Green’s Dictionary of Slang

digs n.1

[SE diggings, the mining districts of Australia and California, first adopted in lodgings sense by UK actors/diggings n.]

(orig. Aus.) temporary rented accommodation, thus any living place.

[UK]Stage 11 May 16/2: ‘Being in the know’ regarding the best ‘digs’ can only be attained by experience [OED].
T.J. Henry Claude Garton 11: ‘I'll also help you to find "digs"—short for “diggings” you know’.
[UK]A.N. Lyons Hookey 26: You live in a bedroom and call it your ‘digs’.
[Aus]Queenslander 22 Feb. 44/5: As we were now coining money, I would change my ‘digs’ and try some swagger [...] pension in Bayswater.
[US]Rising Sun 8 Jan. 1/1: Look where we sleep — this little shanty ’ere [...] we can proudly point to this, ‘Our digs’.
[UK]T. Norman Penny Showman 26: I [...] took him to the digs.
[UK]J. Curtis They Drive by Night 239: Yes? What do you want? Looking for digs?
[UK]S. Jackson An Indiscreet Guide to Soho 55: The aura of provincial ‘digs’ clings to them.
[UK]A. Sillitoe Sat. Night and Sun. Morning 71: Where’s your digs, mate? Where do yer live?
[Aus]‘Geoffrey Tolhurst’ Flat 4 King’s Cross (1966) 101: ‘I moved out of my digs last night, and my things are in the cloakroom at Central Station’.
[Ire](con. 1950s) J. Healy Death of an Irish Town 53: He will merely go home to a drab digs in Camden Town.
[UK]T. Parker Frying-Pan 141: A week in digs it’ll be for me on my own.
[US]S. King Stand (1990) 665: It was very cool to say ‘I dig your digs’.
[Aus]R.G. Barrett You Wouldn’t Be Dead for Quids (1989) 145: ‘Not bad digs you got here,’ said Norton. The suite was about three times as big as Les’s.
[WI]S. Selvon Eldorado West One 107: Your new digs! What a change from that dingy basement room, eh!
[Aus]P. Doyle (con. late 1950s) Amaze Your Friends (2019) 53: She had a quick glance round the new digs, was not greatly impressed.
[UK]Indep. Rev. 28 June 1: I was taken to London to find digs in the Finchley Road.
[US]C. Goffard Snitch Jacket 62: I can’t argue with rent-free digs.
[US]L. Berney Gutshot Straight [ebook] ‘Fancy digs [...] Overhead must butt-fuck you to death’.
[US]D.D. Brazill ‘Lady and the Gimp’ in Pulp Ink [ebook] You’re [sic] Welsh friend left his digs last week without paying his rent.
[UK]R. Milward Man-Eating Typewriter 234: ‘Where’ll we find these empty digs though?’.
[US](con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 143: Jack and Bobby partied at the Lawford digs.