Green’s Dictionary of Slang

tear v.

to rush around excitedly or energetically.

[UK]Middleton & Rowley Old Law (1656) V i: The nimble fencer this, that made me tear And traverse ’bout the chamber?
[UK]J. Suckling Aglaura in Works (1709) V i: (Stage direct.) Enter tearing in Pasithas .
[UK]M. Stevenson Wits Paraphras’d 75: What tearing sparks the Ladies be.
[UK]Trial of Elizabeth Canning in Howell State Trials (1816) 485: I was wringing my hands and tearing about, and she advised me to go to the cunning man.
[WI]T. Chatterton Revenge I ii: All the Gods shall hear / How you spend your nights, Sir: / Drinking, swearing, / Roaring, tearing, / Wenching, roving ev’ry where.
[UK]Mme D’Arblay Diary and Letters (1904) I 303: I cannot bear to see Othello tearing about in that violent manner.
[UK] ‘The Coalheaver’s Feast’ Fun Alive O! 59: Dancing and tearing / Prancing and swearing.
[UK]Dickens Christmas Carol (1868) 42: And now two smaller Cratchits, boy and girl, came tearing in.
[US]C.A. Bristed Upper Ten Thousand 25: He tears along behind him a sleigh of the commonest construction.
[UK](con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 467/2: He went about tearing and swearing ‘like one o’clock.’.
[Aus]‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery Under Arms (1922) 260: A cove comes tearing up at full bat.
[UK]C. Rook Hooligan Nights 9: We saw the butcher tearin’ up and down.
[US]Ade More Fables in Sl. (1960) 171: She [...] would wave the Housework to one side and tear for a Trolley.
[UK]Marvel 27 Oct. 386: We’re simply tearing along.
H. Green ‘Troubles of two Working Girls’ in S.F. Chron. 8 June 31/3: There’s the dearest set of puffs, your exact shade [...] yuh’d be a complete sucker not to tear for that store this minute!
[UK]‘Dornford Yates’ Berry and Co 15: In her wake tore a gesticulating trooper.
[UK]P. Marks Plastic Age 288: She has been going an awful pace, tearing around like crazy.
[US](con. 1910s) J.T. Farrell Young Lonigan in Studs Lonigan (1936) 103: And when I come tearin’ along, you run too.
[UK]J. Curtis Gilt Kid 275: That ought to make the bogys go tearing all over the West End looking for him.
[US]R. Chandler High Window 194: A car tore down the street much too fast and skidded around the next corner.
[US]M. Spillane One Lonely Night 37: I [...] settled back against the cushions while we tore across town.
[US]M. Spillane Long Wait (1954) 148: One minute they’re here an’ the next they’re tearing around the city.
[UK]F. Norman in Bristol Eve. Post 27 Nov. in Norman’s London (1969) 43: The geezer who owned it tearing down the street behind me.
[UK]G. Lambert Inside Daisy Clover (1966) 25: She tore up the beach.
[UK]S. Berkoff Decadence in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 7: I’ve been so bored tearing round to find just what would enchant you.
Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 tear v 1. to leave quickly. (‘You ready to go? Let’s tear.’).
[Scot]I. Welsh Filth 131: I [...] hit the siren as I tear down Leith Walk.

In phrases

tear out (v.)

(US black) to rush away, to leave fast.

[US]Ade Forty Modern Fables 172: All you wanted to do was tear out with those Toughs.
[US]G. Bronson-Howard Enemy to Society 314: Oh, you’re one of those fellows that work by the clock, are you? Wash your hands at quarter to three so you’ll be ready to tear out when it strikes.
[Aus]E. Dyson Spats’ Fact’ry (1922) 94: Johno tore out, with a Red Indian yell.
[US]E.C.L. Adams Congaree Sketches 65: Great God, dat’s when I would er tored out.
[US]Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 20: That night I tore out for The Corner, to take up my old civilian post in the poolroom.
[US]J. Evans Halo For Satan (1949) 200: Then I got my brainstorm [...] then went tearing out there myself.
[UK]T. Parker Frying-Pan 10: I tore out of town, up the Watford by-pass.
[US]J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 33: She returned seconds later, practically running to her Cadillac. She tore out.

SE in slang uses

In compounds

tearcat (n.) (also tearer) [SE tear, to rip apart; note Nares, Glossary (1822): ‘To tear a cat. To rant, and behave with violence; probably from a cruel act of that kind having been performed by some daring ruffian, to excite surprise and alarm’]

a thug, a bully.

[UK]Middleton & Dekker Roaring Girle V i: I am called by those that have seen my valour, Tearcat.
[UK]C. Cotton Virgil Travestie (1765) Bk I 13: A huffing Jack, a plund’ring Tearer, / A vap’ring Scab, and a great Swearer.
tear-down (n.)

1. (Aus.) a confidence trickster.

