Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (gambling) the (losing) point of two in craps dice.

1919		C.E. Piesbergen Overseas with an Aero Squadron 56: ‘Whatta ’y’ shoot?’ [...] ‘Snake-eyes.’.
1924		L.A. Times 21 Jan. 20/3: Astrado made a cast. He threw snake eyes, or so Ramos charged.
1932		J.L. Kuethe ‘Johns Hopkins Jargon’ in AS VII:5 331: The eleven possible points in crap shooting are: 2—snake eyes — crap.
1937		Wash. Post 3 Oct. B8/6: Two is ‘Snake-eyes,’ and four is ‘Little Joe.’.
1945		R.L. Bellem ‘Poison Payoff’ Hollywood Detective Dec. 🌐 ‘So you won’t take a thousand dollars to forget the whole thing?’ [...] ‘Boosting the ante, eh? Sorry, toots. You threw snake-eyes.’.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 200/1: Snake-eyes. (Scattered rural areas) A double-ace in craps; hence, hard luck. […].
1957		C. Himes Imabelle 22: Abie-the-Jew bet the dice to win or lose, barring box cars and snake-eyes.
1958		Hughes & Bontemps Book of Negro Folklore 202: 2 – Snake Eyes.
1965		C. Himes Rage in Harlem (1969) 23: [as 1957].
1979		(con. c.1970) G. Hasford Short Timers (1985) 59: Number one! Snake eyes!
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 123: Swastikas, Grim Reaper, dice showing snake eyes.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 155: Cur-ti crapped out. Leroy rolled snake eyes.
2005		Olson & Codrescu Myth of America 86: A poetry reading, a commentary, is a risk, a dice throw, and it can always come up snake eyes, or sevens.

2. thus in fig. use, bad luck; disappointment.

1937		E. Anderson Thieves Like Us (1999) 7: You can’t throw snake-eyes all day.
1943		R.L. Bellem ‘Dead Man’s Shakedown’ in Dan Turner Detective Mar. 🌐 Then I had a go at Waldring himself; and again I threw snake-eyes. He had no more cannon than the blonde had.
1945		R.L. Bellem ‘Poison Payoff’ Hollywood Detective Dec. 🌐 ‘So you won’t take a thousand dollars to forget the whole thing?’ [...] ‘Boosting the ante, eh? Sorry, toots. You threw snake-eyes.’.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 200/1: Snake-eyes. (Scattered rural areas) A double-ace in craps; hence, hard luck. [Ibid.] 222/2: Throw snake-eyes. [...] To run into ill-luck.
1950		R.L. Bellem ‘Blind Man’s Fluff’ in Thrilling Detective: Feb. 🌐 I wasted ten minutes, threw nothing but snake-eyes and headed back downstairs.
1960		(con. 1930s) R. Barber Night They Raided Minsky’s (1968) 271: Bite your tongue. Joe Schrank don’t come up snake eyes twice in one day.
1979		F. Norman Too Many Crooks Spoil the Caper 126: It was a good try, but as always I’d rolled snake eyes.
1987		(con. 1967) Bunch & Cole Reckoning for Kings (1989) 63: ‘You’re Second Battalion, right? One and one makes one snake eyes. Eleventh infantry, right? One and one ... double snake eyes.’ [...] ‘Second of the Eleventh’s gotta be the hardest-luck grunts in Nam.’.
1999		‘Master Pimp’ Pimp’s Rap 165: Well, chump-ass nigger, ‘What’s it gonna be, snake eyes or seven eleven?’.
2022		I. Fitzgerald Dirtbag, Massachusetts 201: I was coming up conversational snake eyes.

3. (bingo) number eleven.

2002

(con. 1960s) M. McGrath Silvertown 223: The Walters fall to their cards, frantically marking the numbers as they’re called: two fat ladies, eighty-eight, snake eyes, eleven.