Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Aus./US) to vomit.

1993		(con. 1969) N.L. Russell Suicide Charlie 90: That Pepsi was tasting mighty good when I was struck by an irresistible urge to regurgitate. I made it out of the pit and off into the bushes before I lost dinner.
2002		Sara & Michael Johnson Voyages of Pelican Oct. log 🌐 Billy had put on his anti-nausea patch too late and spent the evening hanging his head over the side of the boat, losing his dinner.

(Aus.) a genteel euph., to vomit.

1870		Eve. Jrnl (Adelaide) 18 Mar. 2/1: The whole voyage was so pleasant that a lady passenger was heard to exclaim she had never lost a meal, the sea was so beautifully calm.
1871		Sth Aus. Advertiser (Adelaide) 13 July 3/7: I have crossed the Atlantic without losing a meal, either by loss of appetite or surrender of food actually taken.
1896		Indep. (Footscray, Vic.) 4 Apr. 2/7: There was enough motion to keep a good many below, but as far as I was concerned I had not lost a meal, and already felt better.
1900		Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld) 5 May 38/2: There is an enormous amount of men sick [...] but your humble servant has never lost a meal.
1916		Maldon News (Vic.) 4 July 2/7: With a lot of others he had been sick but had not lost a meal.
1917		Queensland Times (Ipswich) 20 Feb. 6/4: Lovely weather and very calm sea — so calm that I have not lost a meal yet. Am beginning to think that I am a good sailor.
1929		Aus. Christian Commonwealth (SA) 4 oct. 6/2: A good number of the passengers were sick, but with a continuous application of Coueism, I held out, and [...] never missed or lost a meal.
1937		Western Mail (Perth) 13 May 40/2: Crossing the Tasman Sea we ran into a storm and I consequently lost a meal.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 44: Lose a meal, to vomit up food.

(US campus) to vomit.

2001

Ritch Christopher Whence Cometh My Help 🌐 You’re taught at the Academy to hold your breath and blot out offensive orders such as puke, week-old shit, decayed bodies and the like. But when Ray and John walked into the cordoned-off apartment, John took one look and ran to the sink and lost his doughnuts.

see blow (one’s) groceries under blow v.¹

(Aus.) to vomit.

1967

J. Hibberd White with Wire Wheels (1973) 154: The man who can count the number of times he’s chundered on one hand. The man who loses his load but once a decade.

1. (Aus./US) to vomit (cf. blow lunch under blow v.¹ ).

1926		A.C. Inman 2 Mar. diary in Aaron (1985) 297: Severe treatment [...] Cried and bawled and lost lunch and made a row generally.
1934		J.H. O’Hara Appointment in Samarra (2008) 185: I feel sick and I would like to shoot my lunch and I would like indeed to shoot my lunch but I will be damned if I want to move out of this bed.
1957		J. Blake letter 26 Dec. in Joint (1972) 111: The reaction [...] was neatly epitomized by one old lady having to be hustled up the aisle to the toilet, where I’m told she lost her lunch.
1966		12 TAC FTR WG Song Book 20: Flak always makes me park my lunch.
1981		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 4: lose lunch – vomit.
1985		B. Humphries Traveller’s Tool 62: There’s nothing worse than casually dropping your lunch at a business function.
1987		‘Joe Bob Briggs’ Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In 192: Cherry Dilday [...] lost her lunch in the first half-hour, [...] ended up so trashed she forgot to take her clothes off.
1996		(con. 1964-65) B. Thorpe Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 190: He pulled back the zipper [of the body bag] and my lunch hit the floor.
2003		T. Dorsey Stingray Shuffle 212: I had six cops lose their lunches back there when we found ’em [i.e. corpses].
2007		T. Dorsey Hurricane Punch 49: A lone reporter stood on the far side of the parking lot, losing his breakfast in a storm-water ditch.

2. to lose one’s temper.

2010

(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 53: Down, boyo [...] It was a play slap, for Jesus sake. No need to lose your lunch.

see under leather n.

see move n.

see also under relevant n.

to lose a good deal of money, usu. through betting.

1890		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 8 Feb. 2/3: l am sorry to see that Mansfield, as Richard III., didn't please the Gothamites. He is said to have lost his breeches at Palmer’s [Theatre].
2002		Minnesota Daily 24 June 🌐 I placed four sacks of gold coins in Marathon Oil only days before the government’s recent anti-trust ruling and only three weeks later I lost my britches, so to speak, in a deal.

(gay) to abandon homosexuality to become a heterosexual.

1941		G. Legman ‘Lang. of Homosexuality’ Appendix VII in Henry Sex Variants.
1965		Guild Dict. Homosexual Terms 18: gender, to lose (v.): To revert to an earlier sexual inclination.

see toss one’s lollies under toss v.

to be drunk and thus lose one’s sense of direction.

1737

B. Franklin ‘Drinkers Dictionary’ in Pennsylvania Gazette 6 Jan. in AS XII:2 92: They come to be well understood to signify plainly that A MAN IS DRUNK. [...] Lost his Rudder.

to lose one’s temper.