[Aus]Truth (Sydney) 9 Dec. 6/4: When S. saw D [...] cramming his winnings into his pockets [...] he tumbled that he was a copper-fastened flat. Of such are the kingdom of tear-downs and compared to which the ordinary gun is only an amateur.
[Aus]Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 5 Dec. 1/4: This commission, tale-teller, tear-down, or whatever he may be, chats Fishy the brass is on Kitty Wger at a good price.

2. (Aus.) a fraud, an act of cheating, thus attrib.

[Aus]Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 3 Oct. 1/1: Keep your gig-lamps on the outwardly respectable, but inwardly sultry, crowd whose cash and position enables them to jerk-off tear-downs as strong as dynamite.
Sydney Sportsman (Surrey Hills, NSW) 6 Nov. 4/3: Even with the tear-down odds and the cronk draw, Ah Fat’'s box of tricks are not exhausted.
[Aus]Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 6 July 4/2: every week provides its tear-down, cop-out, roaring ramp, ring in, or some such delightful doing.
teargut (n.)

(Aus.) rough whisky.

[Aus]Dead Bird (Sydney) 28 Sept. 2/2: His fondness for pewters of teargut and nobblers of bone-melter, miscalled brandy.
tear-smock (n.)

a womanizer.

[UK]J. Phillips Maronides (1678) V 6: I never knew such huffing tear-smocks.

In phrases

tear arse/ass

see separate entries.

tear down (v.) [the victim’s confidence is torn down]

1. (US) to reprimand severely, to attack verbally.

[UK]Bird o’ Freedom 22 Jan. 3: That arrangement has stood for a great many years, and I don’t intend to let you tear it down.
[US]S. Bellow Augie March (1996) 189: Don’t tear yourself down.
[US]C. Brown Manchild in the Promised Land (1969) 341: These guys were tearing down anything that was white.
Coward et al. Psychologist With a Gun 104: ‘Sometimes I think I could kill her. She keeps tearing me down in front of the children’.
[UK]Guardian Guide 2–8 Oct. 6: It’s easy to tear these places down, to make fun of them.

2. (Aus.) to defraud, e.g. of a bookmaker.

[Aus]Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 29 June 4/2: I consoled with the torn-town tugs, reminding them that they still had beautifully printed tickets, showing splendid odds.

3. (also tear it down, tear the place down) to demonstrate great emotion, to act intensely and wildly; also as adj. (see cite 1834).

Cork Constitution 11 Sept. 4/1: [of a popular preacher] That’s what I call a real tear-down sneezer; he’s bark-well and hold fast too; he doesn’t honey it up to ’em and mince his words — he lets it down [...] hot and heavy.
[US](con. 1944) N. Mailer Naked and Dead 49: What the hell do you mean by busting in here and tearing down this orderly room.
[UK]Guardian G2 6 Aug. 11 n.p.: When I deejay I go out there and I tear down the stage.
[US]Eble Campus Sl. Fall 11: TEAR THE PLACE DOWN – have a wild party: ‘Hey man, you shoulda been at Players’ last night. We TORE THE PLACE DOWN.’.
[US]M. Lacher On the Bro’d 63: I knew we were gonna straight-up tear it down in San Fran.

4. to depress.

[US]L. Uris Battle Cry (1964) 147: Nothing tears a guy down so fast as no news or bad news.
[US]‘Iceberg Slim’ Mama Black Widow 12: The visit to Mama had torn me down inside.

5. to destroy.

[US](con. 1970) J.M. Del Vecchio 13th Valley (1983) 166: The people ain’t gowin stand fo it. We gowin tear him down.
[WI]M. Montague Dread Culture 86: Studio Seven Hifi. It a tear down Yard now. Boysie send me di tapes dem.
tear into (v.)

see separate entry.

tear it (v.)

to spoil one’s chances, to put an end to one’s plans etc; esp. in phr. that’s torn it

[UK]‘Ian Hay’ Man’s Man 320: He had good reason for his absence [...] but a reason is not always accepted as an excuse. ‘I’ve fairly torn it, this time!’ he reflected morosely .
[UK]Kipling ‘A Madonna of the Trenches’ in Debits and Credits (1926) 258: That tore it, d’ye see? As long as I could think, I had kep’ tellin’ myself it was like those things you lectured about at Arras [...] the Angels of Mons, and so on. But that wire tore it.
[UK]‘George Orwell’ Keep The Aspidistra Flying (1962) 252: So that was that. He had torn it now, right enough.
[UK]C. Day Lewis Otterbury Incident 102: Well, that tore it.
[US]T. Runyon In For Life 145: ‘That tears it,’ I told Bradley.
[UK]H.E. Bates When the Green Woods Laugh (1985) 297: Not sure you haven’t gone and torn it now.
[UK]Wodehouse Much Obliged, Jeeves 174: This tears it.
[US]Rolling Stone 22 Sept. 13: That tears it.
[US]J. Ellroy Silent Terror 67: Your bust tears it, I guess.
[US](con. 1949) G. Pelecanos Big Blowdown (1999) 192: ‘He told me to go to hell.’ [...] ‘Well, I guess that tears it.’.
[US](con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 4: ‘Junior’ tore it. ‘Leave me alone. I’m not what you want.’.
tear loose (v.) (also rip loose)

(US black) to escape from a person or situation.

