Green’s Dictionary of Slang

see three balls n. (1)

see separate entry.

see three balls n. (1)

1. as used by churchmen, bright, brief and brotherly, three precepts for a good service, in all of which the younger clergy felt that the very conservative contemporary church was distinctly lacking.

1909

J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 244/2: Three B’s, The (Clerical). Bright, brief, and brotherly – the modern protest against the sleepy nature of a majority of the 19th century church services.

2. (Aus.) burn, bash and bury, what should be done with rubbish that accumulates in the outback.

2004

J.R. Weber Wilderness Chef 10: Campers practiced the three Bs of wilderness cleanup: Burn, Bash and Bury.

3. (US gay) blow job, bed and breakfast; also attrib. [blow job n.¹ (1)].

1967		J. Rechy Numbers (1968) 64: Lots of the guys here, they go for the three-B’s scene — you know, blow-job, bed, breakfast.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 196: three B’s 1. the limits of the gay ghetto: bars, baths and beaches 2. (hustler sl) blow job, bed and breakfast.

(US) a pawnbroker.

1899–1900		C.L. Cullen Tales of the Ex-Tanks 75: Various sums which a three-bulb plant in San Francisco had dished out to me for my sundry and diverse De Beers shiners.
1902		C.L. Cullen More Ex-Tank Tales 32: I’d always have half a dozen or so of the blankets scattered around at the three-bulb plants.

(US black) the police.

1980

E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 66: The vehicles and flashing lights that identify their continuous presence in the lives of blacks (black and white, salt and pepper, three eyes, three-bullet-Joey).

see three-card monte n.

see separate entry.

(US) a drink costing three cents.

1842

N.Y. Arena 27 May 1/6: Hitched up this morning, stepped into Cronly’s and got a three center, mounted my box, no sooner got well seated than I was hailed by an old customer.

(W.I.) insignificant, unimportant, worthless.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

a procuress, a bawd.

1601

‘The Merie Ballad of Nash His Dildo’ in Farmer Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) I 15: With that, stept forth a foggy three-chinde dame, / that usd to take younge wenches for to tame.

see Fenian n.

1. (Aus.) of a quadruped, usu. a horse, awkwardly shaped, scraggy, weak.

1859		Cornwall Chron. (Launceston, Tas.) 15 Jan. 2/6: ‘Promised Land’ [...] is now a leggy, three-cornered sort of a horse.
1860		Bell’s Life in Sydney 28 July 2/6: I see a mob of such colts or horses [...] not as the get of any thoroughbred horse, but as belonging to the family of some three-cornered wretch.
1884		Sporting Times 27 Sept. 2/5: [of a young man] He was the most three-cornered brute he’d ever encountered.
1886		Brisbane Courier 13 Aug. 3/2: Now come the horses [...] He is followed by the three-cornered beggar.
1890		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer III 109: Sell every three-cornered wretch of ’em – a set of upright-shouldered, useless mongrels – directly you get a chance.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 22 Dec. 12/4: The sordid part of the transaction is that the pampered tyke was chawed to death by a three-cornered mongrel belonging to a livery-stable man.
1909		Northern Miner (Qld) 3 Apr. 5/4: Russell’s Horse Sale [...] the great majority of which were of no class, aged, three-cornered, or too dear.
1921		Mail (Adelaide) 29 Oct. 11/6: We may attain the ideal by using only stock that will improve those three-cornered cattle and scrubby horses.

2. of anything, misshapen, ill-fitting; fig. use naive, stupid.

1948

N. Nye Breed of the Chaparral (1949) 24: A kid in three-cornered pants would know better’n let this guy git in gunshot of ’im!

see scraper n. (2)

the gallows, esp. the great ‘triple tree’ at Tyburn.

1654		in Witts Recreations n.p.: And from the fruit of the three corner’d tree, Vertue and goodness still deliver me [F&H].
1872		(con. late 18C) C. Hindley Old Bk Collector’s Misc. 13: A TREE WITH THREE CORNERS.— The gallows at Tyburn.

(UK public school) Christianity, Cold bath and Cricket.

1946

(con. 1912) B. Marshall George Brown’s Schooldays 106: No bullying and no unhealthy affections. At other schools perhaps, but not at Dunmere where we practise the three C’s.

see third degree n. (1)

a young man who poses as a gentleman but lacks the savoir-faire, not to mention the funds.

1909

J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.

(US) anyone or anything eccentric or odd; also used as a comparative denoting eccentricity (see cit. 1965).

