sing, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

sing v.

[proverbial phr. ‘he that sings once, weeps all his life after’; note Shakespearian sing, (of a woman) to make advances to; (of a man) to have sexual intercourse)]

1. (also sing out) to speak; thus sing it v., to tell a story.

1818		W. Perry London Guide 31: Placing the flat hand [...] over the mouth, (or gob) of a fellow who is likely to sing out.
1822		C. Dibdin Yngr Larks of Logic, Tom and Jerry III i: A Watchman gets into some strange scrapes, on my life, – / T’other night I took up the night-constable’s wife: / There was one of us muzzy, which needn’t be sung – / On that head I’d best keep my teeth ’tween my tongue.
1832		Satirist (London) 6 May 147/2: Then the ladies singed out for a hop, / To pass of the evening the quicker.
1833		Cruikshank & Wight Sun. in London 77: Mizzle home. Wife sings out. Give her a settler. And so turn in; – rather muzzy.
1838		‘Alfred Crowquill’ Seymour’s Humourous Sketches (1866) 17: ‘And did you sing?’ ‘Didn’t I? yes, i’ faith I sang pretty small the next morn ing when they fined me, and let me out’.
1855		Proc. Old Bailey 26 Feb. 536: Sheen sung out, ‘Murphy, mind the knife’.
1860		Bell’s Life in Sydney 17 Mar. 3/4: I sung out three or four times that he had a knife.
1866		Wild Boys of London I 140/2: Why didn’t you sing out, then, when I collared you?
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 74: Sing Small, little to say.
c.1900		‘Ramrod’ Nocturnal Meeting 41: Sing out you two fuckers when you are going to spend.
1905		Sporting Times 15 Apr. 2/4: To make sure, he asked, as coolly as he could, Sir Alfred to re-sing it.
1943		R. Llewellyn None But the Lonely Heart 128: Go and sing to them coppers till I gets back.
1955		‘Bailey Morgan’ ‘Dig that Crazy Corpse’ in Pursuit Mar. (2008) 156: The doll nixed me since I sang about body-snatching.
1971–2		C. Shafer ‘Catheads [...] and Cho-Cho Sticks’ in Abernethy Bounty of Texas (1990) 215: sing it, v. – to tell the story.
2008		R. Price Lush Life 254: You still hungry? [...] Well, sing out if you are .
2015		N. Cummins Tales of the Honey Badger [ebook] [O]ne of my brothers sang out from the top of his lungs: ‘Put some pants on, ya weirdo’.

2. (US Und.) to complain, to make a fuss.

1867

Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 19 Oct. n.p.: Johnny Raygin is a knuck who laterly came to this city. [...] Johnny and his ‘crowd’ thought this bloke [i.e. the victim of a theft] had been ‘singing’ long enough.

3. (also sing out) to speak insincerely, hypocritically.

1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 2 May 12/2: And I wishes as I was among yer – / Lord! I must a been clean off my dot, / When I listened to all that they sung yer / ’Bout glory, and all that ere rot.
1885		‘’Arry on ’onesty’ Punch 31 Jan. 60/1: Not moral, sing out the old Mivvies! Lor, Charlie, wot ’umbug it is!

4. to make a confession, usu. to the authorities; thus singing adj.

