Green’s Dictionary of Slang

tab n.3

[abbr. SE table; see Asbury, Sucker’s Progress (1938) 14–15: An extraordinary number of the terms, technical and otherwise, which were employed by Faro players in the palmy days of the game have passed into the language [...] and are commonly used by millions who never heard of Faro. Here are some of them: [...] Tabs – Printed sheets on which the players noted the cards as they won or lost. Keeping tabs – Making this record]

1. (US) the bill, credit, an IOU.

W.T. Hall Turnover Club 19: And they knocked off and filed out into the deserted streets, while the Purveyor figured up the ‘tabs’ [DA].
[US]F. Hutchison Philosophy of Johnny the Gent 61: ‘[S]tep in there [i.e. a bar] some day along in the middle of the afternoon an’ take a front seat an’ a tab an’ throw your field glasses on the bunch’.
[US]A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks n.p.: Tab, credit requested and granted.
[US]J.H. O’Hara Pal Joey 106: Pay that little tab as he is getting nasty.
[US]W.R. Burnett Asphalt Jungle in Four Novels (1984) 131: ‘It’s about the tab.’ [...] ‘What are you in for?’ ‘Twenty-three hundred and some.’.
[US]B. Schulberg On the Waterfront (1964) 8: All we do is pay the tab, the extra 6 or 7 per cent passed on to the consumer.
[US]A. James America’s Homosexual Underground 136: He knew enough restaurant owners who would accept his tab.
[US](con. 1960s) R. Price Wanderers 210: You wanna see Glassman tomorrow, tell ’im to put it on my tab.
[US]J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 158: Hot Rod collects their checks each month, subtracts their bar tab and rent.
[Can](con. 1920s) O.D. Brooks Legs 182: Sorry, George, you’re cut off until I see the color of your money. Your tab’s getting pretty big.
[UK]Indep. Mag. 17 July 18: The loudmouthed Jerks In Suits who demand instant attention and then leave a £1 tip on a £150 tab.
[UK]Indep. Rev. 13 Mar. 1: ‘Put it on my tab,’ he tells the landlord.
[US]T. Robinson Hard Bounce [ebook] I paid the tab.

2. fig. use of sense 1, used to imply that an action, good or bad, will be paid for later.

[US]E. Torres Carlito’s Way 42: If I’m dressing out of Leighton’s and driving Caddies and Lincolns, there got to be a tab sometime.
[UK]M. Amis London Fields 262: I’m clearly meant to take the blame for this. For this disaster also I am obliged to pocket the tab.
[UK]B. Hare Urban Grimshaw 280: The smackheads were also being called upon to pay their tab.

3. (US prison) letters passed between inmates; a letter smuggled out of prison.

[US]G. Milburn ‘Convicts’ Jargon’ in AS VI:6 441: tab, n. A letter smuggled out of prison.
[US]Goldin et al. DAUL 217/1: Tab, n. 1. (P) A written note passed from one convict to another; an informer’s note to officials. 2. Any note or letter. 3. (Rare) An uncensored letter smuggled in or out of prison.

In compounds

tab action (n.) (also tab issue) [action n. (2)/SE issue]

(US black) a line of credit at a bar or any other type of business.

[US]D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam News 9 Oct. 20: Shortly after, the skull came up on the tab action, and gassed the scribe that he was beat for some beater.
[US]D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 16: I’ve been on a tab issue for many a dim and bright .

In phrases

keep tabs (on) (v.) (also keep (a) tab on)

(orig. US) to keep under surveillance, to take note of.

