Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a milestone.

1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1902		H. Baumann Londinismen (2nd edn).

2. a tough(-looking) person or creature [SAusE slab, ‘a coarse, axe-hewn plank, two or three inches in thickness’ (OED)].

1838		Crim.-Con. Gaz. 8 Dec. 128/2: A knifey long slab cut and run sort of cove.
1849		Sam Sly 6 Jan. 3/2: He advises the ‘Long Slab’ who works at Ader——s's Coach Factory, B——w, to discharge his reckoning.
1872		‘Mark Twain’ Screamers (1875) 146: He hired a wooden-headed old slab to play the piano for him.
1884		Sporting Times 2 Aug. 1/3: Only noticable [at the races] a gardenia worn by a disoyal slab.
1890		Bulletin (Sydney) 12 July 13/3: ‘Do you know who that tall slab is?’ asked the swearer of the potman. ‘Know him, I should think I did; he’s the Bishop of Sydney.’ ‘Run after him, my boy, and tell him I’m sorry for swearing, and if he’ll come back I’ll stand a bottle of port.’.
1900–10		Stephens & O’Brien Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 143: SLAB: Aust. a tall spare person, a tall slab of a fellow.
1902		B. Espinasse ‘Dunno‘ in Bulletin Reciter n.p.: ’Member Jim? Long, lanky slab.
1907		Sun. Times (Perth) 27 Jan. 4/7: Take five-per-cent from a citizen short / And a slab who raps the roof.
1912		Sport (Adelaide) 24 Aug. 14/2: They Say [...] That The long slab doesn’t look a character when he’s on ‘pig’s ear’.
1920		B. Cronin Timber Wolves 326: Me run away? Why, you tea-swilling slab, I don’t run from nobody.
1929		K.S. Prichard Coonardoo 285: He had that long slab of prospector from the Bluff with him.
1975		(con. 1930s) H. Anderson Men of the Milford Road 197: What a fish! It was a rainbow and it was a ‘slab’.

3. a sandwich or bread.

1897		Kipling ‘Slaves of the Lamp Pt I’ Complete Stalky & Co. (1987) 70: ‘Well, that’s pretty average cool,’ said Abanazar behind a slab of cream and jam.
1924		G. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 417: Slab. Slice of bread.
1932		F. Jennings Tramping with Tramps 147: Rasher and fingers, a slab and a pint of thick!
1940		ABC Radio in S.J. Baker Aus. Lang. 83: For the uninitiated it may be explained that torpedoes and time bombs are pasties and pies; hot islands are hot potatoes in gravy; and splinters in fat with slabs and grease, are potato chips with bread and butter.
1944		in ‘Jiver’s Bible’ in D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive.
1982		N. Keesing Lily on the Dustbin 121: Australian sandwiches, if made of thick bread, are ‘doorsteps’ or ‘slabs’.

4. (US Und.) a shop display tray.

1904

Number 1500 Life In Sing Sing 259: Hoisting a slab of stones. Stealing a tray of diamonds.

5. (US) a restaurant.

1914

‘Lord Ballyrot in Slangland’ in Tacoma Times (WA) 8 Jan. 4/4: You ain’t the only starvin’ maniac in the slab what needs my gentle aid.

6. (US) a stretcher, an undertaker’s table.

1924		G. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 417: Slab. [...] Undertaker’s table.
1956		‘Toney Betts’ Across the Board 219: Captain Grogan had asked The Champ to leave the grounds and got a blunt answer, ‘You’ll have to take me out on a slab.’.
1974		C. Loken Come Monday Morning 120: His hands crossed over his belly like he was already on the slab.

7. (US) a small town.

1937		T. Thursday ‘Wild Whampoo of the Whampolo’ Blue Ribbon Sports Dec. 🌐 The blow-off came in a slab named Winford City, Arizona. [...] We are booked to play this slab for three days, see.
1940		T. Thursday ‘There’s Hicks In All Trades’ All Sports Feb. 🌐 I get a very welcome letter from my Uncle Ebenezer Merrifellow, up in a slab named Yipp Center, N.Y.

8. (US black) a bed.

1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS 484/2: slab [...] a bed. Early jive use c.1935.
1999		D. Lypchuk ‘A dirty little story’ in eye mag. 8 July 🌐 Of course, she had no idea that his shag slab was such a buttonhole factory.

9. (US) a highway.

1964

R.P. Warren Flood 227: We’ll give you a ninety-mile-an-hour ride out on the state slab to cool you off.

10. (US black) $1.

1983

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

11. in drug uses.

12. a case of 24 bottles or tins of beer.

1988		Canberra Times (ACT) 30 Apr. 14/2: Allegations have been made to me that the Young Libs [...] took away slabs of Fosters from the non-members bar.
1993		B. Moore Lex. of Cadet Lang. 347: slab a carton of two dozen cans of beer.
1999		P. Temple Black Tide (2012) [ebook] Two slabs of Vic Bitter buys off the whole field.
1999		Indep. Traveller 27 Nov. 12: Five refer to beer: coldie, quickie, slab, stubbie and tinnie.
2002		R.G. Barrett Mystery Bay Blues 18: How much did you get out of her bag, Les? Enough for a slab of piss?
2003		D. McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.
2012		L. Redhead ‘Grassed’ in Crime Factory: Hard Labour [ebook] Kyle spent all of the next morning shopping [...] wine and slabs of beer.
2015		L. McInerney Glorious Heresies 202: Tony arrived home with a slab of lager.
2020		G. Armstrong Young Team 10: The slab ae Tennent’s [lager] gits ripped open.
2021		P. Papathanasiou Stoning 111: ‘Twenty bucks a hit. Cheaper than a slab of piss’.

13. (US black) an automobile.

1996		UGK ‘That’s Why I Carry’ 🎵 Shit I seen a slab get stripped / The discs seats and sound gone.
2001		Jadakiss ‘What You Ride For?’ 🎵 We call ‘em slabs, in New York they call ‘em whips, nigga.
2011		Big K.R.I.T. ‘Rotation’ 🎵 The wheels on the slab go round and round.

14. (UK black) a block of flats.

2016

A. Wheatle Crongton Knights 6: ‘Tell them to remove their grimy, money-sucking asses from our slab!’.