Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US Und.) reliable, trustworthy.

1848		Boston Blade 10 June n.p.: I was a goin to seize him by de loins and rake his meat [...] Wasn’t I there, big as a dog?
1933		Ersine Und. and Prison Sl.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 221/1: There. Ready; capable; reliable. ‘Get Joe to fill (participate) in on the heist (robbery). He’s there with a rod (gun).’.

2. (Aus.) of a person, attractive.

1892

H. Lawson ‘Billy’s “Square Affair”’ in Roderick (1967–9) I 225: And though, in her entirety, the crimson Streak ‘was there’, / I grieve to state the Crimson Streak was not a ‘square affair.’.

3. (US) of a person, well informed; empathetic; cite 1913 is of a horse.

1908		B. Fisher A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 54: The general may be bugs, but he’s there with the ideas.
1913		‘Lord Ballyrot in Slangland’ in Tacoma Times (WA) 16 Oct. 4/4: Here’s a nag that’s there in all departments.
1914		Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Sl. 83: there [...] Informed; wise; trained; artful.
1972		D. Claerbaut Black Jargon in White America 79: she’s there an expression indicating that a young woman understands and can really relate to a man.

4. (US) intoxicated by alcohol or drugs.

1973		Eble Campus Sl. Nov. 2: let’s get there – to get the maximum enjoyment out of whatever you are doing [...] connected with the use of drugs or alcohol [there] meant achieving the exact level of sensation desired.
1997		Simon & Burns Corner (1998) 364: ‘They [i.e. bags of heroin] a bomb?’ ‘They sure enough get you there.’.

5. at the point of orgasm; usu. as get there v. (3)

1985

S. Berkoff West in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 116: Performing frottage against a piece of taffeta / lovely / working as a typist in Oxford Street / oh no, don’t get out yet / I’m not there yet.