Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US black) those days in a month on which welfare cheques are distributed.

2000

Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 first and the fifteenth Definition: the days of the month on which welfare checks are distributed. Example: That bitch only buys her shit on the first and the fifteenth.

see separate entries.

see under belly n.

see separate entries.

(W.I.) the first chance, the earliest opportunity.

1958

cited in Cassidy & LePage Dict. Jam. Eng. (1980).

see go-off n. (1)

see under line n.¹

(N.Z. prison) the team member who actually carries out a given crime.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 69/1: first man n. (in an organised criminal job) the person who carries out the actual crime, the perpetrator (cf. second man; third man).

(US) an outside lavatory.

1967

in DARE.

(US black) a one-time sexual encounter, unlikely to be repeated.

1983

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

(Aus./N.Z. prison/und.) one who is serving their first sentence in prison; thus second-timer; by ext. a naive innocent.

1881		Bulletin (Sydney) 8 Oct. 9/3: In Darlinghurst [...] No. 1 yard contains men convicted three times or more. No. 2, twice-convicted men; No. 3, what is called ‘firsttimers’.
1902		Bulletin (Sydney) 16 Aug. 25/1: Then one month’s confinement to the ‘Silvertail’ man, who is generally hypersensitive, equals six months to the ordinary criminal who, even if he is a ‘first-timer’ here has probably been ‘in’ somewhere else.
1921		D. Grant Through Six Gaols 48: I was, in the language of gaols, a ‘first-timer’. According to the generally accepted idea, as a ‘first-timer’ I should be guarded by the authorities from contamination with [sic] men who had grown old in crime [AND].
1949		J.F. Dwyer Leg-Irons on Wings 52: I would be taken to Goulbum Gaol, where all ‘first timers’ [...] served [AND].
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 70/1: First-time loser. A first offender; one who has not previously been convicted of a felony.
1978		H.C. Baker I was Listening 39: Nathan’s a first-timer in quod, isn’t he? [AND].
1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 First-timer. Name given to person in prison for the first time.
1999		D. Looser ‘Boob Jargon’ in NZEJ 13 29: first timer n.Innocent, naive person: most often used toward people doing their first sentence; otherwise used toward those who display that characteristic lack of knowledge about the world/prison environment.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 69/1: first timer n. an innocent, naive person, often serving his first sentence.
2006		B. Matthews Intractable [ebook] [A]lthough I was a ‘first-timer’ my prison record was not much better.

1. a prime suspect.

1991

M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read Chopper From The Inside 75: Judge Martin was the first cab off the rank.

2. the speediest one to react, the first one off the mark; thus next cab off the rank, the next in line, e.g. to arrive.

1953		Sporting Globe (Melbourne) 19 Aug. 12/3: I think that I will be I first cab off the rank and take my first Epsom and Metropolitan double.
1967		Bulletin 2 Sept. 5: If there’s a new idea, cult, or movement going, we’re amongst the first cabs off the rank.
1986		R. Beckett Dinkum Aussie Dict. 25: First cab off the rank: The person who is entitled to his or her reward because he or she is at the head of the queue. Sometimes this means that the person in question is the first to be sacked or shot.
1995		Hansard (Aus.) 2 May 49: We have said quite categorically that the VMOs are the first cab off the rank in savings right across the board in health.
2001		Wired News 12 Mar. 🌐 John Kane, spokesman for Afilias, the registry handling dot-info, says he fully expects dot-info to be the first cab off the rank of the seven new registry companies in entering the sunrise period.
2006		B. Matthews Intractable [ebook] Geoff Brown and Jimmy ‘Irish Jim’ Murray were next cabs off the rank.

3. (Aus.) one’s favoured choice.

1972		A. Chipper Aussie Swearers Guide 32: He never argies or lectures his passengers. He never swears. He never grumbles. To such passengers he would be first cab off the rank (their premier choice in popularity).
2009		P. Temple Truth 236: Now Mr Brendan O’Barry, emphasise he’s first cab, be breathless. Pant a lot.

4. one’s primary interest.

1983

R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 9: A few sherberts was to be the next cab off the rank.

5. the first to do something.

2005

B. Hetzel Chance And Commitment 246: [I] was hardly in a position to decline when with that innocent smile of his he then proposed that I should be the first cab off the rank.

see under bat n.²

at once, immediately, at the first attempt.

