moment, however, the village wizard operated on Maclaren for caterpillar on the brain, and sorcery ‘went up one.’.
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 143/2: Go up one (Peoples’). Applause. Derived from the school class – the scholar going one nearer the top as be goes up one.

(US) to give someone an abortion.

1969

‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 262: She got pregnant. I found a croaker who made her one again.

(US) anything noteworthy, remarkable or incredible, something worthy of long-term record.

1920		T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 61: Remember that fight with Phil. Jack O’Brien? Wasn’t that one for the book!
1933		J.T. Farrell Gas-House McGinty 348: Christ, him ridin’ Reiss is one for the books.
1938		J. Weidman I Can Get It For You Wholesale 27: That was one for the books. Tootsie Maltz told me!
1943		W.R. Burnett Nobody Lives for Ever 70: ‘Why a dame with that kind of money and class is lonesome beats me. That’s one for the book!’.
1979		F. Norman Too Many Crooks Spoil the Caper 85: ‘Now that really is one for the book,’ I enthused.

a parson.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: One in ten a Parson.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1833		‘A Chaunt by Slapped-up Kate and Dubber Daff’ in Swell!!! or, Slap-Up Chaunter 47: Her tomb-stones are white as the one-in-ten wipe.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
c.1850		Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict.
1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn).
1873		Sl. Dict.

(US) a cup of black coffee.

1886		St Louis (MO) Globe-Democrat 31 Aug. 10/1: There [i.e. Omaha] a cup of coffee is ‘one on the black’ and tea ‘one on the light brown,’ and if milk is not wanted the waiter adds ‘play it open.’.
1902		O. Wister Virginian 150: ‘Coffee an’ no milk,’ said the Virginian. ‘Draw one in the dark!’ the colonel roared.
1926		Maines & Grant Wise-crack Dict. 7/2: Draw one in the dark – Draw a cup of black coffee.
1931		O.O. McIntyre New York Day by Day 12 May [synd. col.] On the Bowery ‘One in the dark’ is coffee without cream.

(US) a white coffee, a coffee with cream.

1900

Ade More Fables in Sl. (1960) 152: Feed me Everything, with one in the Light to come along.

(US) a remarkable or admirable person.

1842		Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 12 Mar. n.p.: Miss A— boasts that she can dance ‘Possum up a gum tree’ with a pitcher of milk on her head; she’s ‘one of ’em’.
1853		N.Y. Clipper 14 May 2/5: The Clipper is one of ’em. [...] The Clipper takes ’em all down.
1856		B.H. Hall College Words (rev. edn) 407: seed [...] this word is used to designate what is understood by the common cant terms ‘a youth,’; ‘case,’; ‘bird’; ‘b’hoy’; ‘one of ’em’.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 18 Apr. 20/1: There will be a great run upon old maids if the statistics recently published of the usefulness of these ladies is correct. Elizabeth Queen of England was an old maid, and, some say, a woman to be greatly admired. Miss Edgeworth was an old maid. […] Joanna Bailie, poetess and playwriter, was ‘one of ’em.’.

a remarkable or admirable person.

1919

Wodehouse ‘Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest’ in My Man Jeeves [ebook] ‘I must see more of that lad [i.e. Jeeves]. He seems to me distinctly one of the ones!’.

1. (UK Und.) aware of someone's activity.

1789		Merry Fellow’s Companion 28: ‘[S]eeing as how he was a rum kid, I was one upon his tibby’.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 70: ‘I was up to his slang and down upon his tibi,’ means a knowledge of the kids’ talk, and of his locomotions, or what he would be after, what was to be the effect thereof.
1832		J. Miller Complete Jest Book 262: He was a rum kid. I was one upon his tibby.

2. (Uk und.) in lit. or fig. debt to.

1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 33: Tibby, One on your – I owe you one.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open [as cit. 1835].

(orig. UK milit.) drunk.

1919		Surrey Mirror 15 Aug. 5/1: ‘one over the eight’Powell [...] was charged with being drunk and disorderly [...] Prisoner told the Court that he met an old uncle and had one or two drinks. He added, ‘I suppose I got one over the eight, and I suppose became little quarrelsome’.
1920		Croydon Times 4 Aug. 8/8: Thomas Gater [...] admitted having been drunk and disorderly at Whitehorse-road on Saturday night. ‘I am very sorry, sir,’ said defendant. ‘I had one over the eight!’.
1925		(con. WWI) Fraser & Gibbons Soldier and Sailor Words 88: Eight, One Over The: One drink too many. Slightly intoxicated.
1938		W. Watson Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day (2000) 127: ‘Well,’ said Miss LaFosse cheerfully, ‘you have had one over the eight.’.
1941		G.D.H. & M. Cole Counter-point Murder 12: Two over the eight last night, if you ask me.
1941		A. Gurney Bluey & Curley 28 Apr. [synd. cartoon strip] I ain’t feelin’ too good this mornin’ sir. I had one over the eight last nght!!
1957		J. Braine Room at the Top (1959) 191: Roy, a quiet type normally, seemed to become, as Charles said, all Id when he’d had one over the eight.
1965		F.J. Hardy Yarns of Billy Borker 80: Oi took one over the noine and woke up with a mother and a father of a hangover.
1970		H.E. Bates A Little of What You Fancy (1985) 522: Hair of the dog was Pop’s favourite remedy when you’d had one or two over the eight.
2000		N. Barlay Crumple Zone 212: Look dears, I may be one over —.

(orig. US) an outlaw bike rider.

1966		H.S. Thompson Hell’s Angels (1967) 14: We’re the one percenters, man – the one percent that don’t fit and don’t care.
1977		S. Kernochan Dry Hustle 188: [This] partner of mine cut one of the Angel’s heads almost off, he was a Satan one-percenter.
1993		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read How to Shoot Friends 97: When the Outlaws say they are ‘one percenters’ it means there is a 99 per cent chance they will spill their guts in a police station.
2001		‘Randy Everhard’ Tattoo of a Naked Lady 80: The Sons [of Satan] were one-percenters – motorcycle outlaws, the worst.
2021		S.A. Crosby Razorblade Tears 111: ‘They one-percenters. Got chapters all up and down the East Coast’.
2023		D. Whish-Wilson I Am Already Dead 203: ‘[T]he Junkyard Dogs. Your boss was involved with the crushing of that particular one-percenter outfit, no?’.