alky, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

alky n.

also alchie, alchy, alki, alkie

[abbr. + sfx -y]

(US)

1. alcohol.

c.1840		‘The Boys of Cold Water’ in Rosebud Songster q. in Jackson Early Songs of Uncle Sam 226: Oh! the boys of cold water are stout hearty blades / They drink not of Alchy, but from the cool shades.
1844		Akron (OH) Buzzard 25 June 3/1: After strong devotional homage before the throne of old King Alchy, [he] is in the habit of manifesting his affection for his family by severely beating them [DA].
1858		‘California Ball’ in Lingenfelter et al. Songs of the Amer. West (1968) 95: ‘Old Alky’ makes their bowels yearn, / They stagger round and fall.
1894		L.A. Herald 19 Nov. 8/3: His jocker [...] spends the proceeds of the kid for alchy (alcohol).
1897		J. London ‘The Road’ in Hendricks & Shepherd Jack London Reports (1970) 311–21: ‘Alki’ is the argot for alcohol.
1907		Dly Arizona Silver Belt (Gila Co., AZ) 8 Nov. 5/1: All dis talk about is drinkin’ wood alky is woozy language. We was drinkin’ straight alky, and there was no lumber about it.
1916		J. London ‘The Princess’ Complete Short Stories (1993) III 2463: From within the bundle he brought to light a twelve-ounce bottle of alki.
1921		P. & T. Casey Gay-cat 187: Alky! [...] Gee, I’ve been thirstin’ fur a drink o’ alky ever since I hit these horstile parts.
1927		C. Samolar ‘Argot of the Vagabond’ in AS II:9 389: Alki and hall come from alcohol and explain themselves.
1929		Sun (Sydney) 30 Jan. 3/3: Least affected to date by the reform wave are the beer, ‘alky’ and whisky racketeers.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 234: He [...] shared the camp fire with us, and produced a bottle of ‘alki’ as his contribution.
1933		‘Goat’ Laven Rough Stuff 148: We figured we’d drive our car right into the garage and transfer the ‘alkie’ from his car into ours.
1938		D. Runyon ‘Neat Strip’ Runyon on Broadway (1954) 573: The beer is not real, and by no means nice, being all needled up with alky.
1945		W. Winchell 9 Apr. [synd. col.] The oxygen, it appears, destroys the toxicity of the alky in your system.
1949		Albany Advertiser (WA) 26 Sept. 3/3: To make it undrinkable it is treated with an adulterant, but the Yanks found that this could be removed by filtering the ‘alky’ as they called it, through a loaf of bread.
1953		‘John Eagle’ Hoodlums (2021) 38: [used of Sterno, a form of denatured alcohol] [H]uddled together to squeeze the alky from the Sterno cans.
1955		‘Blackie’ Audett Rap Sheet 57: I gave the railroader two of the cans of alky.
1967		K. Kolb Getting Straight 7: The drink was grapefruit juice blended half and half with lab alky.
1970		L. Sanders Anderson Tapes 96: ‘[H]e was driving alky for Solly Benedict down there’.
1991		O.D. Brooks Legs 43: Christ almighty! That little Scandinavian never said it was pure alky. It must be over a hundred-sixty proof.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1928		Hecht & MacArthur Front Page Act III: Say, with that alky rap and the bank job and the big blow on my hip! I should stick around asking questions from a lot of cops!
1931		C.B. Yorke ‘Mob Murder’ in Gangland Stories Mar. 🌐 I’m a big shot now — boss my own alky racket.
1953		S. Bellow Augie March (1996) 82: There isn’t a single bootleg alky truck that goes a mile without being convoyed by a squad car.

3. (also alci) an alcoholic, a drunk.