1964		Lavender Lex. n.p.: three dollar bill:– A queer, a phony.
1965		B. Jackson Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 155: In the first interview the nut doctors knew / she was as freakish as a three-dollar bill.
1972		Eble Campus Sl. Oct. 6: three-dollar-bill – a strange person.
1983		N. Heard House of Slammers 89: Sixty-nine Lil with Three-dollar Bill.
1989		A. Vachss Hard Candy (1990) 14: She knew a three-dollar bill when she saw one.
1996		Eble Sl. and Sociability 59: Derogatory epithets abound, for example [...] tang, three dollar bill, tool, twerp, twink.

(US black) the police.

1980

E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 257: three eyes Police (especially in squad cars).

one who has a short penis.

1593

Shakespeare Taming of the Shrew IV i: curt.: Away, you three-inch fool! I am no beast. gru.: Am I but three inches? why, thy horn is a foot; and so long am I at the least.

a male homosexual.

1979		Maledicta III:2 244: CB radio slang, for example, calls these ‘good buddies’ three-legged beavers.
1997		Roger’s Profanisaurus in Viz 87 Dec. n.p.: three legged beaver euph. Homosexual.

the gallows.

1654

New Brawle 3: If there be a destiny in Marriage and hanging, would I had wedded the three-legg’d bride at Hidepark corner.

the gallows.

1627

J. Taylor ‘An Armado’ in Works (1869) I 77: The three legged instrument near Paddington.

the gallows, esp. the ‘triple tree’ at Tyburn.

1688		‘The Reading Skirmish’ in Ebsworth Bagford Ballads (1878) I 375: They call a thing a Three-Legged Mare; / where they will fit each Neck with a Noose.
1696		Motteux (trans.) Gargantua and Pantagruel (1927) II Bk V 514: Your gaol-birds, who, having done some rogue’s trick or other heinous villainy, and being sought up and down to be [...] made to ride the two or three-legged mare that groans for them.
1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: three legg’d stool, or three-legg’d Mare Tyburn.
1728		J. Dalton Narrative of Street-Robberies 23: They are likely to stop there, till they appear before their twelve God-fathers, and are from thence remov’d to the three legged Mare, on which they must all ride to old Charon’s Ferry-Boat.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. 1725].
1785		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Three-legged mare, or stool. The gallows, formerly consisting of three posts, over which were laid three transverse beams.
1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (3rd edn) n.p.: Acorn. You will ride a horse foaled by an acorn, i.e. the gallows, called also the Wooden and Three-legged Mare. You will be hanged.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1834		(con. 1737–9) W.H. Ainsworth Rookwood (1857) 183: ‘Here’s to the three-legged mare,’ cried Peter.
1862		E. de la Bédollière Londres et les Anglais 318/2: three legged mare, [...] le gibet, qui se composait autrefois de trois poteaux plantés en triangle et réunis par des traverses.
1864		Glasgow Herald 17 Dec. 2/2: The dread ‘Tyburn tree’ [...] was for a long time, a fixed gallows of triangular form, and was called in derision, the ‘three-legged mare,’ or the ‘three-footed stool’.
1879		Essex Newsman 1 Feb. 3/5: He was on a lay that is likely to endin a ride on the three-legged mare that was foaled by an acorn.
1898		(ref. to 1783)Cornishman 3 Nov. 6/4: On the Friday of the next month [...] Tyburn’s ‘triple tree’ or ’three-legged mare’ ceased its dread work.

(orig. US campus) euph. for a homosexual [the letters were orig. f-a-g, now g-a-y].

[1940		‘Digg Mee’ ‘Observation Post’ in N.Y. Age 14 Dec. 10/5: I referred to him as the ‘fay’ [...] He thought it was synonymous with another three-letter word beginning with ‘f’ and ending with ‘g’].
1941		J.G. Rothenberg ‘Peanuts! The Pickle Dealers’ in AS XVI:3 Oct. 190: Three-letter man — F-A-G.
1966		Trimble 5000 Adult Sex Words and Phrases.
1977		Maledicta 1 (Summer) 16: The disliked person is accused of being a fag (or Three-Letter Man), a faggot, a fairy, a pansy, a queer, a fruit .
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 140: To call someone a three-letter man is another way of saying he is a f-a-g.

(Aus.) rough liquor, drunk in the Australian outback.

1903

Bulletin (Sydney) 15 Oct. 21/3: The liquor that is swallowed round about Behind-Beyond-Back-o’-Out-Back is locally known as ‘Three-M’s.’ Mulga Mat explained to me that this name is an apt abbreviation of Mulga Madness Mixture.

(US short order) three butter cakes.

