Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US Und.) any form of exploit, e.g. a robbery.

1935		R.T. Hopkins Life and Death at the Old Bailey 270: It is very near now – the ‘gaff’ (shop) at which they have arranged the ‘bash’ (smash-and-grab raid).
1970		‘Red’ Rudensky Gonif 118: It meant nearly $43,000 apiece. It was almost as good as the booze bash!
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak 21: Bash – a smash and grab raid.

2. a fight.

1958

(con. 1940s) B. Behan Borstal Boy 311: It’s be better training for you and Jock to have a bash together.

3. a party.

[1948		H.H. Aschmann ‘Kriegie Talk’ in AS XXIII:3 219: One could store or stash food for a big bash. This involved eating two or three days’ rations at one time].
1955		J.P. Donleavy Ginger Man (1958) 169: Can’t miss this bash.
1961		Mad mag. Dec. 49: I love to come and crash / Each fancy white tie bash.
1970		T. Southern Blue Movie (1974) 12: A pretty girl had to be very careful at one of these Malibu bashes.
1984		A. Sayle Train to Hell 116: Mish and Tish invite you to their bash.
1991		D. Jarman letter 4 July Smiling in Slow Motion (2000) 29: The reason we were not at the Downing Street bash was quite simple: because we were not asked.
1994		G. Disher Crosskill [ebook] ‘That ALP fundraising bash’.
2000		Hindu 4 Jan. 23: With the recent ‘bash’ at the wedding of Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadav’s daughter getting much media attention.
2005		J. Stahl I, Fatty 116: Zukor insisted on an elaborate bash, a ‘kickoff dinner.’.
2007		R. Milward Apples (2023) 22: [S]he stole the My Little Ponies from my fifth birthday bash.
2016		F. Stuart ‘Dispatches from the Rap Wars’ in chicagomag.com 🌐 He invited her to visit during a repass—a celebratory wake—for a resident who had been shot. It was a total bash.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 206: It was a back-bungalow bash [...] all stacked starlets and porko politicians.
2023		M. Herron Secret Hours 51: Not just any old bash, though: [...] one of the infamous Downing Street garden parties thrown during the first lockdown.

4. a (drunken) spree.

1945		J. Henderson Gunner Inglorious (1974) 157: When you get back, we’ll [...] go on a great dirty bash together.
1961		K. Cook Wake in Fright [ebook] ‘Well, I’ll tell you what— as soon as I get some money you must let me take you on a bash.’.
1968		G. Slatter Pagan Game (1969) 151: He felt like having a bash anyway.
1986		R.G. Barrett Godson 22: ‘This is all supposed to a bit of a whizzo bash’.

5. a puff on a cigarette.

1958

(con. 1940s) B. Behan Borstal Boy 35: Like a bash.

6. (N.Z.) constr. with the, brutality, harsh treatment; an assault.

1984		B. Ellem Doing Time app. C 219: Ever since I was a kid I’ve been bashed and thumped by authority [...] So I accept the bash because that’s the way it is.
1999		D. Looser ‘Boob Jargon’ in NZEJ 13 36: the bash n. An assault.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 14/1: bash, the n. an assault.

7. sexual intercourse, a sexual partner.

1959		C. MacInnes Absolute Beginners 60: Anyone can have a bash, that’s obvious.
1966		T. Keyes All Night Stand 89: Well, Gerry, you wanted to see dogs having a bash.
1975		Sun. Times Mag. 12 Oct. 26: It’s the Friday night bash, and that’s it till next Friday night.
1977		A. Bleasdale No More Sitting on the Old School Bench (1979) 23: A quick bash behind the bushes of a Saturday night.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.
1991		R.G. Barrett Between the Devlin 54: ‘All the sheilas have been giving you the arse lately. The word’s finally got out that you’re a dud bash’.

8. an attempt, a try; esp. in phr. give it a bash/have a bash at.

1953		A. Buckeridge Jennings’ Diary 55: I’ll have a bash at getting on then. [Ibid.] 121: Let me have a bash, sir.
1959		C. MacInnes Absolute Beginners 151: ‘It’s just, Wiz,’ I said, trying a final bash, ‘that I thought what I told you would disgust you too.’.
1963		A. Baron Lowlife (2001) 27: Not to give way to her [...] but to bash for his own satisfaction.
1964		P. Larkin ‘Send No Money’ in Whitsun Weddings 43: All the other lads there / Were itching to have a bash.
1972		P. Fordham Inside the Und. 79: They had been having a bash at faking.
1975		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell and the Three-card Trick (1977) 182: In a million years you ain’t gonna guess wot I really do. Go on — have a bash.
1980		J. McClure Spike Island (1981) 81: A great friend of mine joined [the police] and I thought I’d give it a bash.
1988		R. Doyle Commitments 66: He might as well have a bash at Tina.
1998		I. Welsh Filth 189: I have a bash at the crossword.
1999		Observer Mag. 3 Oct. 23: He’s not the only one enjoying this third bash at fame.
2000		Indep. Rev. 22 Jan. 20: I had a bash at doing a TV weather forecast.
2004		(con. 1960s-70s) T. Taylor Top Fellas 10/2: As nobody else was stepping up to bat, I decided to have a bash myself.
2017		L. McInerney Blood Miracles : [He] weighed the odds and decided to give it another bash.

9. (US black) negative criticism.

2016

Young M.A. ‘Eat’ 🎵 Damn, I got a lotta bash for that phone shit / [...] / Shawty knew I was playing just on some joke shit.