Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. delightful, wonderful, pleasant, enjoyable etc.

1937		R.B. Nye ‘A Musician’s Word List’ in AS XII:1 46: groovey. Name applied to state of mind which is conducive to good playing.
1941		‘Digg Mee’ ‘Observation Post’ in N.Y. Age 24 May 9/7: Lillian Freeman’s old love was just as groovie as a open air-movie.
1945		C. Himes ‘Make with the Shape’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 112: You can come right on over to Eastern Pipe, and I’ll get you on as my helper. Won’t that be groovy?
1947		Argus (Melbourne) 15 Nov. 7/1: Wacko the beaut: the school dance is next Saturday, so bake a cake and call me cookie! I’m going to another dance the following Saturday, which will be darby, snazzy, groovy .
1959		A. Zugsmith Beat Generation 57: But he would, because the gone, groovy, unforgiveable act had been committed.
1967		Oz 4 23/1: It’s groovy to sit around knocking knees with a lot of people whose minds are tuned-in.
1975		D. Goines Inner City Hoodlum 131: Everything was clearing up and it would be a wild, groovy night.
1978		S. King Stand (1990) 524: I’m bitchin-groovy at interior decoration.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 28: You jus’ like a sister, ’cause you groovy.
2000		Guardian G2 12 Jan. 11: Do you say ‘Oh, that’s groovy, dear’ and hit the sherry yourself?
2006		C.W. Ford Deuce’s Wild 257: They nodded to the ‘groovy’ things the small, brown man from the Middle East had to say.
2010		A. Steinberg Running the Books 13: I arrived at my stop [...] feeling sufficiently groovy.
2010		A. Steinberg Running the Books 47: Diana [...] a formerly groovy 1970s feminist.
2023		F. Bill Back to the Dirt 120: [of LSD] ‘Gives you a helluva buzz [...] give you a bit more energy and clarity. Makes music a bit more, uh, groovy’.

2. (US black) sexually aroused.

1941

‘Digg Mee’ ‘Observation Post’ in N.Y. Age 19 Apr. 9/6: When you first meet her, and knows you’d like to ‘beat her’ [...] when you’re feeling very groovie and your thoughts ain’t bout no movie [...] when our body’s all a-tingle.

3. (US black) intoxicated by alcohol.

1942

D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam Star-News 2 May 16: I know now why they bring cases of whiskey [...] it takes so much to get ’em groovey.

4. fashionable.

1942		‘Marienne’ ‘Solid Meddlin’’ in People’s Voice (NY) 11 Apr. 30/1: Saw many cute bonnets in the Easter Parade but Edna [...] Harris’ was really ‘the grooviest’.
1946		H.A. Smith Rhubarb 19: There’s a sloppy at Bonwit’s and Myra yearns for it. It’s zoomy! It’s groovy! It’s beauteous! It’s lush! It’s eighteen bucks!
1969		N. Spinrad Bug Jack Barron 23: I’d ruin this groovy sportjac if I got cancelled and had to go out and dig ditches.
1978		R. Caron Go-Boy! 159: Nurses, some of whom were dressed in groovy skirts, hip-hugging slacks and, best of all, skimpy shorts.
1990		R. Doyle Snapper 46: If you ever behave like that again in this house yeh can pack your belongin’s. Your groovy clothes an’ your shampoo.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 14: The groovy crowd in Sydney almost took our hand off for them [i.e. drugs].
2007		L. Redhead Cherry Pie [ebook] [T]he Elwood Lounge, a groovy little hole in the wall just around the corner from my one bedroom flat.
2017		A. Parks Bloody January 175: Everybody wants to be hip and groovy.

5. (also groovy-bang) intoxicated by a drug, usu. marijuana.

1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 52: He’d [...] get real high and when he was groovy as a ten-cent movie he’d begin to play the blues.
1959		E. De Roo Go, Man, Go! 35: You level pretty fast. I’m still up there. High and groovy.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 127: When I jack this joint off the ‘horse’ kicks my ass groovy.
1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972).
1993		E. Richards Cocaine True 88: With the methadone, Mariella would be groovy-bang; zooted.

6. attractive.

1970		Meyer & Ebert Beyond Valley of the Dolls [film script] You’re a groovy boy. I’d like to strap you on sometime.
2001		StarPolish 6 Mar. 🌐 At one point, while devouring a steak during lunch with Hansen, he relays a description of her: ‘He said...how did he put it...that you’re a groovy chick.’ The disdain drips from his words like gravy from his lips.

7. (US teen) passé, out-of-date, esp. when referring to the tastes and styles of the 1960s, during which time sense 1 was the only accepted meaning.

1998

D. Hecht Skull Session 144: ‘I mean, what if I started saying groovy?’ ‘Wow, groovy, man,’ Mark said. ‘Oh, my God!’.