1887

‘Dict. of Diningroom Sl.’ in Brooklyn Daily Eagle 3 July 13: ‘Three on,’ three butter cakes.

see separate entries.

(UK und.) a three-month sentence.

1838

‘Paul Pry’ Oddities of London Life I 204: The boy [...] whispered to the gaoler ‘they arn’t a going to “fully” me, are they?’ ‘You are knocked down for three pennerth at the mill, and no mistake,’ answered the gaoler.

see suit n.¹ (3)

1. the male genitals.

c.1935		‘Mae West in “The Hip Flipper”’ [comic strip] in B. Adelman Tijuana Bibles (1997) 97: His Nibs is ready to surrender the family jewels to our Lotta, especially that three piece set he’s got up Lotta’s flue right now.
1984		Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 1224/1: [...] later C.20.
2015		spitalfieldslife.com 19 Nov. 🌐 When you had grown-ups’ trousers altered, the legs were very wide so you had to be careful not show your three piece when wearing them.

2. thus a term of abuse.

1952

(con. 1920s) ‘Harry Grey’ Hoods (1953) 133: Them bastards are a real three-piece set.

a coffin.

1879		North-Eastern Dly Gaz. 5 Sept. 4/4: Deceased said [...] he wished he had his three planks (coffin). He fell to the ground in a fit.
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.
[1934		Courier-Post (Camden, NJ) 17 Dec. 2/7: He [...] told his mother to buy three planks for his coffin, as he would die the following day].

pertaining to the street-corner.

1966

B. Jackson Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 126: Now I was standing up on the corner of Hollywood and Grand, / leaning up against the lamp-post in a three-point stand.

one who drinks sixpennyworth of gin, with bitters, a shot of lime juice and soda.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 1224/1: three-or-four-point drinker [...] since ca. 1925; by end of 1945, ob.

(US black) an urban street corner; thus three-pointer of the ace trill in the twirling top, any corner of 7th Avenue in Harlem.

1944

D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 12: I nixes my pad, drops the twister on the keep, and collars a light broom down the cruncher to the lushpad on the three pointer. [Ibid.] 18: Two cats [...] were stashed on the flag spot on the three pointer of the ace trill in the twirling top.

(US gay) a heterosexual woman.

1972

B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 81: a straight woman; any woman [...] three-ring circus.

a petty criminal.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 1224/1: [...] since ca. 1950: c. >, by 1965, low s.

see under screw n.¹

see separate entries.

a penis.

1841		‘Toasts And Sentiments’ in Gentleman’s Spicey Songster 48: Here’s three squares for the girls of our hearts.
1842		‘The Long Three Square!’ in Nobby Songster 24: The boys of Kilkenny have three squares so long.

three square meals, regular eating.

1905		F. Hutchison Philosophy of Johnny the Gent 63: ‘Chances are he’s sidestepped two out o' three roll calls at the feed trough all summer [...] but do you think you could drag him out o’ that hand-book joint an’ show him where he can gather three squares’.
1913		J. London Valley of the Moon (1914) 418: It’d mean work all day, three squares, an’ movie’ pictures for recreation.
1919		Eve. News (Harrisburg, PA) 3 Sept. 8/6: I’m a slave of a tyrant called Three-Square A-Day.
1926		L.A. Times Sun. Mag. 13 June 24/1: The style for three ‘squares’ a day [...] has clung in our customs and habits.
1948		Spokane Chron. (WA) 11 May 4/2: I like m y three squares a day as well as the next man.
1957		M. Shulman Rally Round the Flag, Boys! (1959) 169: Three squares and a flop, nothing to do, free medical care [etc.].
1967		in S. Harris Hellhole 181: If Morrie took me on I’d be sure of three squares a day.
1970		D. Ponicsan Last Detail 32: I love the goddam navy. I get three squares, a pad to lie down on.
1996		(con. 1949) G. Pelecanos Big Blowdown (1999) 146: Terminal drunks and dopers looking for a permanent three-square, bedwetters crying for attention.
2000		B. Wiprud Sleep with the Fishes 22: He [...] could land enough [fish] for three squares.
2011		F. Bill ‘Coon Hunter’s Noir’ in Crimes in Southern Indiana [ebook] Hed get three squares a day.

(US black) an Adidas trainer.

2002		Lil Wayne ‘Look at Me’ 🎵 T-shirt white, three stripes with all ice.
2008		Reks ‘Grey Hairs’ 🎵 I wanted to rock them three stripes, Timbs, and Nikes.

(UK Und., threepence; US) three cents.

