new adj.
1. (US) cheeky, insolent.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | ‘Eng. Sl.’ in Eve. Telegram (N.Y.) 9 Dec. 1/5: Let us present a few specimens:– [...] ‘You’re altogether too new.’. | |
| Atlanta Constitution 18 Mar. 2/5: The latest slang phrase is: ‘Oh, you’re too new; the dust sticks to you.’. | |
| Forty Modern Fables 228: If any Stranger began to act New along Main Street, he was Jerked Up in less than no time. | |
| College Widow 14: A lady can’t walk across the campus without a lot of you Charley boys trying to get new with her. | |
| ‘Facing the Mob’ in Gangland Stories Feb. 🌐 Get new with me, will you? | |
| ‘Misc.’ in AS XXXIII:1 78: get new, v. To be impudent, to ‘get fresh’. |
2. (US) naïve and gullible.
| Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 25 Sept. 14/2: All the sympathy that is being given Lucas by the very ‘new’ baseball editors is wasted. The man went into baseball to wreck things and has wrecked himself. We wish he had got it harder than he has. | |
| Artie (1963) 83: When you see them fallin’ into coal-holes and bein’ snaked out by fake hotel-runners you think they’re purty new, do n’t you? | |
| ‘College Words and Phrases’ in DN II:i 47: new, adj. 1. Fresh. 2. Unsophisticated. 3. Forward. | |
| (con. c.1970) Phantom Blooper 12: I’m falling down all over the place like some kind of New Guy. | |
| Campus Sl. Apr. 1: be new – be unaware, not quick to catch on. |
SE in slang uses
In compounds
(US prison) a new prison officer.
| Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 New Boot: A new correctional officer. (TX). |
(US black gang) a new member of a gang.
| 8 Ball Chicks (1998) 83: A new booty is a person who has been gang banging for a year or two. |
(W.I./UK black teen) brand new.
 | Tankalanka 🌐 New bran’- Brand new- She tore she new bran’ dress. |
see separate entry.
(UK prison) a new inmate.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | ‘Wakefield Gaol’ in Touch of the Times 250: Another new cock for Wakefield Gaol. | |
| letter 27 Feb. in Joint (1972) 129: I assist the Chaplain in interviewing new arrivals (known locally as ‘new-cocks’). | |
| Cool Hand Luke (1967) 43: The Newcocks sat on the benches of the two tables. |
(US black) the New Year.
| ‘Jiver’s Bible’ in Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive. |
(N.Z. prison) a new arrival in the prison.
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 123/2: new egg n. an inmate recently arrived in the prison; an inmate new to prison life. |
a first-time prisoner.
| Police Sergeant C 21 236: His neighbour, 25,731, is, on the contrary, a ‘new hand’. |
1. a guinea; a sovereign (£1).
| Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack 104: I’ll lay you a new hat (i.e., a guinea). | |
| A Pink ’Un and a Pelican 219: An’ since when has a ‘new hat’ ceased to be a guinea. Come out wid the odd shillin’ naow! | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Smith’s Wkly (Sydney) 7 June 9/6: Slang of Money [...] A sovereign is a ‘glistener,’ ‘mousetrap,’ ‘new hat,’ ‘quid,’ ‘remedy,’ ‘stranger,’ ‘thick ’un’. |
2. a sovereign.
| Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 4 Feb. 5/6: A soveriegn has been rechristened a ‘glistener,’ a ‘goldfinch,’ a ‘mousetrap,’ a ‘new hat’ [...] a ‘remedy,’ a ‘stranger’’. |
(Aus./N.Z.) an immigrant.
| Otago Daily Times 28 Aug. 4/4: A good deal was said about the ‘new iniquity’ and of their ignorance concerning the value of property. | |
| Otago Daily Times 27 Jan. 3/1: He felt at liberty to say that[...] he, an old identity, had beat all the ‘new iniquity,’ with all their boasted enterprise and spirit. | |
| Otago Witness 13 Mar. 18/4: Every person who would know something of the pioneer days of the settlement before the ‘new iniquity’ spread over the land in the search for treasure. | |
| West Coast Times (NZ) July 18 2/3: He belongs to that section of the ‘old identity’ of Otago which from the first viewed with distrust and disfavour the invasion of the ‘new iniquity’ of gold mining, to the disturbance of old-fashioned humdrum pastoral and agricultural pursuits. | |
| (ref. to 1862) Austral Eng. 209/2: Identity, Old, n. phrase denoting a person well known in a place. A term invented in Dunedin, New Zealand, in 1862, in a popular topical song, by Mr. R. Thatcher, an improvisator. In the song the ‘Old Identity,’ the former resident of Dunedin, was distinguished from the ‘New Iniquity’ as the people were termed who came from Australia. | |
| (ref. to Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 75/2: new iniquity immigrants, specifically from Australia to the Otago goldrush areas, 1860s to 1880s; the opposite of ‘old identity’. | |
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988]. |
see separate entry.
see new jack n.
