bowl, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

bowl v.

1. (UK Und.) to notice, to find out.

1902		Harrington & LeBrunn [perf. Marie Lloyd] It didn’t come off after all 🎵 But his wife, who’d ‘bowled’ him, maybe / Kept him in to nurse the baby.
1906		O.C. Malvery Soul Market 39: Slip round, my girl, and ‘nob’ ’em, and mind yer bring it all to light, and no weeding, no poling, mind yer, for if yer do, I’m bound to bowl yer.

2. (Aus.) to hit, to beat up.

1930

L. Lower Here’s Luck 192: ‘If yer interrupt again Bung’ll bowl yer. Wont yer, Bung?’ ‘Too right, I will,’ muttered Bung, savagely.

3. (N.Z.) to be defeated, to be killed, to seduce.

1960		F. Keinzly Tangahano 126: ‘Hear Sawndos was bowled last night.’ [...] ‘Did he cop it?’ Wally asked. Sawndos, Judd thought. ‘No. Just rolled.’.
1994		(ref. to WWII) L. Cleveland Dark Laughter 115: For most World War 2 soldiers the concept of death was masked by euphemisms like bowled, hit, kaput.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 31: bowl To fell a tree or a deer or a pig, or to seduce a woman, eg, for all four, ‘Reckon I bowled her, eh?’.

SE in slang uses

In phrases

bowl booty (v.)

see play booty under booty n.¹

bowl from the pavilion end (v.) (also play from the pavilion end) [cricket imagery; no especial gay relevance to the pavilion end (the name of the other end will differ as to the ground, e.g. that at Lords is the ‘Nursery End’ which could be seen as bearing its own poss. paedophile overtones), other than (prob. coincidentally) that the pavilion is likely to contain the lavatories]

to be a male homosexual.

1999		Guardian Sport 9 Apr. 16: You know [...] that he prefers to bowl from the Pavilion End. That he’s a friend of Oscar.
2002		‘SludgeWire’ at Metal-Sludge.com 🌐 Are you telling me that there are people that think Paul Stanley might be...gasp...a pillow biter? A crotch goblin? A bowler from the pavilion end? A Cadbury canal engineer?
2003		Indep. Rev. 1 Oct. 5: Bruno is an ad-man who plays from the pavilion end.

bowl off (v.) [SE bowl, to ride along on wheels]

to die.

1836–7

Dickens Pickwick Papers (1999) 103: Poor Quanko – never recovered it – bowled on, on my account –; bowled off, on his own – died, sir.

bowl out (v.) [cricket imagery]

1. to kill.

1805

Capt. Crumby Letters in the 19th Century No. 273 721: He wished me to be made acquainted with it [i.e. Lord Nelson’s memorandum], that in the event of his being ‘bowl’d out’ I might know how to conduct the ship [OED].

2. (also bawl out) to find out; to be found out.

1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 229: bowled out: a man who has followed the profession of thieving for some time, when he is ultimately taken, tried, and convicted, is said to be bowled out at last. To bowl a person out, in a general sense, means to detect him in the commission of any fraud, or speculation, which he has hitherto practised without discovery.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc.
1841		‘Nix My Jolly Gals Poke Away’ in Gentleman’s Spicey Songster 16: But I was bowl’d out one fine day, / And in the van did ride away.
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 420/1: I was at work at the same time as he was, and I kept pilfering, and at last they bowled me out. I got a showing up, and at last they turned me away.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 39/2: Jemmy [...] told him that Tommy had suspicion of him and th ‘moll’ going to ‘namase,’ and that he had ‘bawled out’ the whole affair, and ‘muzzled’ the ‘moll’ on his account. [Ibid.] 44/2: He was again unlucky, having, after repeated watchings, been ‘bowled-out’ in a guilty amour with his master’s son’s wife.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1880		Bulletin (Sydney) 23 Oct. 13/2: Urgently required. A list of cases where gentlemen (?) have been bowled out travelling without ‘parting’ on the railway.
1884		Randiana 65: I deemed it prudent not to see her ladyship during her stay in town, though she sent me three pressing letters, but I feared we should be bowled out.
1890		Bulletin (Sydney) 16 Aug. 11/3: [T]he rich squatter who ‘dummies’ land, commits perjury concerning it, and is bowled out, is never prosecuted, while the poor selector who makes a small slip is shut down on with the force of a piledriver.
1902		J.H.M. Abbott Tommy Cornstalk 152: The medical officers, though morally certain that a man might be shamming, were too disgusted to take the necessary steps towards ‘bowling him out’.
1905		Sporting Times 18 Mar. 10/1: Certain young gentlemen attended a seance at Leeds, and squirted cochineal dye from a syringe upon the garments of the phosphorescent medium, and so bowled him out.
1925		N. Lucas Autobiog. of a Thief 23: I bowled the chauffeur out in the act of selling a nearly new set of outer covers (tyres).
1934		J. Franklyn This Gutter Life 162: Fancy telliing such a foolish lie; it will be all bowled out in a day or two.