1949

L. Glassop Lucky Palmer 215: Ah knoo Kavandras was going to lose his stopper.

(US) to become hysterical.

1968

K. Brasselle Cannibals 314: He was now a bit hysterical [...] I had to calm him before he lost his Tampax. [Ibid.] 314: He’s in a trauma; I think he lost his douche bag.

of a woman, to have sexual intercourse.

1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1896		Farmer Vocabula Amatoria (1966) 143: Gage, m. The act of kind; ‘to lose the match and pocket the stakes’.

1. (also get put out of mess) to die; thus keep the number of one’s mess, to avoid death.

1814		Palmer Diary 10 Apr. n.p.: I very much fear that if they Keep us here through the Summer that the magority [sic] of us will lose the number of our mess [HDAS].
1821–6		‘Bill Truck’ Man o’ War’s Man (1843) 183: He’s down, sir [...] lost his number completely [...] it was given to him slap through the head, sir.
1834		Marryat Peter Simple (1911) 267: I have an idea that some of us will lose the number of our mess.
1843		T. Hood ‘Confessions of a Phoenix’ Works (1862) VI 233: What, hopped the twig? – kicked the bucket? – bowled out? – gone to pot? – mizzled? – ticked off? – struck off the roster? – slipped your cable? – lost the number of your mess?
1850		(con. 1843) Melville White-Jacket (1990) 342: They lose the number of their mess, and their messmates sticks their spoons in the rack; but no good – no good, old Ringrope; they ar’n’t dead yet.
c.1864		W.H. Thomas Goldhunters’ Adventures 17: ‘’Mericans, I suppose,’ he inquired. ‘Yes.’ ‘Then don’t go if you want to keep the number of your mess,’ the boatman said. ‘Why not?’ Fred ventured to inquire. ‘’Cos they kill Yankees at the mines. Jim.’.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1881		T.F.Keane Six Months in Meccah 60: Another followed, fetching me one on the skull, that would have ‘settled the number of my mess’ but for the thickness of my too attractive head-dress [F&H].
1895		Riverina Recorder (Moulamein, NSW) 13 Nov. 4/4: Several dogs lost the number of their mess.
1916		J. Hargrave At Suvla Bay Ch. ix: Some of us would get ‘put out of mess,’ no doubt, but this waiting about to get killed was much worse than plunging into the thick of it.
1925		(con. WWI) Fraser & Gibbons Soldier and Sailor Words 148: Lose The Number Of One’s Mess, To: To die.
1994		(ref. to WWII) L. Cleveland Dark Laughter 115: For most World War 2 soldiers the concept of death was masked by euphemisms like [...] lost the number of his mess.

2. to lose one’s position; to fall from social or professional grace.

1906		A. Adams ‘Around the Spade Wagon’ Cattle Brands 🌐 ‘So you think I’ve lost my number, do you?’ commented Edwards.
1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 24 Oct. 18/2: The habit of tottering about the edge of things has become chronic with Richard Denis Meagher, M.L.A. – the solicitor who lost the number of his legal mess through the blunder he made over the Dean case very long ago.

1. (Aus.) to lose control of someone else.

1902

Bulletin (Sydney) 20 Sept. 13/1: The story was, briefly, that Ann Green had lost the run of her husband, Bill, for 14 years.

2. (Irish) to lose one’s self-control.

1994		Radio advert for Power City Oct. Youse are losing the run of yourselves, seems to me [BS].
1995		Sun. Indep. (Dublin) 3 Dec. n.p.: Chairing a debate [...] he lost the run of himself entirely.

(Aus.) a general excl. of dismissal or disdain.

[1900		Queensland Times (Ipswich, Qld) 12 Apr. 2/3: They Say [...] That the said subaltern subsequently went to head-quarters and reported that he had lost all trace of the aforesaid party. That the officer [...] replied, ‘Umph Hadn’t you better go and lose yourself, now?’].
1902		N. Queensland Register (Townsville, Qld) 8 Dec. 49/3: Mr O'Brien: He says I can buy a newspaper. I accuse Mr Drake of being flippant. A Voice: Go and lose yourself. (Laughter).
1910		Eve. News (Sydney) 26 July 5/2: ‘Go And Lose Yourself.’ Lady Inspector And Butcher. An Early Closing Prosecution [...] [The] witness said one of the defendants told her to go and lose herself, also he said, ‘I wish I had a shilling for every sergeant I've thrown out of this shop’.
1925		W. Coast Sentinel (Streaky Bay, SA) 23 May 6/3: No. 1: ‘Did you hear 'Hulloa, Hulloa, Hulloa.’ Another Voice: ‘Is that City 0000?’ No 1: ‘No, it isn’t, go and lose yourself.’ Another Voice: ‘All right—don’t do your block’.
1933		Advertiser (Adelaide) 7 Oct. 9/1: On one occasion she was playing while I was talking to Princess Elizabeth. ‘Oh, go and lose yourself, Margaret,’ re- marked her sister.
1940		Advertiser (Adelaide) 19 Feb. 7/5: Now go and lose yourself until I finish this letter.