Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US) 1000, usu. dollars or pounds; thus half-(a-)grand, $500.

1909		F.H. Tillotson How I Became a Detective 89: A ‘grand’ is a thousand dollars.
1915		G. Bronson-Howard God’s Man 376: Yes, sir, one great chance to grab ourselves about a hundred grands – grands, I said, grands.
1926		D. Hammett ‘Assistant Murderer’ in Nightmare Town (2001) 141: I’ve been slipped half a grand to bump off the girl.
1926		N. Lucas London and its Criminals 34: When they got back she put the screw on him to the tune of a ‘grand’.
1928		J. Callahan Man’s Grim Justice 38: I should [...] accuse him of trying to make my wife and then demand five gran (five thousand dollars) hush money. [Ibid.] 98: We didn’t expect to get over eight or ten gran.
1930		R. Whitfield Green Ice (1988) 69: Two hundred grand is a lot of coin.
1931		C.B. Yorke ‘Snowbound’ in Gangster Stories Oct. n.p.: ‘Here’s the money [...] Five grand, cash’.
1931		W.N. Burns One-Way Ride 32: He squandered [...] ‘grands,’ which were $1,000 bills.
1937		B. Dai Opium Addiction in Chicago 200: Half a Grand $500.000 in paper money.
1938		J.E. O’Donnell ‘Overcoat Bennie’ in Mss. from the Federal Writers’ Project 🌐 ‘Well, rat,’ Jimmy snarled and whipped out the necklace, ‘hand over thirty five gran, quick, or I’ll fill you full of lead.’.
1949		W.R. Burnett Asphalt Jungle in Four Novels (1984) 234: You can have a grand, all right. But no rocks for me.
1950		S.J. Baker in Sun. Herald (Sydney) 8 June 9/3: The underworld has an extensive vocabulary of financial terms. Among those recorded by Detective Doyle are: [...] ‘spot’ or ‘century,’ £100; ‘monkey,’ £500; ‘grand,’ £1,000.
1956		I. Fleming Diamonds Are Forever (1958) 100: I’ll wire you a Grand, the Grand you won off of me.
1959		C. Himes Crazy Kill 86: You were going to put up ten grand for him to open that store.
1961		(con. 1920s) J. Sparks Burglar to the Nobility 71: When she learned that I’d disposed of all that eight grand, she had a good deal to say.
1973		D. Goines Street Players 105: I could just see you putting up ten grand without us coming up with no money.
1978		P. Theroux Picture Palace 37: Some characters have lenses that cost three grand, maybe more.
1983		J. Sullivan ‘Wanted’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] He reckons he’ll do it for a grand.
1983		J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 36: ‘The whole deal is gonna cost a grand, exact’.
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 48: For fifteen grand they don’t ask, they hire lawyers.
1996		P. Temple Bad Debts (2012) [ebook] Give me the gun back and I’ll tell you where to find ten grand [...] Ten grand. Notes. Old notes.
1999		Observer 10 Jan. 14: Offer the middleman two grand and see what happens.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 5: A kilo of very high-grade snorting cocaine [...] is gonna cost the guy I sell it to twenty-seven and a half grand.
2006		B. Matthews Intractable [ebook] We only got a couple of grand.
2011		S. Kelman Pigeon English 48: A grand is a thousand.
2015		I. Welsh Decent Ride 129: A hundred grand for a fuckin boatil ay whisky...?
2017		L. McInerney Blood Miracles : Nathalie skimmed ten percent per pill off the top and left me and her with twenty-five grand.
2019		G. Disher Peace 33: ‘[K]nocked off a bookie [...] got away with close to thirty grand’.
2020		A. Parks Bobby March Will Live Forever 302: ‘[S]he’s gone now [...] And she’s taken fifteen fucking grand of my money with her’.
2023		M. Herron Secret Hours 13: [P]lus a grand in cash and two prepaid credit cards worth 5,000 US dollars and 5,000 euros.

2. as sense 1 but yards or metres.

2003

A. Swofford Jarhead 194: [T]he battalion refuses to supply fire support [...] not even a goddamn .50 caliber machine gun sitting on a ridge, two grand back.