tore up adj.
1. (US black/campus, also all tore up, all torn up) miserable, depressed.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Daily Trib. (Bismarck, ND) 8 Nov. 4/1: To use a bit of slang that is surely allowable in this instance, France is ‘all torn up’ over the Caffarel-Limousin-Wilson, etcetera, scandal. | |
| Mr Dooley in Peace and War 47: They say th’ Spanyards is all tore up about it. | |
| Thieves Like Us (1999) 6: My woman has been pretty sick [...] Been awful torn up lately. | |
| Holy Barbarians 21: He was no good when he was all tore up. | |
| Hy Lit’s Unbelievable Dict. of Hip Words 1: all torn up – Deeply moved, upset, emotional, depressed, hurt, shook, and shot down. [Ibid.] 42: torn up – Hurt. | |
| Third Ear n.p.: tore (torn) up adj., adv., v. 1. completely devastated. | |
| Life Its Ownself (1985) 43: Not that my uncle was ever torn up when the ladies walked out on him. | |
| (con. 1998–2000) You Got Nothing Coming 77: Damn, dawg — you’re getting too old for this shit. You’re all tore up. | |
| Hurricane Punch 252: ‘Coleman, how were you after that movie?’ [...] ‘Torn the fuck up.’. | |
| Devil All the Time 110: [H]e didn’t know whether to shit or go blind, she had him so tore up. |
2. physically exhausted, very tired.
| ‘Wayne University Sl.’ AS XXX:4 305: tu and stp (tore up and shot to pieces), adj. Exhausted. | |
| (con. 1975–6) Steel Toes 74: You boys look tore up from the floor up [...] get some sleep. |
3. (Aus. / US black/campus, also half-tore) drunk or intoxicated by a drug.
 | Hornellsville Wkly Trib. (NY) 11 May 1/3: ‘I’m a nice young man, yes I am — tight! tore! shot! drunk!’. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Bell’s Life in Sydney 22 May 3/3: I’m a nice man - yes, I am tight! tore! drunk! Well, I can’t help it. | |
| Mad mag. June 20: He digs your book too, especially when he’s ‘tore up’ (stoned). | |
| ‘Sl. of Watts’ in Current Sl. III:2 49: Tore up, adj. Drunk, intoxicated. | |
| Soulside 68: I don’t say I don’t ever taste liquor, I get together with buddies like Leroy on a weekend and we drink together, and now and then maybe we get tore up. | |
| Drugs from A to Z (1970) 242: torn up Intoxicated by a drug. | |
| Underground Dict. (1972) 186: tore up [...] Under the influence of a drug. | |
| Third Ear n.p.: tore (torn) up adj., adv., v. [...] 2. completely intoxicated. 3. severely ill with a hangover. e.g. That tore me up! | |
| Star Press (Muncie, IN) 24 Oct. 23/2: The Irish have at least two dozen words for inebriation [...] killarneyed, fluthered, stotious, pallatic, maggoty, blithero, half-tore, paralytic and stoven. | |
| Campus Sl. Fall 7: torn up – drunk. | |
| Sl. and Sociability 127: Slang terms for drunkenness from just the two school years 1990–92 show great linguistic energy: [...] toe, tore up, trashed. | |
| Plainclothes Naked (2002) 208: You tore-up, loco, maricón. | |
| Campus Sl. Apr. 7: torn up/tore up – drunk. |
4. physically beaten.
| Black Jargon in White America 84: tore up adj. 1. in tattered and bruised condition as after a fight. |
5. (also tore out) broken, wrecked, in a mess.
| Corner (1998) 383: ‘I came back and everything was tore up.’ ‘Whaa?’ ‘It was messed up.’. | |
| ‘madonna’ in What They Found 163: I was looking a little tacky, but the place wasn’t too tore up. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Hitmen 230: ‘You’re going to get us tore out of it [...] You’re after nearly killing us’. |
6. (also tore) ugly.
| Campus Sl. Nov. 6: tore (up) – ugly [...] ‘Jason’s girlfriend is tore.’. | |
| (con. 1998–2000) You Got Nothing Coming 150: ‘Tore-up old ho!’ they shout. ‘Nasty-ass be-yatch!’. |
7. (also tore) overwhelmed, e.g. by a performance.
| 1Xtra 1 July [BBC radio] Trust me, that club got tore. |