nana, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

nana n.

[abbr. SE banana, a soft (punning on soft adj. (1)) fruit]

1. a banana.

1929		Sat. Eve. Post 17 Aug. 136/2: I b’lieve I’m gonter go up and git me a dozen ’nanners and set down and eat myse’f a bait.
1959		A. Wesker Roots I i: I wan’ a ’nana.
1974		(con. 1940s) E. Thompson Tattoo (1977) 103: What on earth are you goin to do with all them nanas?
1982		Beano 2 Jan. 2: Lovely ’nanas!

2. the head.

2003

McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.

3. a headmaster [from sense 2].

1968

G. Slatter Pagan Game (1969) 220: None of the big nanas are really thinking about what the kids need.

4. (also narna) a fool, an idiot, an incompetent.

1960		Lonnie Donegan ‘My Old Man’s a Dustman’ 🎵 He looks a proper nana in his great big hobnailed boots.
1966		B. Reckord Skyvers I ii: The papers say different things. You ignorant nana.
1989		M. Amis London Fields 50: An adoring baldy or four-eyes – some wally, wimp, nerd or narna – might be sleeping on the chair.

5. (US black) the vagina.

1999

J. Ridley Everybody Smokes in Hell 143: What da fuck do I want with yo raggedy old used-ass nana?

In compounds

nana cut (n.)

(Aus.) a haircut in which the back of the head is closely shaved.

1941

Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 48: Nana (hair)cut, a utilitarian haircut in which the back of the head is closely shaved.

In phrases

do one’s nana (v.)

to lose one’s temper.

1967		‘Whisper All Aussie Dict.’ in Kings Cross Whisper (Sydney) xxxiv 4/3: do the block: To become irrationally angry. Also [...] ‘do the nana’.
1986		R. Beckett Dinkum Aussie Dict. 20: Do your block: Normally preceded by the word, ‘don’t’. A warning to a friend or enemy not to lose one’s temper or start throwing punches. The phrase, ‘Don’t do your ’nana’, can be substituted.
2003		Bug (Aus.) May 🌐 I did have the misfortune of coming in at the tailend of a Bunny interview [...] He was doing his block in that snivelling, mumbling way he does his nana.

gnaw the nana (v.)

to perform fellatio.

1963–74		B. Humphries Barry McKenzie [comic strip] in Complete Barry McKenzie (1988) 76: She’s not that struck — as yet — on gnawing-the-’nana.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.

go off one’s nana (v.)

to lose one’s temper.

2001

‘Megadeath Interview’ LOUD! Apr. 🌐 Dave Mustaine had gone up to his hotel room and was refusing to come back down. The last four interviewers had all been stupid enough to bring up Risk and Capitol Punishment and he’d gone off his nana.

right nana (n.)

a complete idiot.

1975		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell and the Three-card Trick (1977) 84: The exercises were to music and I felt like a right nana.
1982		L. Cody Bad Company 178: We’ll all look like right nanas if you’re wrong.