(N.Z. prison) a newly arrived prisoner or prison officer.
| Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 123/2: new kid on the block n. 1 (also new boy on the block) an inmate or officer new to a prison or prison wing. |
see separate entries.
(drugs) phencyclidine.
| et al. Angel Dust 124: The large number of street names it has been accorded over the years: [...] new magic. | |
| ONDCP Street Terms 15: New magic — PCP. |
1. (US prison) a new inmate.
| (con. 1938) Mister Jelly Roll (1952) 118: When the inmates on the gang saw us, they hollered ‘New meat in the market!’ They they jumped on us and took our money and cigarettes . | |
| Cool Hand Luke [film] You new meats better shape up fast for this gang [HDAS]. | |
| Mystery Science Theater (Comedy Central TV): Buck up, you new meat [HDAS]. |
2. (US campus) a freshman.
| ‘Intercollegiate relations’, ‘Critical Incidents’ Carnegie Mellon University 🌐 Freshman year is IT – time’s running out before the boys move on to the ‘new meat.’ We’ll become bitter old sophomores who can’t get no booty and no ‘head turns’ from the frat boys. |
3. (US) a new recruit, e.g. to the army, prison staff.
| Gardens of Stone (1985) 102: He was new meat, greased on his first day in the bush. | |
| Corruption Officer [ebk] cap. 11: Yeah, nigga, you’re the new kid on the block, the new meat! |
(W.I.) a parvenu, a nouveau riche.
![[WI]](/static/img/flags/wi.png "West Indies") | cited in Dict. Jam. Eng. (1980). |
see under school n.
In phrases
(orig. US) a deprecating comment on anything the previous speaker has said, esp. if that speaker had intended to make a big impression; a general dismissive rejoinder, often prefaced with so...
| (con. 1920s) Hoods (1953) 147: As we drove he away he shouted after us, ‘Well, what else is new?’. | |
| Cogan’s Trade (1975) 14: Nobody ever had a clean shot [...] What the fuck else is new? | |
| Fort Apache, The Bronx 349: ‘I just gave Morgan and Finley up.’ ‘So what else is new? I knew you were gonna do it all along.’. | |
| (con. 1960) My Secret Hist. (1990) 126: ‘What else is new?’ Larry said. | |
| Lucky You 65: ‘I got a big favour to ask.’ ‘So what else is new?’. | |
| Age (Melbourne) 11 Apr. 🌐 [heading] So, what else is new? Nothing. |
a general greeting.
| Sporting Times 25 Mar. 7/3: ‘Good mornin’, Mr. Jacobs. How are you? Anything new?’ ‘No. All my goods are second-hand.’. | |
| Enemy to Society 222: Well, what’s new, Dess, anything? | |
| Home to Harlem 142: ‘What’s the new?’ ‘Nothing new in Soot-hill; always the same.’. | |
| ‘Blackmailers Don’t Shoot’ in Red Wind (1946) 100: He said: ‘What’s new?’. | |
| Sister of the Road (1975) 280: Andrew Nelson met us at the gate. ‘Well, Box Car Bertha, what’s new?’. | |
| Small Time Crooks 105: Hyar, Joe. What’s new? | |
![[Can]](/static/img/flags/can.png "Canada") | Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1964) 31: Und vat’s new vit you, Abie? | |
| Down These Mean Streets (1970) 328: How ya been, Carlito? What’s nuevo? | |
| Erections, Ejaculations etc. 138: The bartender walked up [...] ‘What’s new?’ he asked. ‘Nothing much,’ I said. | |
| Muscle for the Wing 85: But what else is new with you? | |
| Indep. Rev. 21 May 14: I slung her a No 6 and spat: ‘What’s new, treasure?’. |