1929		Hostetter & Beesley It’s a Racket! 238: sing—To confess[…].
1936		R. Chandler ‘Goldfish’ Red Wind (1946) 175: Burn a guy’s feet to make him sing.
1946		J.F. Bardin Deadly Pecheron in Bardin Omnibus (1976) 160: He knew it would go hard for him if we cracked down, so he sang.
1955		B. Schulberg On the Waterfront (1964) 39: He thought he was gonna sing to the Crime Commission.
1962		R. Cook Crust on its Uppers 142: We could go flying out into the wide skies and sing and sing.
1977		(con. 1960s) D. Goines Black Gangster (1991) 276: Somebody’s got to start singing.
1984		B. Ellem Doing Time 197: sing: to confess or act as an informer.
1989		S. Armitage ‘Eighties, Nineties’ Zoom 19: We agreed that the next time a priest was around [...] no one would sing to the soldiers.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 98: Even with the singing hooker zipped, the stakes have climbed.
1997		N. Barlay Curvy Lovebox 19: Ya sang to the fuckin’ rozzers.
2004		E. Weiner Drop Dead, My Lovely (2005) 199: I sang. I told him everything.
2013		K. Sampson Killing Pool 9: Let the Sambo sweat it in there a bit longer, he’ll soon start singing.
2018-20		T. Thorne (ed.) ‘Drill Slang Glossary’ at Forensic Linguistic Databank 🌐 Sing - confess to police.
2021		L. McInerney Rules of Revelation 320: J.P. would have said I’d sung for Medbh Lucey already, except, of course, I told her nothing she wanted to hear.

5. (also sing on) to inform (against), to betray.

1928		C. Panzram Journal of Murder in Gaddis & Long (2002) 115: They will sure break the law of the underworld and open up and sing grand opera.
1931–4		D. Clemmer Prison Community (1940) 335/2: sing, vi. To [...] complain.
1938		D. Runyon ‘Cemetery Bait’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 524: They will sing to the law on very slight provocation.
1947		F. Brown Fabulous Clipjoint (1949) 32: Putting out a few bucks here and there will get a song out of somebody who wouldn’t sing otherwise.
1949		J. Archibald ‘Dying to See Willie’ in Popular Detective Mar. 🌐 How long do you think I could keep goin’ straight [...] if I sang on everybody I knew, huh?
1952		(con. 1948) G. Mandel Flee the Angry Strangers 256: If they grab Buster he’ll sing like a choir.
1956		J. Curtis Look Long Upon a Monkey 34: You ain’t the kind to sing if you’ve decided no.
1959		Murtagh & Harris Who Live In Shadow (1960) 21: Every time they get me I sing them some song. I give them the name of every griefer or shoe-and-booter who hangs out in my joint.
1962		K. Orvis Damned and Destroyed 37: You like singing, sing my way! Who did it? Go on, talk.
1970		T. Parker Frying-Pan 46: Some people regard those [meetings] as licensed grassing sessions, they sing away, giving out information.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.
1996		(con. 1948) G. Pelecanos Big Blowdown (1999) 113: And while you’re singin’ about it, don’t forget to tell ’em about your sister.
1998		(con. 1986) G. Pelecanos Sweet Forever 131: Murphy is way too weak to make that kid sing.
1999		J. Cameron Brown Bread in Wengen [ebook] ‘Go talk to your straight up grass over there’ [...] Sitting down the corner was little Singing Simpson.
1998		P. McCabe Breakfast on Pluto 102: Every body decided he had given enough information — ‘sung enough’ as they said.
2013		E. Hagelstein ‘Vidalia’ in ThugLit Apr. [ebook] ‘You can sing your heart out, but no one will believe you’.
2018-20		T. Thorne (ed.) ‘Drill Slang Glossary’ at Forensic Linguistic Databank 🌐 Sing - betray one’s associates.
2021		Central Cee ‘Pinging’ 🎵 That boy got caught out slippin’ by the popo and he started singin’ (Oh no).

In phrases

sing (a) placebo (v.)

see under placebo n.

sing dumb (v.) (also sing dummy) [SE dumb/dummy n.¹ (1)]

(UK/US Und.) to say nothing (esp. under interrogation).