1940		Chicago Daily News 30 Apr. in Alcoholics Anonymous 1939–1942 n.p.: ‘Alkies,’ they called themselves, or ‘rummies.’.
1950		Argus (Melbourne) 2 Feb. 7/1: [headline] Alcoholics anonymous gets a new member, by ‘Alkie’.
1954		Mirror (Perth) 8 May 1/2: Those who conduct sly-grog shanties apparently don’t care two hoots about [...] the health of the poor devils — the ‘alkies’.
1956		N. Algren Walk on the Wild Side 72: Mama went on the wagon to show them she meant it when she said she wanted me back. Got a crowd of ex-alkies to back her so I had to go.
1961		J. Kirkwood There Must Be a Pony! 174: Your mother’s an alky.
1974		M. Cherry On High Steel 135: You know he’s an alky.
1981		A. Weller Day of the Dog 39: Biggest alky in Guildford, my Dad is.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 42: Usta be a firebreathin alkie my own damn self.
1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Alci. A contraction of alcoholic.
2000		N. Griffiths Grits 314: Fuckin alkies, ther the werst fuckin addicts uv them all.
2003		Eble Campus Sl. Nov. 1: alkie – alcoholic.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 9: alchie Alcoholic, often the outdoor variety.
2009		T. Black Gutted 172: You’re just a washed-up fucking alkie.
2013		T. Robinson Hard Bounce [ebook] ‘You know what i got for you, alkie?’.
2016		D. Whish-Wilson Old Scores [ebook] [He] liked to maintain the charge and not get buried under sleep, like most spirit alkies he knew.
2019		M. Herron Joe Country [ebook] ‘You alkies can be devious’.
2020		G. Armstrong Young Team 12: We see an eld alky stoatin doon the lane in boggin jeans.

4. attrib. use of sense 3.

1934		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 272: The Alky Squad is here.
1988		J. Healy Grass Arena (1990) 83: He is even more surprised to hear how I’m up with the others on the alky wing.
1998		P. Doyle (con. late 1950s) Amaze Your Friends (2019) 160: I rang the alky hospital.

In derivatives

alkied (adj.) (also alkyed)

drunk.

1939		Howsley Argot: Dict. of Und. Sl. 5: alkeid, alkied, alkeyed – drunk [...] on alcohol or wood alcohol.
1942		Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Sl.
1970		‘Red’ Rudensky Gonif 88: It was big, loud and rough and there must have been a dozen cops getting alkyed.

In compounds

alkie’s itch (n.)

(Aus./US) the twitching and nervousness that are seen in an advanced alcoholic.

1942		Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Sl.
1955		‘No. 35’ Argot in G. Simes DAUS (1993).

alky-cooker (n.) [SE cooker, a cook/a stove]

1. (US) one who is employed in the illegal distillation of ‘moonshine’ whisky.

1928		Commercial Law League Jrnl XXXIII 729/1: We momentarily stop our work to read with intense interest about some obscure ‘alky cooker’ in Chicago who was shot in an alley.
1931		(con. 1920s) F.L. Allen Only Yesterday 269: Still the rum-running launch slipped across the river, the alky-cooker's hidden apparatus poured forth alcohol, entrepreneurs of the contraband liquor industry put one another ‘on the spot,’ ‘typewriters’ rattled in the Chicago streets.
1948		J. Evans Halo For Satan (1949) 83: Louie Antuni, referred to also as the Big Guy [...] The king of alky-cookers.
1952		(con. 1920s) E. Reid Mafia ix: The demand for the dirty stuff was so great that the alky cookers became an army, every little store became an alky dispensary.
1959		H. Wish Society and Thought in America n.p.: Bodyguards for the rival manufacturers and distributors of illicit gin and beer [...]protected the small ‘alky cookers’ for a price.

2. (US) an illegal still.

1933		Ersine Und. and Prison Sl.
1960		(con. 1950-1960) R.A. Freeman Dict. Inmate Sl. (Walla Walla, WA) 2: Alky cooker – a distilling apparatus [...] a still.

In phrases

alky up (v.)

(US tramp) to drink, to get drunk.

1930

G. Milburn ‘The Dealer Gets It All’ in Hobo’s Hornbook 149: Yes, I’ve alkyeed up in jungles, and I’ve flopped in new mown hay.