Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. money, ostentatious jewellery and personal items; thus blingy adj.

2000		Eble Campus Sl. Fall 1: bling-bling – expensive jewellry; wealth: ‘My boss definitely has the bling-bling’.
2004		Guardian Sport 27 Dec. 27: It might cost a lot to get every Real Madrid and England fan a bit of tasteful bling.
2005		L. Theroux Call of the Weird (2006) 196: For every bling bling, every bling that was on my neck and on my homie’s neck, somebody died for that.
2009		Times (2) 30 Apr. 7/1: That blingy cash emporium known as Chelsea FC.
2011		Guardian 26 Mar. 3/1: Eschewing the traditional hip-hop themes of bling, booty and babes.
2017		Dly News (NY) 6 Aug. 23/4: She stile his $50,000 Rolex and $20,000 jewelry [...] How does a 28-year-old manage to have that kind of bling?
2019		C. Hammer Silver [ebook] There’s none of the bling, none of the pretence, no compulsion to appeal to tourists.
2022		J. Meades in LRB 9 June 🌐 [O]ur new slebs, quick learners all. It’s their world now: bling, glitz, flash.
2022		J. Hannaham Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 18: [L]etting the handcuffs and chains stand in for the rocks and bling she’d’ve preferred.

2. in attrib. use of sense 1.

2005

IOL News (Western Cape) 24 Aug. 🌐 Will Brickz have chosen the bling life or will he have stayed true to his roots?