bang up v.2
1. to imprison.
![]() | Und. and Prison Sl. 16: bang, v. [...] 2. To arrest. | |
![]() | Frying-Pan 87: They can bang me up anywhere, I don’t care, Dartmoor, Parkhurst, Durham. | |
![]() | Indep. Mag. 6 Aug. 32: They banged him up in a mental home near Milton Keynes. | |
![]() | Mystery Bay Blues 56: Mullets got banged up over a huge shipment and was still on remand in Long Bay. | |
![]() | Raiders 71: Neither of us has got a licence. They’d have banged us up straightaway. | |
![]() | Hood Rat 135: The cops had to bang up all the serious guys. | |
![]() | Dead Man’s Trousers 8: After Franco’s attempted attack on me [...] he was banged up. | |
![]() | Man-Eating Typewriter 234: ‘I’ve been done for breaking and entering. Judge says if he sees me again, he’ll bang me up’. |
2. (also bang out) to lock a prisoner in a cell.
![]() | (con. 1940s) Borstal Boy 100: The screw banged out the door. | |
![]() | Bang To Rights 152: They had [...] taken my dabs and banged me up in a peter. | |
![]() | (con. 1950s–60s) in Little Legs 25: Don’t bang me up ’cos I gets claustrophobia. | |
![]() | Brown Bread in Wengen [ebook] They banged me up without even a fucking paper. |
3. to be locked up in a cell.
![]() | Lag’s Lex. | |
![]() | Frying-Pan 7: You can watch television [...] or whatever it is you do until quarter to nine when you bang-up then and go to bed. |
4. (Aus. prison) to alert a prison officer by banging on one’s cell door.
![]() | Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Bang up. To attract attention of officers by making a noise. Usually occurs when a prisoner is locked in his cell at night and may be ill. |