[US]J. London Valley of the Moon (1914) 175: It wasn’t until after she died that I could rip loose an’ take or leave as I felt like it.
[US]J. Wambaugh New Centurions 320: ‘The riot is starting [...] they’re ready to rip loose’.
[US]W.D. Myers Hoops 53: You guys can play some ball [...] When he said that, when he let it all out, we just tore loose.
[US]R. Klein Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.].
tear off

see separate entries.

tear one’s ass (v.) (also tear one’s pants) [SE tear + arse n. (1)/ass n. (2)/SE pants]

(US) to injure oneself, thus fig. to get into trouble.

[US]M.H. Boulware Jive and Sl. n.p.: Tore your pants ... Committed a fau pas.
[US](con. WWII) J.O. Killens And Then We Heard The Thunder (1964) 61: You didn’t let me go back into that cracker town and tear my royal ass again.
[US]R. Abrahams Deep Down In The Jungle 131: But you know you done tore your ass when you fucked my hole. [Ibid.] 157: The monkey’s last words as he was dying, / ‘I tore my ass by signifying.’.
[US]M. Braly On the Yard (2002) 277: ‘I think you tore your ass this time,’ Olson continued. ‘And what’s that supposed to mean?’.
tear open (v.)

(US Und.) to rob extensively.

[US]H. Hapgood Autobiog. of a Thief 68: A mob of ‘knucks’ [...] had been ‘tearing open’ the Third Avenue cars outside of the Post Office.
[US]C. Hamilton Men of the Und. 325: Tear open, To rob on an extensive scale.
tear someone a new asshole (v.)

see separate entry.

tear someone out of their frame (v.)

to shock intensely.

[US]Eble Campus Sl. Fall 7: torn out of my frame – startled, surprised: That test was so hard it tore me out of my frame.
tear someone’s ass(hole) (v.)

see separate entry.

tear someone’s meat-house down (v.) [SE meat-house, a larder, here meaning one’s body]

(US) to defeat, to thrash.

‘BillAMJ’ ‘What a freakin’ disgrace’ posting 26 Oct. on ‘Flyers Central’ at Yahoo! Groups 🌐 Barber needs to tear someone’s meathouse down. The skaters on the Flyers hung not just one, but both goalies out to dry last night!
tear someone’s playhouse down (v.)

(US black) to render someone’s life unhappy or unpleasant.

[US]Latest Blues by Columbia Race Stars 10: I’m gonna tear your playhouse down.
H. Thomas ‘Bull Doze Blues’ 🎵When I catch a man with my woman I usually tear his playhouse down.
Big Maceo ‘Maceo’s 32-20’ lyrics] When I catch a man with my woman, I usually tear his playhouse down.
[US]Hughes & Bontemps Book of Negro Folklore 381: Way down in Polock town / Where de police an’ de snitchers, dey tore my playhouse down.
[US]Billboard 16 Nov. 54: I’M GONNA TEAR YOUR PLAYHOUSE DOWN PAUL YOUNG.
[US]D. Klimek For What It’s Worth 162: Charlie knows for certain we are here to tear his playhouse down.
[US]Creative Non-Fiction 14-15255: Hosea had been out there for seven hours, calling Ramsey Clark a criminal and [...] threatening to tear his playhouse down.
tear someone up for arse-paper (v.)

see separate entry.

tear the arse out of (v.) (also tear the bollocks off)

to destroy completely, to render useless.

[UK](con. 1940s) D. Nobbs Second From Last in the Sack Race 99: She’d have torn t’ bollocks off me if she’d known I’d gone to t’ Navigation.
[Ire]P. McCabe Breakfast on Pluto 9: Stop tearing the arse out of that turkey!
[UK]J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 8: Making sure the gear’s up to scratch and when we cut it we don’t completely tear the arse outta it.
tear up

see separate entries.

tear up the pea patch (v.)

see separate entry.

that’s torn it [tear it ]

that has ruined it, that has spoiled it.

[UK]A. Christie Secret Adversary (1955) 26: ‘That’s torn it,’ said Tommy.
[UK]D.L. Sayers Nine Tailors (1984) 3: ‘That’s torn it!’ said Lord Peter Wimsey.
[UK]Whizzbang Comics 42: Coo! That’s torn it!
[Aus]D. Stivens Scholarly Mouse and other Tales 1: That’s torn it! As soon as that mug inside wakes up and realizes that I can talk, he’ll lead me a man’s life.
[Aus]‘Nino Culotta’ Cop This Lot 93: That’s torn it [...] Better get outa here.
[UK]T. Jones Curse of the Vampire Socks 29: ‘That’s torn it!’ said the Kangaroo.
[UK]B. Hare Urban Grimshaw 225: Fucking hell [...] That’s torn it.
[Aus](con. 1943) G.S. Manson Coorparoo Blues [ebook] Shit, that’s torn it.