Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. very drunk; also adv. (see cite 2013).

1834		W.A. Caruthers Kentuckian in N.Y. I 217: Well [...] I wish I may be tetotally smashed in a cider-mill, if that don’t out-Cherokee old Kentuck.
1844		Stirling Obs. 19 Sept. 3/3: [from US press] Drunkeness Defined — [...] high-corned, cocked, shaved, disguised, jammed, [...] smashed.
a.1856		Burlington Sentinel in Hall (1856) 461: We give a list of a few of the various words and phrases which have been in use, at one time or another, to signify some stage of inebriation: [...] smashed.
1959		L.P. Boone ‘Gator Sl.’ AS XXXIV:2 156: They may later be [...] smashed, clobbered, in the bag, completely gone, or even flaked out; or they have tied one on.
1966		(con. 1958) R. Farina Been Down So Long (1972) 59: You’re smashed, Horralump.
1970		E. Tidyman Shaft 35: Some businessmen getting back from lunch too smashed to see.
1979		D. Maitland Breaking Out 4: I wouldn’t have been smashed out of my skull [...] if you hadn’t conned me into drinking that bloody poison.
1983		J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 41: ‘We’ve got enough quids [...] we can all get smashed to ratshit’.
1985		N. Pileggi Wiseguy (2001) 70: By two or three in the morning we’re pretty smashed.
1990		J. Wambaugh Golden Orange (1991) 325: My boy out there is smashed! I’ve got to get him to bed.
1992		Guardian 22 Feb. 31/4: You’re away down the street, [...] smashed as a rat.
1999		Guardian Guide 12–18 June 9: He walked into the first bar he came to and proceeded to get smashed.
2005		L. Redhead Rubdown [ebook] Squash [is] the only time we meet without getting smashed.
2007		W. Ellis Crooked Little Vein 55: Get the passengers smashed and they’ll slump quietly throughout the flight.
2012		A. Bergen ‘Dread Fellow Churls’ in Crime Factory: Hard Labour [ebook] I was smashed when I got around to doing the Activities thing.
2013		J. Stahl Bad Sex on Speed 127: Sometimes, when he was smashed drunk, he’d work up a good mouth-foam.
2016		Observer 20 Mar. 🌐 Isn't the ole idea of a pint after work a bit archaic now? Surely, we've moved on from the let's-get-smashed routine and can see there's more to a weekend.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 53: Marilyn [Monroe] sulked back to her trailer and got smashed.

2. infatuated with; usu. with on; also as n., smash, an infatuation.

1882		Alice Blackwell letter in Katz Gay/Lesbian Almanac (1983) 178: One thing that damaged the health of the girls seriously was ‘smashes’ – an extraordinary habit which they have of falling violently in love with each other.
1888		A.C. Gunter Mr Potter of Texas 113: My gracious! If the widdah is not smashed on the Australian!
1978		R. Charles Brother Ray 82: We were in our own little world down there, stoned silly and smashed on love.

3. intoxicated with a drug, esp. cannabis or LSD.

1961		L. Block Diet of Treacle (2008) 16: Stoned, smashed, blind, turned on and flying so high.
1969		N. Cohn Awopbop. (1970) 187: They wanted to hang around discotheques, get smashed and stay up past their bedtimes.
1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972).
1980		(con. 1940s–60s) H. Huncke ‘Whitey’ in Eve. Sun Turned Crimson (1998) 215: We never did get to Hoboken that day but we did get smashed on drugs. We smoked some excellent hashish, swallowed about four Seconal apiece and shot up three or four bags of horse.
1990		(con. 1930s–60s) H. Huncke Guilty of Everything (1998) 264: I got smashed and ended up at the Clinton Hotel.
2005		B. Hare Urban Grimshaw 21: Get smashed enough and one day you’ll disappear up your own arsehole.
2011		J. MacArthur ‘Jack Rabbit Slim’s Cellar’ in Pulp Ink [ebook] They were smashed all right. Coke? Heroin? Both?
2015		L. McInerney Glorious Heresies 32: [E]nough to make up the rent and keep her smashed.

4. very tired.

1989

P. Munro Sl. U.

5. see smashed-up adj.