1829		N.-Y. Eve. Post 17 July 2/4: There is only one man that can injure me, and he is out of doors — & if you can persuade him to sing dumb there is not the least doubt but that you and myself will take a glass of good old Champain together on Saturday next.
1848		Ladies’ Repository (N.Y.) Oct. VIII:37 317/1: Sing Dummy, say nothing; make no answer.
1859		White Cloud Kansas Chief (KS) 27 Jan. 2/5: We advise the Nebraska papers to sing dumb.
1864		Newry Teleg. 28 Apr. 1/1: These successes have for the time caused the Attorney-General to sing dumb.
1878		Greenock Teleg. 25 Dec. 2/3: When such a calamity as the fall of Jellalabad is announced, they take to their heels and sing dumb.
1881		Greenock Teleg. 1 June 2/2: ‘If I speak you will not believe m,e and for that I will sing dumb’.
1890		Brooklyn Dly Eagle (NY) 25 Jan. 1/1: Its enemies are beginning to think ‘they had better sing dumb, ring dumb’.
1907		Dundalk Examiner 23 Mar. 8/1: When the prisoner was charged he sang dumb.
1915		Belfast News Letter 22 July 3/5: The Pig gave a disgruntled grunt, but otherwise ‘sang dumb’.
1922		News Herald (Franklin, PA) 11 Sept. 4/3: Let us all sing dumb about pending further massacres by the Turks.
1931		Scotsman 26 May 11/3: A true patriot he declared, was the man who sang dumb, but paid his taxes with a cheerful spirit.
1942		Dly Record (Lanarks) 24 Mar. 8/1: Mussolini [...] sang dumb on the 23rd anniversary of the Fascist party.
1952		Derry Jrnl 16 June 4/6: The trustees of the halls were priests, but they sang dumb when the question was put to them.
1969		Illus. London News 4 Jan. 8/1: Front-benchers sang dumb in the Chamber.
1984		Nanaimo Dly News (BC) 3 Mar. 4/1: Dick Winkleman sang dumb.

sing like a canary (v.) (also …a bird, …a lark, …a nightingale, …the birds, trill like a canary)

(UK Und.) to make a full confession to the police.

1931		W.N. Burns One-Way Ride 43: A stool pigeon’s been squawking. That bird’s been singing like a canary lately.
1969		Palm Beach Post (FL) 13 Oct. 11/1: A top-level source, having sung like a canary, left Paris.
1977		D. Powis Signs of Crime 177: Canary, sing like a Give information under pressure.
1978		F. Norman Dead Butler Caper 147: He’s a raving nut-case anyway, but he’s singing like a canary.
1979		F. Norman Too Many Crooks Spoil the Caper 195: Cuthbert had come out of his coma at last, and was singing like a canary.
1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 41: An inmate informant who tells prison authorities of illegal activities is referred to as singin’ like a bird.
1995		J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 111: Then he got the chaplain witness they promised no charges. So he trilled like a canary.
1998		P. McCabe Breakfast on Pluto 83: It was only a matter of time before he started singing like a canary.
1998		J. O’Connor Salesman 148: ‘Well, sir, y’jus sit the sumbitches down and ask ’em if they did it,’ he grinned, ‘and they sing like the goddamm birds. Pardon mah French.’.
2000		J. Hawes Dead Long Enough 253: The minute you smell anything like real danger [...] you run to the Guards and sing like fucking nightingales.
2001		P. McCabe Emerald Germs of Ireland 373: ‘Yes, Sergeant,’ he agreed, adding, ‘I’ll sing like a lark.’.
2008		Arizona Republican (Phoenix, AZ) 1 Aug. 2/6: ‘I was questioned by the feds, and i sung like a canary’.
2017		G. Gilmore Headland [ebook] Y‘ou [...] sing like a canary to bloke what you’ve never met before’.
2017		A. Parks Bloody January 198: ‘Sang like a canary. Don’t think he did it, though’.
2022		A. Parks May God Forgive 284: ‘For all they know, he’s singing away like a canary, naming Smart’.

sing more like a whore’s bird than a canary bird (v.)

see under whore n.

sing on (v.)

see sense 4 above.

sing out (v.) [sense 1 above, since it antedates sense 3 above + naut. jargon sing out, to call out; for cit. 1815, Scott offered a note in later edns: ‘To sing out, or whistle in the cage, is when a rogue, being apprehended, peaches against his comrades.’]

