Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. anything made of silver [white adj. (1)].

1868		‘Six Years in the Prisons of England’ in Temple Bar Mag. Nov. 534: If he can manage to begin every morning with the yellow stuff, he can make a couple of ‘quid’ a day; but if he can only muster white stuff, why, of course he can’t make so much.
1910		D. Stewart Devil of Dartmoor in Illus. Police News 15 Oct. 12/1: ‘I’m wanted, wus luck, for doing some white stuff (passing bad money) and a confidence fake into the bargain’ .
1935		Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 12: White stuff: Silver .

2. (drugs) morphine or heroin [stuff n. (5)].

1896		F. Hutcheson Barkeep Stories 123: ‘[N]ottin’ ’ud do but dey must [...] drag me down t’ Saint Loois wid dem. Dey got me full o’ de white stuff er I’d ’a’ balked at dat’.
1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 271: ‘I ain’t had none of the old white stuff for two days.’ ‘So yer agin the dope? [...] The morphine gag’s worse.’.
1915		G. Bronson-Howard God’s Man 39: The ‘White Stuff’s’ on the up-and-up too.
1924		G. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 86: Veteran police officers estimate that two thirds of all the professional robbers are ‘chippy’-users, that is, they ‘play with the white stuff,’ which, in plain English, means that now and then they will ‘shoot’ either cocaine, heroin or morphine.
1926		J. Black You Can’t Win (2000) 135: They decided to ‘shoot up’ the small portion of white stuff they had left.
1937		‘Boxcar Bertha’ Sister of the Road (1975) 118: Lucille and Jimmie used ‘white stuff,’ heroin and morphine [...] ‘White stuff’ comes in small tablets, cubes, or in powder.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 248: They had a terrible contempt for the guys on the ‘white stuff’ – heroin, morphine and cocaine.
1953		W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 193: If I don’t get a shot soon, I’ll have the meemies. You ever been on the white stuff, laddie?
1959		W. Brown Teen-Age Mafia 22: That was before he’d learned about the white stuff. Once you got hooked on horse pod didn’t do a thing for you.
1961		T. Taylor Baron’s Court All Change (2011) 96: “Now we’re on the junk. [...] Man, don’t ever associate the white stuff with me.
1969		R.R. Lingeman Drugs from A to Z (1970) 248: white stuff [...] cocaine, morphine, or (usually) heroin.
1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972).
1983		V. Viidikas ‘Island of Gems’ in India Ink (1984) 42: Smoking white stuff makes you feel real good, you smile all night.
1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 69: China White A pure, snow white heroin in powder form […] (Archaic: white stuff).
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 22: White stuff — Heroin.
2003		‘Worksheet 9: Self study of drug abuse’ St Alban’s College 🌐 Opiates e.g. opium (oupa, poppy); morphine (M, morph, Miss Emma, monkey dust, mooch, white stuff, dreamer).
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 54: Pills, the white stuff, whatever it is you shove down your throat or put up your nose.

3. (US) grain alcohol used for making illicit liquor.

1934		H.N. Rose Thes. Sl.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

4. (drugs) cocaine [stuff n. (5)].

1911		S.F. Call 27 Nov. 3/1: Among fiends, the drug [...] might be called just ‘C’ [...] or ‘white stuff’.
1924		G. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 86: Veteran police officers estimate that two thirds of all the professional robbers are ‘chippy’-users, that is, they ‘play with the white stuff,’ which, in plain English, means that now and then they will ‘shoot’ either cocaine, heroin or morphine.
1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks n.p.: White stuff, morphine, heroin, or cocaine.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 248: They had a terrible contempt for the guys on the ‘white stuff’ – heroin, morphine and cocaine.
1953		Anslinger & Tompkins Traffic In Narcotics 316: white stuff. [...] cocaine.
1956		‘Raymond Thorp’ Viper 70: He thought the spade was holding back some white stuff from him.
1969		R.R. Lingeman Drugs from A to Z (1970) 248: white stuff [...] cocaine.
1998		L. Stringer Grand Central Winter (1999) 53: Perhaps a grateful Mr Waldorf might see his way clear to rewarding us with a toot or two of the white stuff.
2005		B. Hare Urban Grimshaw 257: Pinky went mad for the white stuff.

5. (also white slufe) opium [stuff n. (5)].

1930		G. Milburn ‘The Dealer Gets It All’ in Hobo’s Hornbook 152: Then I sprung a rosy lay-out on my side-pen Alton Red, / And we blowed a toy o’ white slufe that knocked the willies dead.
1983		V. Viidikas ‘Island of Gems’ in India Ink (1984) 42: Smoking white stuff makes you feel real good.

6. diamonds.

1941

V. Davis Phenomena in Crime 253: White stuff. Diamonds. Also referred to as glass, ice, beads.

7. large denomination notes [large ‘white’ £5 notes].

1956

‘Charles Raven’ Und. Nights 173: A big wad of cash, most of it the white stuff. [Ibid.] 174: He spotted the young Duke of Salamanca drawing stacks of white from the bookies.

8. (drugs) Demerol [stuff n. (5)].

1977		L. Young et al. Recreational Drugs.
1981		D.E. Miller Bk of Jargon 326: Demerol. Also junk, white stuff, demis.

9. (US) any clear coloured alcohol.

1985

(con. 1968) D.A. Dye Citadel (1989) 26: Need some white stuff. Gin or vodka is best.