Monthly Republican 15 Feb. n.p.: [As] the conductor [...] did not keep tab on the party Maloney travelled free [DA].
[US]W.J. Kountz Billy Baxter’s Letters 35: I have so many troubles of my own getting home from any place at all that I haven’t time to keep tab on other people.
[US]W.M. Raine Brand Blotters (1912) 32: Kept tab on me, did you?
[US]Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Sl. 78: Keep tabs and see that he don’t go south with the dough.
[US]‘A-No. 1’ From Coast to Coast with Jack London 59–60: Old Strikes still lingered by the fence, keeping an alert tab on our actions.
[US]S. Lewis Babbitt (1974) 99: You better start a rapidwhiz system to keep tabs as to how fast you’ll buzz from low smoke spirits to tip-top-high.
[UK]Wodehouse Leave it to Psmith (1993) 459: I have little leisure to keep tab on the domestic staff.
[US]D. Runyon ‘Hold ’Em, Yale!’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 158: I have these private detectives keeping tab on him.
[UK]D.L. Sayers Nine Tailors (1984) 119: They kept tabs on him till the beginning of September. Then he disappeared.
[US]D. Maurer Big Con 136: The ‘tailers’ who keep tab on the mark.
[US]‘F. Bonnamy’ A Rope of Sand (1947) 54: This is a hell of a place to keep tabs on.
[US]W.R. Burnett Little Men, Big World 78: The Mover’s keeping pretty good tabs and if they buy in again there will be real trouble.
[US]J. Thompson Savage Night (1991) 19: He’d just keep tabs on me.
[US] in T.I. Rubin Sweet Daddy 55: Couldn’t keep a tab on her. She’d come and go.
[US]H.S. Thompson Hell’s Angels (1967) 45: Somebody had to keep tabs on the national pulse.
[UK]P. Fordham Inside the Und. 69: It is necessary [...] to keep tabs on new associates.
[Aus]M. Bail Holden’s Performance (1989) 291: The Colonel had us keeping tabs on you for months.
[UK]Observer 7 Nov. 7: Modern communications are allowing busy mums and dads [...] to keep tabs on their kids.
[US]A.N. LeBlanc Random Family 108: They had been keeping tabs on her.
[US] N. Flexner Disassembled Man [ebook] Don Johnson left me alone, although i know for a fact he was keeping tabs on me.
[US]C. Stella Rough Riders 13: The man is getting antsy. Trying to keep tabs all of a sudden.
[Ire]L. McInerney Glorious Heresies 154: [T]hey thought this was the best way of keeping tabs on me.
[UK]J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 850: They listen in, reading my mails. They’ll be reading this. [...] They even keep tabs on my friends.
pick up the tab (v.) (also pick up the check)(orig. US)

1. to pay a bill, usu. in a restaurant; the implication is one of treating one’s fellow eaters.

[[US]Ade ‘The New Fable of the Speedy Sprite’ in Ade’s Fables 25: The usual Battle as to which should pick up the Check and the same old Compromise. A Dutch Treat with Waitress trying to spread it four ways].
[US]W. Winchell ‘On Broadway’ 21 Nov. [synd. col.] Vincent Bendix [...] ran into his ex-wife and her new groom [...] at Club 18 the other night, and picked up the tab.
[UK]G. Lambert Inside Daisy Clover (1966) 203: Some night-club’s offered to pick up my tab if I’ll sing every night.
[US]R. Daley Prince of the City 172: This is a sixty-dollar dinner for two [...] It is Nunziata who picks up the check.
[US](con. 1970) J.M. Del Vecchio 13th Valley (1983) 79: L-T’s pickin up the tab [...] with his own bread.
[US]D. Woodrell Muscle for the Wing 83: Wanda [...] gestured for another [beer] since she knew who’d pick up the tab.
[US]S. Morgan Homeboy 51: When the money ran out, Father Aloysius picked up the tab.
[UK]Guardian G2 31 Jan. 8: If their sponsored litigant loses, they’ll have to pick up the legal tab.
[Aus]R.G. Barrett Leaving Bondi (2013) [ebook] Daddy was picking up the tab.
[US]J. Stahl I, Fatty 71: I picked up every tab. Bought everyone presents.
[US]C. Stella Rough Riders 19: He stood up and pointed to the table. ‘You mind picking up the tab on this?’.
[US]D. Winslow Border [ebook] ‘I’m picking up your tab’.

2. to take responsibility, to accept the consequences, esp. if financial.

Chicago Sun.Times 24 Jan. 27/2: Who’s going to pick up the tab when the government is on relief? [DA].
[US]M. Spillane Return of the Hood 51: You’re picking up a tab for me.
T. Evans No More Excuses 89: When you run from the will of God, you get to pick up the tab. [...] The bad news about rebelling against Him is that in your rebellion, you pick up the tab.
run a tab (v.)

1. to offer credit, esp. in the context of a period of drinking in a bar.

[US]Kramer & Karr Teen-Age Gangs 156: ‘Money John, you got a coke you could trust me for?’ [...] Money John shook his head. ‘Because I don’t have the usual signs “No Credit” on the wall you keep thinking I run tabs here.’.
T. McIntyre Wolfe in Sheep’s Clothing 180: ‘I say, would you like me to run a tab?’ ‘Oh, sure, a tab. Yes, a tab’ll be fine.’ ‘Meeting somebody?’ the bartender inquired.
P.F. McManus Avalanche 41: But run a tab for me and my men. They’ll let you know who they are.

2. to start or maintain a line of credit, usu. in a bar.

in R. Russell Bird Lives 17: My waiter tells me you’ve run a tab and haven’t signed anything.
[US]N.Y. Mag. 2 May 43: ‘Gamblin’ Jack’ Richardson, [...] if memory serves, [...] was the first person allowed to run a tab there.
W.C. Dietz Drifter’s Run 60: ‘You wanta pay or run a tab?’ ‘I think I’ll run a tab,’ Cap replied.