1648		Dekker ‘Canters Dict.’ Eng. Villainies (9th edn) n.p.: Tree-wins, Three pence.
1674		Head Canting Academy (2nd edn).
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Treewins, c. Threepence.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum 89: threswins Three cents or pence.
1908		Baltimore Sun (MD) 20 Sept. 17/5: ‘Threeswins’ are puzzling.

‘half common ale, mixed with stale and double beer’ (Grose).

1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn) n.p.: Three Threads. Half common ale, mixed with stale and double beer.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1859		(ref. to c.1700) G.A. Sala Twice Round the Clock 208: Burnt brandy and flowing ‘Winchesters’ [...] of ‘powerful three thread’ — our modern porter.
1904		Belfast News-Letter 15 June 6: Some old names for [...] beer are curious [...] ‘Three threads’ was a drink consisting of half of ale, half of stout.

1. (orig. US Und.) a prisoner who has been convicted of three crimes worthy of a prison sentence and faces a life sentence or execution if convicted a fourth time (cf. two-time loser n.).

1908		J. Kelley Thirteen Years in Oregon Penitentiary 81: Pat came back again; he was a three-time loser.
1914		Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Sl. 56: loser [...] current amongst prison habitues. An ex-convict. [...] Examples: ‘Three-time losers cop life in some states.’.
1945		R.L. Bellem ‘Dead Don’t Dream’ in Hollywood Detective July 🌐 He was doing a life stretch; he was a three-time loser.
1947		Amer. Record Guide 295: I’m A Three-time Loser and For You; Capitol 40055. ... I’m A Three-time Loser is best musically because it is a good blues, but it lacks the Negroid style.
1953		‘William Lee’ Junkie (1966) 43: George was a three-time loser. The next time meant life as an habitual criminal.
1965		C. Brown Manchild in the Promised Land (1969) 437: I never saw Rock again after that. He got busted again, and he was a three-time loser.
1972		Newcastle Eve. Crhon. 18 June 16/2: [headline] ‘Frenzy’ and the three-time loser.
1983		A-Team Storybook 47: You don’t want to be a three time loser.
1994		T. Willocks Green River Rising 132: Myers was a weary three-time loser from Brownsville. Armed robbery and assault.
1997		E. Little Another Day in Paradise 258: Gonna take a big bounce on this one. Three-time loser.
2020		D. Winslow ‘Paradise’ in Broken 241: Tim Kearney [...] was a three-time loser, a B&E artist whose greatest skill was getting caught.

2. a failure, a social inadequate [fig. use of sense 1 + ext. of loser n. (1)].

1987		R. Campbell Alice in La-La Land (1999) 38: Jen, gimme a break. Your old dad’s gonna be a three-time loser.
1997		N. Barlay Curvy Lovebox 67: He’s a three time loser from Willesden who came to Camden like it was Miami.
2000		Kerryman 25 Feb. 22/2: It was to be Mrs Horan’s day. No way did she want to be a three-time loser.

(US) a lucky person or thing.

1904		Wash. Post 4 Sept. 12/6: Never doubting but that he had, in his pure white kite [...] a ‘three-time winner.’.
1908		H. Green Maison De Shine 286: Blamed ef you ain’t a three-time winner, kiddoo!

the gallows.

1567		Trial of Treasure Biii: That thou are not erected in faith it is pittie, As hie as three trees, and a halter will reache.
1582		N. Breton Toyes of an Idle Head 28: For commonly such knaves as these Doe end their lyves vpon three trees .

(Aus.) a (fraudulent) gambling game based on the tossing of three coins.

1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 11: Three-up - A low gambling game by tossing up three pennies or other coins and crying to them.
1889		Dead Bird (Sydney) 28 Dec. 5/2: [He] was wheeled to the station by a three-up player, who entered a charge against him [...] of stealing his joint.

see separate entries.

an intense but brief sexual relationship.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 1224/2: [...] ca. 1907–14.

(Anglo-Irish) a stone weighing approx. 36kg (3lb), used as a weapon.

1827

P. Cunningham New South Wales II 63: Bludgeons, brick-bats, ‘three-year olds,’ and fists, being all legalised in these turn-ups.

see put in one’s two cents’ (worth) under two cents’ worth n.

futile, pointless (if noisy) talk.

