ying-yang, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

ying-yang n.

also yin-yang

[? var. on wang n.²; HDAS’s link to ‘Hindu’ yin and yang seems spurious]

1. (US) sexual intercourse.

1956

N. Algren Walk on the Wild Side 131: Sure would have admired to tarry there [i.e. a brothel] [...] a little ying-yang never hurt a man.

2. the penis.

1953		Randolph & Wilson Down in the Holler 101: Another old-time word for penis sounds like ying-yang.
1966		Trimble 5000 Adult Sex Words and Phrases.
1978		L. Kramer Faggots 321: Think [...] weener, wienie!, wheezer!, wishbone!, worm!, Ying-Yang!
1998		J. Lansdale Rumble Tumble 42: This Brett, she’s got you by the ying-yang.

3. the anus; esp. in phr. up the ying-yang

1999		L. Gould Shagadelically Speaking 150: A ‘yin-yang’ is a much more base concept, essentially signifying the anus.
2001		S. King Dreamcatcher 245: We know they are infected right up the ying-yang and the old wazoo and everywhere else.
2013		Baltimore Sun (MD) 4 Dec. E11: ‘A red dress that was cut down to my ying-yang, and [was] built like a brick shithouse’.

4. in pl., the testicles.

1972

R. Barrett Lovomaniacs (1973) 324: It’s Dahlberg they’ll hang up by the ying-yangs.

5. in fig. use, nonsense.

1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 131: I was getting bored with all the yin-yang.
1992		UGK ‘Trill Ass Nigga’ 🎵 And we ain’t hearin that ying-yang / You keep on runnin that lip and watch yo’ ass get slanged.
2020		S.A. Crosby Blacktop Wasteland 75: ‘Man, fuck all this ying-yang. We go in there, blast the ceiling, them motherfuckers do what we say do. Or we ventilate they ass’.

6. (US drugs) LSD.

2001

ONDCP Street Terms 23: Ying Yang — LSD.

up the ying-yang (also on the ying-yang, out the yang) [sense 3 above]

to an excess, to the extreme.

1965		J. Thompson Texas by the Tail (1994) 149: They’ve got lawyers up to the ying-yang, and they like to keep ’em busy.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 51: I had Indianhead pennies up the ying-yang, but my mother accidentally threw them out.
1982		(con. 1970) J.M. Del Vecchio 13th Valley (1983) 95: You can have dough out the yang, yer lady splits and yer fucked.
1989		P. Munro Sl. U. 200: I now have homework up the ying yang.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 190: You got energy coming out the ying-yang.
2004		J. Ellroy ‘Hot-Prowl Rape-O’ in Destination: Morgue! (2004) 267: You saw the squadroom. Middle-aged white men up the ying-yang.
2009		(con. 1960s) J. Ellroy Blood’s a Rover 28: He had phone cords and wire mounts up the ying-yang.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 40: I bribed hotel honches up the yammering ying-yang.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 60: Bernie would bug the downstairs on the ying-yang.