Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US gambling) to cheat.

1873		J. O’Connor Wanderings of a Vagabond 231: He entertained his customers with suppers of the ‘bird’ style, and ‘braced’ them to pay the expense.
1879		A. Pinkerton Reminiscences 198: He had once been a station-agent of some railroad in Minnesota [...] being ‘braced’ and beaten out of his own and considerable of the company’s funds.

2. (US Und.) to corrupt, to bribe; to intimidate; thus braced adj., corrupted.

1883		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 3 Nov. 6/1: ‘You think he could be braced? ’ [...] ‘Oh! come off!’ sneered the gallant officer.
1889		Farmer Americanisms.
1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks 13/1: Braced jury, professional jurors who are instructed by crooked politicians or bosses to acquit or convict.

3. (US) to demand something, esp. money, from someone.

1880		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 23 Oct. 10/3: [headline] How a Bummer was Cured of ‘Bracing’.
1887		Daily Trib. (Bismarck, N.D.) 23 Oct. 4/1: When trying to get trusted for a drink a man is ‘bracing the bar,’ ‘singing a song,’ ‘stifling his jag’ or ‘sparring.’.
1893		St Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) 3 Dec. 17/7: ‘To brace’ is to borrow.
1901		J. Flynt World of Graft 63: [They] said that they were glad to see me and immediately ‘braced’ me for a loan.
1916		‘A-No. 1’ Snare of the Road 39: It required quite an effort on my part to restrain myself from harkening to the dictates of temptation which urged me to [...] bodly [sic] brace the cooks for a lunch.
1926		J. Tully Jarnegan (1928) 65: I’m goin’ to brace the first guy that passes.
1940		J.H. O’Hara Pal Joey 66: This pan handler came up to me and braced me.
1952		I, Mobster 43: I’d even had it in mind to brace him for enough to start me off on my own.
1960		C. Himes Big Gold Dream 62: Rufus drove up / mugger braced him in car / pulled him / put knife on throat.
1975		H. Ellison Deadly Streets (1983) 14: I know if I hadn’t spoken up [...] he would have braced me with a knife.
1999		J. Ridley Everybody Smokes in Hell 194: Barely, Paris remembered bracing Chad Bayless for a million bucks.

4. to question, usu. of police.

1901		J. Flynt World of Graft 24: Times was gettin’ tough when they wouldn’t give an old-timer like me a chance to catch his breath before they braced ’im.
1914		R. Lardner You Know Me Al (1984) 105: I was just going to brace him about the California trip when he got away and went back to the meeting.
1917		R. Lardner ‘The Water Cure’ in Gullible’s Travels 203: We walked up to one o’ the most flourishin’ beards and I braced him. ‘Who owns this joint?’ I says.
1928		Eve. Teleg (Dundee) 14 Nov. 8/2: Suppose when he spoke to him, the young fellow pasted him one [...] can’t brace him here, he decided.
1936		R. Chandler ‘Goldfish’ in Red Wind (1946) 149: I’d [...] listen to him talking to himself. That way I got enough to brace him.
1952		W.R. Burnett Little Men, Big World 224: In fact, word of it had got to the D.A. and the D.A. had braced Radabaugh about it. Getting no satisfactory answers, the D.A. had thrown Radabaugh out of his job.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 128: Ralston is the key to this case, I’m sure of that. When we get back I’m going to brace him.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 150: He’d already have braced the shvartze and billed us for zipping his squeezy toy.
2001		N. Green Shooting Dr. Jack (2002) 43: Stoney talked to Tommy Bagadonuts about Tuco’s situation, and Tommy B braced Tuco.
2008		R. Price Lush Life 316: ‘Why am I bracing you?’ ‘’Cause [...] I’m a plátano from the PJs’.
2013		J. Porter ‘One More Day Can’t Hurt’ in ThugLit Apr. [ebook] ‘Braced me outside the bar [...] asked me what the man was doing’.
2023		A. Nette Orphan Road 159: Last night [...] when they braced Hamilton was a wake-up call.

5. to face up to, to shake up, to grab; thus bracing n.

1901		‘Hugh McHugh’ John Henry 87: I saw that I was out to get bumped if I didn’t forget my fears, so I braced and began to cut grass.
1916		Tomahawk (Becker Co., MN.) 19 Oct. 3/5: God Almighty! You braced the . .
1932		Z. Grey Robbers’ Roost 81: Wal, now I’ll brace the boss.
1939		R. Chandler ‘Pearls Are a Nuisance’ in Spanish Blood (1946) 107: Now what? Brace this Gandesi and take him through the hoops?
1942		R. Chandler High Window 99: I met him just the way I told you. He tailed me around and I braced him.
1950		B. Spicer Blues for the Prince (1989) 239: The Prince got wind of it somehow, braced Magee last Friday and booted him out.
1962		T. Berger Reinhart in Love (1963) 36: A good bracing now and then puts a man into a relationship with the high powers.
1979		‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 50: I need your piece to brace that nigger.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 209: Then I thought: brace him at his pad?
2002		‘Touré’ Portable Promised Land (ms.) 158: We Words (My Favorite Things) [...] Check yoself. Brace yoself. Played yourself.
2012		T. Piccirilli Last Kind Words 38: JFK’s [i.e. a dog] reputation hadn’t been the only thing holding his men back from bracing Mal.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 34: She braced the hedgerow.

6. to accost, to solicit.

1901		W. Irwin Love Sonnets of a Hoodlum V n.p.: Last night – ah! yesternight – I flagged my queen [...] I up and braced her, breezy as a gale.
1913		H.A. Franck Zone Policeman 88 139: We ‘braced’ them at once, marching down upon them as they were murmuring with heads together over a mass of typewritten sheets.
1916		‘A-No. 1’ Snare of the Road 85: I was getting ready to brace the ex-bo who makes his kippings here for a chance to tell of the doings of the bums, when you moosed in and now are trying to spoil the graft.
1922		Z. Grey To Last Man 165: He must have been crazy or drunk—to pop up there—an’ brace us that way.
1936		R. Chandler ‘Goldfish’ in Red Wind (1946) 168: ‘Why’d you brace me?’ I asked. ‘You had the word, didn’t you?’.
1941		N. Davis ‘Don’t Give Your Right Name’ in Goulart (1967) 16: Told him to go on in and brace her inside.
1953		A.J. Liebling Honest Rainmaker (1991) 39: Making my way [...] to the moiling fringe of the betting ring, I braced him.
1967		(con. 1920s) J. Thompson South of Heaven (1994) 151: I braced Whitey for it [i.e. a job].
1970		L. Sanders Anderson Tapes 46: We drive up in front of the house. He gets out, braces the doorman and shows his ID.
1993		C. Hiaasen Strip Tease 181: The lawyer braced Dilbeck with a copy of the picture.
1999		J. Ridley Love Is a Racket 388: Maybe he’d seen the cops bracing me on the street.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 6: People talked. Strangers braced strangers.
2006		B. Matthews Intractable [ebook] My suspicions were reinforced one night during the evening ramp when Ankles [i.e. a prison officer] braced me.
2011		‘Jack Tunney’ Cutman [ebook] I laughed at the thought of them two mooks bracing cap’n Sliddell.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 17: I braced them as a brother.

7. (US) to remain in place.

1903

E.W. Townsend ‘Chimmie Fadden Stories’ 8 Nov. [synd. col.] I was for making a quick sneak, but Duchess she gives me de wink to brace and I braced.

8. (US) to assess.

2023

(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 60: I [...] braced the kitchen-side door [...] I jammed a #4 pick in the keyhole.