3. to be sentenced to death.

1836

A. Thornton Don Juan in London II 403: Bowled out, means sentenced.

4. to die.

1843

T. Hood ‘Confessions of a Phoenix’ Works (1862) VI 233: What, hopped the twig? – kicked the bucket? – bowled out?

5. (also bowl down) to defeat, to overcome, to get the better of.

1834		(con. 1737–9) W.H. Ainsworth Rookwood (1857) 178: And thus was I bowled out at last.
1852		F.E. Smedley Lewis Arundel 204: He’s handsomer than you are; if you don’t mind your play, he’ll bowl you out.
1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn).
1877		Five Years’ Penal Servitude 121: Now and again a warder does get ‘bowled out,’ and comes to grief.
1882		G.A. Sala in Living London (1883) Jan. 17: The ineffable humbug Digby Grant, disestablished, disendowed, and thoroughly ‘bowled out’.
1890		‘Morris the Mohel’ ‘Houndsditch Day by Day’ Sporting Times 15 Feb. 2/2: Ve bowled Aaron Motzaberger out in a peautiful piece o’ gonophin the other day.
1894		Herald (Los Angeles) 28 Oct. 9/2: The judgement was for 5000, but I was bowled out by Dan.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 11: Bowl Out, [...] to put out of the way.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 6 Oct. 11/4: His witnesses never met each other, so they didn’t bowl each other out on details; and his accused was always too drunk to remember anything, so his statement couldn’t be expected to tally with anybody else’s.
1909		D. Stewart Dead Man’s Gold in Illus. Police News 27 Feb. 12/1: ‘Damn me, Cutts, I’ve bowled you out this time. How do you like it, old boy?’.
1911		Gem 28 Oct. 16: Don’t tell me any more yarns, Lumley. Can’t you see you’re bowled out!
1913		Morwell Advertiser (Vic.) 10 Dec. 18/2: The meeting, however, bowled Mr Miller down, and [...]the public carried the motion.
1920		Marvel 14 Aug. 16: Anoder dose ob dose ladies, to say nuffin ob de spoonfuls ob crocodile’s eggs would about bowl me out. I’m going to excape.
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 136: I said I’d spent the night at Jack’s place. [...] Madge was away for a few nights and I couldn’t get bowled out.

bowl underarm (v.)

(Aus.) to be bisexual.

2000

R.G. Barrett Leaving Bondi (2013) [ebook] ‘Yeah. He’s bi. I know that. Was. Whatever.’ ‘So Albert was AC/DC was he?’ ‘Yeah. Bowled underarm’.

can I bowl you?

(Aus.) a phr. used to request that someone buys the speaker a drink.

1900–10

Stephens & O’Brien Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 25: BOWL YOU: ‘can I bowl you’ is the equivalent to asking another person to stand treat or ‘shout’ a drink – Northern Rivers, N.S.W. derived from cricket by a process of inversion by which to score off a man becomes to bowl him.