Green’s Dictionary of Slang

cheap Italian wine.

1939–45		Expressions and Sayings 2NZEF (TS N.A. WAIL DA) 420/1: Purple death – Vino Rosso [DNZE].
1949		S.P. Llewellyn Journey Towards Christmas 204: The wines of the country [...] were many but our drivers recognised only two types: ‘Woof- Woof’ (white wine) and ‘Purple Death’ (red).
1959		G. Slatter Gun in My Hand 92: And we drank the purple death because there were more rivers to cross and more men to be maimed.
1965		M. Gee A Special Flower 37: When she came in she was carrying a half-gallon jar of wine. ‘Purple death,’ she grinned at her father.
1970		G. Slatter On the Ball 153: Of course there were other diversions in the Division. Looting casas and drinking plonk and Purple death has some supporters.
1978		M. Gee Plumb (2010) 359: Well Sis, I’ll have a glass of that purple death.
1984		H. Keith N.Z. Yesterdays 175: The long journey from ‘purple death’ and ‘Dally plonk’ to reputable white and red table wines had just begun.
1992		(con. WWII) D.R. Currier 50 Mission Crush 107: A large fifty-five gallon wooden barrel filled with a deep purplish wine. We called it ‘Purple Death’.
2004		(con. 1950s) T. Brooking Hist. N.Z. 139: Food remained stodgy and the wine, dubbed ‘purple death’ by those unfortunate enough to experience it, remained virtually undrinkable.
2011		P.L. Janssen Worth a Detour 34: This winery also produces the infamous Purple Death, a red wine concoction in production since 1966 and which proudly claims on the label: ‘an unusual rough-as-guts aperitif that has the distinctive bouquet of horse shit and old tram tickets’.

see drank n.

see purp n.

1. LSD.

1969		R.R. Lingeman Drugs from A to Z (1970).
1971		Current Sl. VI 9: Purple haze, n. LSD cut with methedrine.
1980		A. Maupin More Tales of the City (1984) 56: I got some Purple Haze right now.
1997		(con. 1970s) G. Pelecanos King Suckerman (1998) 264: Half a dozen hits of Purple Haze.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 17: Purple haze — LSD.
2010		(con. 1967) K. Richards Life 210: That very high-quality acid of the time, such brands as Strawberry Fields, Sunshine and Purple Haze.

2. a strong variety of cannabis.

2008		Wikipedia 🌐 Purple Haze is a term used to describe a specific vividly purple strain of cannabis.
2020		G. Krauze What They Was 92: uncle T [...] says he’s got some purple haze. I say I want two draws.
2023		Rayman & Blau Riker’s 177: Omar was like the King of Washington Heights, selling ‘purple haze’ [(authors’ note) marijuana] back in the day.

(US) a tour of hospitals, rehabilitation units, etc. by show business stars to entertain wounded GIs.

1944

E. Wilson 30 May [synd. col.] Eddie Cantor found the auditorium at St Alban’s Hospital overflowing [...] when he made that stop on the ‘Purple Heart Circuit.’ He brought the wounded boys his whole radio show.

1. amphetamines.

1961		Guardian 23 Mar. 3/1: Drinamyl, a Schedule 1 poison known in the trade as ‘purple heart’.
1962		R. Furneaux Famous Criminal Cases 177: He had been taking the drug called Drinamyl, popularly called ‘purple hearts’ .
1964		‘Charles Barrett’ Address: Kings Cross 74: She rummaged around amongst the bobby pins, lipstick, keys and hankies and produced the tiny heart-shaped, purple tablet. It was no bigger than a finger-nail, with a line down the centre so you could easily break it in half. [...] It was the first time I’d seen a Purple Heart. But I knew what it was.
1965		J.P. Carstairs Concrete Kimono 188: Do you take Purple Hearts?
1978		F. Norman Dead Butler Caper 47: She fumbled a couple of purple hearts out of a bottle and knocked them back.
1989		T. Blacker Fixx 106: We were bug-eyed and wild on purple hearts.
1997		D. Farson Never a Normal Man 301: Carried out on a stretcher after collapsing from a surfeit of gin and purple hearts.
2000		Guardian G2 11 Apr. 6: They were the drug dealers who flogged purple hearts for sixpence each.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 17: Pink hearts — Amphetamine. [...] Purple hearts — LSD; amphetamine; depressants.
2015		P. Doyle (con. 1969-1973) Big Whatever 21: She [...] brought out a pill bottle, tipped out four purple hearts.
2019		P. Baker Fabulosa 296/2: purple hearts the drug Drynamil.

2. (rarely) barbiturates.

1970		G. Scott-Heron Vulture (1996) 80: Bring about ten nickels for smoke, ten red devils or purple hearts.
1971		Chronicle-Telegram (Elyria, OH) 1 May 7: Among the common commercial names for barbiturates are [...] Luminal or ‘purple hearts.’.
1981		D.E. Miller Bk of Jargon 327: Luminal (purple hearts).
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 17: Purple hearts — LSD; amphetamine; depressants.

(US) a strong alcoholic punch containing grape juice.

1959		‘Andrew Shaw’ Campus Tramp 40: She [...] drank several glasses of a punch called Purple Jesus, an innocent-looking concoction of grape juice and grapefruit juice and vodka that was much more potent than it appeared to be.
1972		E. Shrake Strange Peaches 202: [A] drink we used to call Purple Jesus, which was one-third each of gin, grapefruit juice and grape juice.
1998		D. Jenkins Rude Behavior 268: ‘Want a sip?’ ‘What is it?’ ‘Purple Jesus. Vodka and grape juice’.

see kush n.¹

(drugs) LSD.

1971		Current Sl. V:4 18.
1981		D.E. Miller Bk of Jargon 338: purple microdots [...] purple Owsley: LSD.
1982		AS LVII:4 289: A sampling of current names for varieties of LSD would include [...] purple flats.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 126: I [...] tried selling chemical drugs — orange sunshine, mescaline, windowpane, purple microdots, quaaludes.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 17: Purple flats [...] LSD.
2001		YellowRoomNet Archive 28 Apr. 🌐 L-S-D. L-B-J took the I-R-T down to 4th Street U-S-A / When he got there, what did he see? / The youth of America on L-S-D... / purple micro dot windowpane, mellow and gentle. Perfect for my ‘trip’ to Disneyland in 1983.

(US juv.) ‘the act of taking a person's nipple between the thumb and forefinger and then twisting it around roughly’ (Wiktionary) .

2017

T. Pluck Bad Boy Boogie [ebook] Billy lunged at Jay and attempted a double purple-nurple [...] Jay wrenched Billy’s tit.

(Aus.) cheap, unpleasant port wine.

1972

J. McNeill Old Familiar Juice (1973) 55: bulla: Purple Para...Tawny Port...sting, steam, bombo,...metho...plonk!

see pork n. (1b)

(US drugs) a mixture of a codeine-based cough-syrup and the soft drink Sprite.

2004

T.I. ‘Bezzle’ 🎵 Balling in the night (man) we haulin' in the white (man) / sippin' on purple Sprite and you can call it what you like.

see purp n.

see blue-veined junket pumper under blue-veined adj.