1718		M. Prior Alma in Works (1959) I i 471: (They speak With small Respect of that old greek) That, putting all his Words together, ’Tis Three blew Beans in One blew Bladder.
1847		Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 9 Oct. 2/5: Who can be insensible to wit like this? It beats ‘three blue beans in one blue bladder’.
1854		London Dly News 26 Aug. 3/4: The style I apprehend, sir, is what the learned Scribblerus would call ‘rigmarole’ in logic [...] and in vulgar acceptation ‘Three blue beans in a blue bladder’.
1868		Eddowes’s Jrnl 29 Apr. 5/4: The style, I appreehend, Sir, is [...] in vulgar acception, three blue beans in a blue bladder.
1944		(con. 1844) Scotsman 27 Jan. 4/2: One receiving this [Walter] Scott endorsed it: ‘French Eloge. Moonshine in water. Three blue beans in a blue bladder’.

1. (US) not very intelligent, slightly eccentric, odd. One of a number of phrs. meaning stupid or eccentric.

1974		R. Blount About Three Bricks Shy of a Load [title].
1976		Bakersfield Californian (CA) 21 Nov. 21/4: ‘He’s three bricks shy of barrel.’ This means he doesn’t have all his marbles or ‘he’s three bricks shy of a load’ or that ‘his traces ain’t hooked up right’.
1989		Dly Trib. (Waisconsin Rapids, WI) 16 Nov. 6/1: If you want to call someone dumb [...] the thesaurus offers [...] ‘three bricks shy of a load’.
1993		Pittsburgh Post-Gaz. (PA) 12 Nov. 32/5: ‘Bran’s about three bricks shy of a load,’ Gelzheiser offered.
2000		Austin Chronicle 10 Nov. 🌐 He’s still half-submerged in his childhood, haunted and strangely nurtured by memories of his abusive, sexually freaky, three-bricks-shy-of-a-load mama.
2008		D.R. Pollock ‘Lard’ in Knockemstiff 87: Lard was a couple of bricks shy of a load.
2014		S.A. Cosby ‘Grandpa’s Place’ in ThugLit Sept. [ebook] Tony’s mom, who was already a few bricks shy of a load, went completely bonkers.

2. (US) inadequate.

1982

Press & Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton, NY) 11 May 21/2: The Whalers gave it everything they had. They simply came up three bricks shy of a load against a New Brunswick team with the right touch.

a cigarette.

1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1893		Wkly Standard (Blackburn) 29 July 5/4: When they are not singing and dancing, its three draws, three puffs and a spit.
1907		Democrat & Chron. (Rochester, NY) 29 Sept. 10/4: The now familiar cigarette was dignified on occasion of its first intrudctrion into Enland by the appellation ‘three draws and a spit’.
1914		‘Bartimeus’ ‘A Gunroom Smoking Circle’ in Naval Occasions 40: Cigarettes were all very well in their way: ‘two draws and a spit’ snatched during stand-easy in the forenoon.

(UK prison) living three to a cell.

1977		G.F. Newman Villain’s Tale 136: The cells were more crowded, everyone was threed up, some even four to a cell.
1984		Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 1224/2: [...] C.20.

a coach-horn.

1876

H.E. Malet Annals of the Road 34: The coach-horn, ' the three feet of tin,' was placed in a loop on the offside of the coach.

a street urchin.

1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 244/2: Three a’porth o’ gordepus (Streets’). A street Arab.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 103/1: sixpence worth of God help me waiting at the chemist’s door for relief said of somebody looking seedy, in need of a pickme-up, pre-WWII.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

see under hot n.

see two shakes of a lamb’s tail phr.

(US) sausage.

1897

(ref. to 1880s) L.A. Times 9 Apr. 5: ‘This slang runs from “three links of the Atlantic cable” (meaning sausage,) to “San Francisco bay, one small boat half sunk” (cocktail,) and back again,’ said a ‘traveling hash,’ who has been in the business about twelve years.

(Aus.) a packet of condoms, usu. containing three.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 1224/1: since ca. 1925.

see two shakes of a lamb’s tail phr.

(US black) a phr. of dismissal, disinterest.

1983

R. Klein Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.].

homosexual, in the eyes of the speaker, exceptionally or ostentatiously so.

1965

Guild Dict. Homosexual Terms 32: nine-dollar bill (n.): An unredeemable homosexual, being three times as queer as a three-dollar bill.

(US black) 21, i.e. legally adult in USA.

1926		Blind Lemon Jefferson ‘Corinna Blues’ 🎵 I done told you woman, I’ve been tellin’ your partner too / You’re three times seven, and you know what you wanna do.
1934		Z.N. Hurston Jonah’s Gourd Vine (1995) 7: Ahm three times seben and uh button.
1970		G. Cain Blueschild Baby 95: ‘I’m three times seven and don’t need anybody telling me how to live this one, you ain’t my father’.