space, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

space n.

[SE space of time/time n. (1)]

(US Und.) a jail sentence (often of one year).

1900		A.H. Lewis ‘Red Mike’ in Sandburrs 57: Red Mike gets ten spaces in Sing Sing.
1903		A.H. Lewis Boss 101: He got four spaces!
1917		F. Packard Adventures of Jimmie Dale (1918) II x: Husbands and fathers unfortunate enough in their clashes with the law to be doing ‘spaces’ up the river.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 177: Space. –A year in gaol or prison, and by extension, any sentence, as ‘three spaces,’ three years, etc.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 218: space A one year sentence; a one year measurement of time to serve in prison.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 202/1: Spaces. (South) Years, especially years in prison. ‘Ten spaces on the rattler (chain gang) is sad pullin’ (hard to bear).’.

space base (n.) (also space ball, ...cadet, ...dust) [base n.¹ (3)/SE cadet/dust + play on the 1980s sweet Space Dust]

(drugs) a cigar stuffed with a mixture of phencyclidine and crack cocaine.

1992		T. Williams Crackhouse 151: spacebase cigar with tobacco removed and refilled with angel dust (PCP) and crack-cocaine.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 20: Spaceball — PCP used with crack. [Ibid.] Space base [...] Space cadet [...] Space dust — Crack dipped in PCP; hollowed out cigar refilled with PCP and crack.

space cadet (n.) (also cadet, space cadette, space cowboy) [spaced (out) adj. (1) + SE cadet]

1. (drugs) any heavy user of drugs, esp. cannabis or hallucinogens, who is continually ‘flying’; also attrib.

1978		R. Price Ladies’ Man (1985) 152: After about ten minutes of nonblink space cadet paralysis I rapped Donny on the knee.
1980		A. Maupin More Tales of the City (1984) 72: They’re all space cadets, man. They ain’t listenin’.
1982		W. Safire What’s the Good Word? 217: ‘Space cadets’ [...] or merely ‘cadets’ are those who seem a little out of touch with the material world.
1994		I. Welsh ‘A Smart Cunt’ in Acid House 275: Raymie Airlie and Spud Murphy, two space cowboys of the highest order.
1998		G. Burn Happy Like Murderers 203: The lodgers and the space cadets who hung around with the lodgers were mostly too out of it to care.

2. (US, also space queen) a mad or eccentric person.

1956		W.A. Heflin US Air Force Dict. 479: Space cadet. A hot pilot; a pilot that shows off.
1973		Eble Campus Sl. Nov. 3: space cadette – someone who acts spaced out, i.e., as if he has been on drugs; out of touch with reality.
1977		J. Sayles Union Dues (1978) 312: ‘How many people you kill over there?’ ‘Didn’t count.’ ‘Didn’t count! Is that great? Comes back such a mindfuck he can’t remember. Fuckin space cowboy.’.
1982		Eble Campus Sl. Spring 8: space queen – generally a person who seems to have their head in the clouds.
1982		Frank Zappa ‘Valley Girl’ 🎵 Like my mother is like a total space cadet (Valley Girl) / She like makes me do the dishes and (Valley Girl) / CLEAN the cat box.
1997		C. Hiaasen Lucky You 66: The sort of space cadet who could misplace a $14 million lottery ticket.
2006		D. Mitchell Black Swan Green 72: My cousin Jason Taylor is such a space cadet.

3. (US campus) a misfit, an unappealing person.

1989		P. Munro Sl. U.
2004		B. Paterson Duck and Cover 154: If it weren’t for science, this kid would be a complete space cadet.

space cake (n.)

(drugs) a cake which is baked with cannabis as an extra ingredient.

1994		I. Welsh ‘Eurotrash’ Acid House 23: Swallowing a lump of spacecake.
2000		N. Griffiths Grits 9: Roger’s brought his ideas uv a spacecake (uh Spar-bought Swiss roll sliced down thuh middle with resin sprinkled intuh it).
2008		Metro (London) 5 Sept. 11: A prankster who fed cannabis-laced ‘space cakes’ to two pensioners [...] has been jailed.

space case (n.) (also space cookie, space ghost)

a crazy person.

1981		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 6: space case – person lacking common sense.
1982		A. Maupin Further Tales of the City (1984) 87: I am such a space case.
1983		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 5: space cookie – person who is out of touch.
1993		J. Mowry Six Out Seven (1994) 358: So, what the fuck is he, man? Some sorta space-case like Beamer?
1997		Eble Campus Sl. Apr. 8: space ghost – someone who is unaware of what’s going on.
2005		S. Macpherson She Woke Up Married 85: She was a total space case teaching us art. I swear she was on acid.
2010		C. Hiaasen Star Island (2011) 28: I was a peculiar gig, working as an undercover stunt double for a celebrity space case.

spaceman (n.)

(Aus. prison/US) one who is intoxicated on drugs; depending on context, an eccentric or madman.

1962		P. Crump Burn, Killer, Burn! 320: ‘Hey you there, space man – come here!’ [He] crooked a commanding finger at the junkie.
1986		W.D. Ehrhart Passing Time (1988) 6: ‘Hey, spaceman,’ said Roger.
1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Space man. A crazy or intoxicated (especially drugs) prisoner.
1999		W.D. Myers Monster 149: When he shows, he shows correct but sometime he act like a spaceman or something.

space pill (n.) (also space biscuit)

(drugs) MDMA.

2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 235: Those space pills, I want to buy them, how much?
2002		Greater Manchester Police Police and Schools Liaison Programme 🌐 Street names [...] Space Biscuits, Disco Biscuits, Pink Smarties, China White, M25’s, Triple XXX, Dove, ‘E’, Love Doves, M and M’s, MDMA, Shamrocks, X, XTC, Adam.

space ship (n.)

(drugs) a glass pipe used to smoke crack cocaine.

2001

ONDCP Street Terms 20: Space ship — Glass pipe used to smoke crack.

sergeant space (n.)

(US campus) someone who is out of touch with reality.

1983

Eble Campus Sl. Nov.

space opera (n.) [on model of soap opera n. or horse opera under horse n.]

(US) an SF or outer space drama film; also attrib.

1949		Sat. Rev. Lit. (US) 24 Dec. 7: No less than eight of this year’s crop of science-fiction novels are what is known in the trade as ‘space operas’—books built round the theme of interplanetary travel.
1950		Sat. Rev. Lit. (US) 17 June 32: He tells a better story and tells it better than any of the other three writers who have entries in the ‘space opera’ category this spring.