1895		Philadelphia Inquirer (PA) 9 Sept. 7/6: ‘Well, sa-ay, I wuz onter him frum der fist rattle out’n the box’.
1899–1900		C.L. Cullen Tales of the Ex-Tanks 105: We were going to get those railroad tickets first rattle out of the box.
1904		G.V. Hobart Jim Hickey 22: Early this morning I was up, and the first crack out of the box I ran into Sam Bishop.
1907		‘Hugh McHugh’ Beat It 87: First flop out of the box Mrs. Grimshaw [...] told Aunt Martha that exercise was the only thing to keep down the weight.
1907		J.C. Lincoln Cape Cod 85: I heard how you’d rung the bell the first shot out the box and was rolling in coin [DARE].
1908		K. McGaffey Sorrows of a Show Girl Ch. iv: If anybody did any shooting to save your life he’ll get the chair the first throw out of the box.
1908		N.Y. Eve. Journal 4 Mar. in Fleming Unforgettable Season (1981) 26: Luther [...] knocked off Bresnahan’s dicer the first crack out of the box.
1912		D. Lowrie My Life in Prison 54: Dat poor kid gets fifty th’ first rattle outer th’ box.
1914		H.R. Garis Dick Hamiliton’s Airship 🌐 ‘You’re not taking a very cheerful view of it,’ retorted Innis, ‘to think that you’re going to come a smash the first shot out of the locker.’.
1916		Day Book (Chicago) 24 Jan. 19/2: ‘Bet [...] I hit that sign nigh in the shed first shot out of the box!’ bragged one of the tramps.
1922		P.A. Rollins Cowboy 79: The dicer’s ‘at the very first rattle out of the box’ expressed prompt action.
1927		C. Drew ‘Grafter and Goose’ in Bulletin (Sydney) 11 Aug. n.p.: ‘Fancy harpooning a tenner first crack out of the box [...] ‘A streak of luck all right’.
1928		C. Panzram Journal of Murder in Gaddis & Long (1970) 34: The first crack out of the box after school opened up I gave the preacher-teacher warning to lay off me.
1933		J.T. Farrell Gas-House McGinty 186: You know first crack out of the box on the night me and my wife got married, we connected.
1933		Bulletin (Sydney) 6 Sept. 40/4: ‘Supposin’ that ape of yours meets someone better than himself first crack out of the box and turns out to be a dud?’.
1939		Wodehouse Uncle Fred in the Springtime 240: ‘That I should have found you first crack out of the box like this is the one bit of goose I have experienced in the course of a sticky evening’.
1949		Wodehouse Mating Season 44: It was a dashed shame that he should have drawn something like Uncle Charlie first crack out of the box.
1950		WELS [DARE].
1965–70		in DARE.
1992		R. Price Clockers 526: First bang out of the box and he’d given Jimmy what he wanted.
2001		J.W. Kutchin How Mitchell Energy and Development Corp. Got Its Start 616: Actually, we bought 10 the first rattle out of the box because we found that many opportunities.
2001		T. Fensch Television News Anchors 85: And the very first crack out of the box, the first social occasion we went to, we were sitting on the porch of this rich sponsor down there.
2013		J. Lansdale http://www.nightmare-magazine.com Dec. 🌐 I wrote an article with my mom [...] and sold it first crack out of the box, and then I sold every nonfiction article that I wrote, and I thought, ‘Well, this is easy’.
2018		‘Aidan Truhen’ Price You Pay 100: [P]lease consider your answer real carefully, take your time and get it right first time out of the box.

(orig. US) a phr. meaning at the outset, to start with.

1880		‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abroad 193: First-off, I thought it would certainly give me the botts.
1897		W.D. Howells Landlord at Lion’s Head 445: Fust off, you know, I thought I’d sell to the other feller, because I could see in a minute what a thorn it’d be in Jeff’s flesh.
1907		W.M. Raine Bucky O’Connor (1910) 39: Four’s right. First off Neil, then the fellow I took to be the Wolf .
1929		E. Caldwell Bastard (1963) 40: I took a liking to the cutie first off.
1951		L. Brown Iron City 94: ‘First off,’ Faulcon said, ‘how many of you-all knows that good old church song, ‘I Been Tramping’?’.
1975		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell and the Three-card Trick (1977) 146: First off — here’s your dough.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 53: ‘First off,’ he continued, ‘the Club Utopia was insured.’.
1995		J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 16: First off I went round Sherry’s that same night.

excellently, very well.

1842		A.J. Allen Ten Years in Oregon (1848) 154: Esquire Crocker wishes me to say that he likes sleeping out of doors on a single blanket, very well; and feeding on fat buffalo meat alone, first rate [DA].
1890		S.O. Jewett Strangers 9: I liked Tobin first-rate [DA].
1907		W.M. Raine Bucky O’Connor (1910) 118: I’d like first-rate to take you, if you want to go.

(US black) a railroad train.

1942

Z.N. Hurston ‘Story in Harlem Sl.’ in Novels and Stories (1995) 1008: First thing smoking: a train.

(Aus.) usu. in horse-racing, for the first time, at the first try.

1905		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 13 Dec. 1/3: Wins First Up. Mereworth [...] succeeded in winning for his new owner at the first time of asking.
1910		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 20 July 1/2: Wins First Up. For Gay Hampton's initial attempt over hurdles he acquitted himself remarkably well on Saturday.
1923		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 17 Oct. 6/4: Very few men have acquired the art of getting a horse well enough to win ‘first up’.
1930		Referee (Sydney) 1 Jan. 7/4: [pic. caption] Won First Up. Although Carat was having his first run on Saturday [...] he was not troubled to win.
1941		Sun. Mail (Brisbane) 1 June 13/8: Racehorse owner M. Dann, [...] scored a first-up win with his latest purchase Milanja.
1945		Baker Aus. Lang.