1. of a villain, on being arrested, to betray their accomplices.

1815

(con. 18C) Sir W. Scott Guy Mannering (1999) 149: She’ll sing out one of these odd-come-shortlies.

2. see sense 1 above.

3. see sense 2 above.

sing out beef (v.)

see under hot beef! excl.

sing psalms (v.)

var. on see stars under see v.

1807

J.R. Shaw Life and Travels 37: Giving me at the same time such a blow to the eye as made my head sing psalms.

sing small (v.)

to modify one’s speech, esp. when it had previously been arrogant and boastful.

1753		Richardson Sir Charles Grandison (1812) I 30: I must myself sing small in her company!
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: sing small to be humbled, confounded, or abashed, to have little or nothing to say for one’s-self.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1815		D. Humphreys Yankey in England 34: You needn’t stick your brussels up so high nuther, to make me sing small.
1819		‘One of the Fancy’ Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress 24: Poor GEORGY was done up in no time at all, / And his spunkiest backers were forc’d to sing small.
1824		R.B. Peake Americans Abroad I i: Don’t you stick your bristles up high to make me sing small.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. n.p.: To sing small to draw the horns in, be humbled.
1840		R. Barham ‘Row in an Omnibus’ in Ingoldsby Legends (1842) 216: So, after all / This terrible squall, / Fiddle-de-dee / ’s at the top of a tree, / And Doldrum, and Fal-de-ral-tit sing small.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open [as cit. 1835].
1857		H.S. Brown Manliness 17: When he is humiliated, he is [...] ‘made to sing small’.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1878		H.B. Stowe Poganuc People 24: You’d think [...] that he’d sing small at fust; but he don’t. Lordy massy, no! He comes right out with it that Parson Cushing ain’t no minister.
1884		Dundee Courier 13 June 7/5: ’You’d better sit down and sing small,’ said Fred.
1889		B. Mitford Fire Trumpet II 225: If he’s wise he’ll shut up fighting and come and sing small, and acknowledge he’s made an ass of himself.
1901		Bulletin (Sydney) 3 Aug. 31/2: In such a mixed crowd it is not like being with your own lot, and you must accordingly sing small.
1911		Gem 21 Oct. 19: It will make them sing small for once, anyhow.
1926		Boys’ Realm 16 Jan. 266: He would have to sing small to the magistrate.
1926		Wood & Goddard Dict. Amer. Sl. 48: sing small. To lower one’s demand; eat humble pie.
1927		‘Max Brand’ Pleasant Jim 55: You’ll sing small before you get out of this.
1956		J. Curtis Look Long Upon a Monkey 99: What the hell could he do? How was he to make this finger sing small and stop looking at him like a lump of dirt?

sing the blues (v.)

see under blues n.¹

SE in slang uses

In phrases

don’t sing it [one ‘sings’ an exaggerated tale]

don’t exaggerate.

1889–90

Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant.

sing ‘sweet violets’ (v.) [euph.]

to defecate.

1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1997		Roger’s Profanisaurus in Viz 87 Dec. n.p.: sing sweet violets euph. Airy alternative to building a log cabin (qv); to take a dump.

sing o-be-joyful (v.) (also sing oh-be-easy)

to pretend to satisfaction when one wants, in fact, to complain but dare not.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: O be joyfull, I’ll make you sing O be joyful, with or on the other side of your mouth, a threat, implying the party threatened will be made to cry.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

sing on (v.) [Carib.E. sing on, to sing a song or hymn with the intention of using its lyrics to mock a third party]

(W.I.) to gossip about.

1976

cited in Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage (1996).

sing the black psalm (v.)

usu. of children, to weep.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

sing the hallelujah chorus (v.)

(US prison) to be released from prison; to die in prison.

1992

Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 107: When an inmate is released from prison, he is referred to as singing the hallelujah chorus. Also can be used to mean an inmate who dies while in prison.

sing the office (v.)

see give (someone) the office under office n.