script, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

script n.

[abbr.]

1. (drugs) a prescription for narcotics.

1922		E. Murphy Black Candle 253: Some of these ‘scripts’ called for as much as 500 grains of heroin or morphine at one time.
1936		D. Maurer ‘Argot of the Und. Narcotic Addict’ Pt 1 in AS XI:2 126/1: script. A prescription for narcotics.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1953		‘William Lee’ Junkie (1966) 22: Roy finally [...] made the doctor for a ten-grain script.
1961		Rigney & Smith Real Bohemia 167: He had denied writing a script for me.
1961		T. Taylor Baron’s Court All Change (2011) 97: [A] constant battle for keeping your script.
1966		J. Mills Panic in Needle Park (1971) 121: From this croaker up on 76th Street. He used to write for me, you know, scripts, prescriptions.
1980		(con. 1940s–60s) H. Huncke ‘Ed Leary’ in Eve. Sun Turned Crimson (1998) 134: While Eddie wrote out scripts, I got dressed.
1987		in Delacoste & Alexander Sex Work (1988) 78: You want any ludes tonight? My man out there got some. He’ll sell the whole script.
1998		C. Fleming High Concept 117: Actually pretending to deliver a script, which he deposited on a silver tray.
2003		N. Griffiths Stump 64: All aloof to them crusties around her, must be script day for em.
2010		J. Ellroy Hilliker Curse 31: The fuzz started cracking down on dope-script docs.
2019		N. Walker Cherry 236: He had his own script on account of his fibromyalgia.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 160/2: script n. 2 a prescription.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 172: [He] wrote pep-pill scripts.

2. prescription drugs.

1982

Gettysburg (PA) Times 1 June 9/3: Teens across the state call marijuana ‘reefers,’ [...] Prescription drugs are called ‘scripts.’.

3. (N.Z. prison) a note passed between (female) inmates.

1999		D. Looser ‘Boob Jargon’ in NZEJ 13 35: script n. A note passed bv one inmate to another, often written in slang .
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 160/2: script n. 1 a note passed by one inmate to another, often written in boobslang; more common in women’s prisons.

4. (Scot. teen) the situation, the background, the ‘story’.

2020

G. Armstrong Young Team 5: ‘Wit’s the script wae him?’.

script doctor (n.)

(drugs) one who prescribes narcotics.

1922		E. Murphy Black Candle 251: A narcotic practitioner, or what they call a ‘script’ doctor.
1972		Smith & Gay Heroin in Perspective 26: A ‘script doc’ was always available to prescribe by phone.

script mill (n.) [mill n.¹ (4b)]

(US drugs) a doctor’s surgery where, for a price, one can obtain prescriptions for narcotics, painkillers etc.

1995

J. Stahl Permanent Midnight 219: The proprietor of the Valley’s finest script mill [...] hawking homeopathic health tips.

flip the script (v.)

(US black) to take a new direction, to adopt a new policy.

1991		Pete Rock & CL Smooth ‘Mecca & The Soul Brother’ 🎵 Okay, you wanna act trife and flip the script.
2001		U.N.L.V. ‘Return of U.N.L.V.’ 🎵 How could a nigga flip the script and say the U aint the shit?
2011		Snoop Dogg ‘Street Life’ 🎵 Flipped the script and came equipped with some riders who got my back.
2022		M. Haberman Confidence Man 150: Trump, roasted in some corners of the press a decade earlier for keeping a copy of Hitler’s speeches by his bedside, saw a chance to flip the script.