base, n.¹ — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

base n.¹

[senses 2 and 3 abbr. freebase n. (1), although this itself refers not to crack cocaine, but to base cocaine, the enjoyment of which predated crack cocaine and appealed, through its high price and complex paraphernalia, to a higher social group than the often impoverished crack cocaine users]

(drugs)

1. morphine base, from which heroin is processed.

1992		T. Williams Crackhouse 73: She is actually making freebase. ‘I’m not cooking crack now,’ she laughs. ‘This is base. This is the bigtime.’.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 437: They ran Tiger Kamp. They ran slaves. They cooked base.

2. freebase cocaine.

1982		Robbins & Ragan Richard Pryor 109: I used to smoke base but that stuff will kill you [HDAS].
1992		V. Headley Yardie 16: Almost a pound of first grade base cocaine.
1992		T. Williams Crackhouse 74: Nobody does base anymore because coke ain’t selling; it’s crack that’s selling.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 2: Base — Cocaine; crack.

3. (also base-rock) a synon. for crack cocaine [rock n. (5)].

1987		NWA ‘Dopeman’ 🎵 10-piece, 4-10, base pipe comes free.
1989		(con. 1982–6) T. Williams Cocaine Kids (1990) 5: Some 80 percent of those who use the drug are now smoking it in the form of ‘base’ or ‘crack’. [Ibid.] 41: I’m getting a lot of customers who now only want that base; they don’t want the rock no more, they want the stuff already cooked.
1992		T. Williams Crackhouse 4: Freebase, or ‘base,’ is cocaine with the hydrochloride removed, a process that involves reducing the powdered cocaine to a rock-like substance ready for smoking. Crack is similar, but one or more chemicals are added in its manufacture. [Ibid.] 9: People began to smoke cocaine in the form of ‘base’ or ‘crack’.
1995		Mack 10 ‘Based on a True Story’ 🎵 Ten piece for a ten, base pipe come free.
2000		N. Griffiths Grits 262: Colm. Ow was that base?
2003		(ref. to 1981) J. Lethem Fortress of Solitude 251: It’s 1981: nobody’s heard the term crack [...] What’s slipped lately onto the street [...] is called variously base-rock, gravel, baking-soda-base and roxanne.
2018		I. Welsh Dead Man’s Trousers 59: ‘Try doing some ching and base on top of it [i.e. MDMA]’.

In compounds

base crazies (n.)

(drugs) the psychosis that can overtake regular consumers of crack cocaine, typically manifested in a feverish desire to find and consume every last granule of the drug.

1989		(con. 1982–6) T. Williams Cocaine Kids (1990) 135: base crazies a kind of hallucination that leads an individual to search for the smallest particle of cocaine or crack in the mistaken belief that they have lost some of the residue; also called ‘picking’.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 2: Base crazies — Searching on hands and knees for cocaine or crack.

base freak (n.) (also base ghost) [-freak sfx ]

(drugs) a smoker of crack cocaine.

1985		T.R. Houser Central Sl. 9: base ghost A cocaine head.
1993		R. Shell Iced 237: No we can’t have no stinkin’-fuckin’ base-freaks on our doorsteps.

base gallery (n.) [SE gallery; on model of shooting gallery n. (1)]

(drugs) a place where users of crack cocaine gather to consume their drug.

1992

T. Williams Crackhouse 146: base galleries – places for use of freebase; entrance fee required, with use and selling on premises.

basehead (n.) [-head sfx (4)]

1. one who smokes cocaine.

1998		Austin American-Statesman (TX) 4 Oct. 9/4: Texas Prison Gang Slang [...] Base head: Cocaine user.
1999		Guardian G2 30 June 17: The US judiciary can always be relied upon to wield the big stick when it comes to baseheads and drunks.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 2: Base head — A person who bases.

2. a regular consumer of crack cocaine.

1985		T.R. Houser Central Sl. 9: basehead [...] ‘Mother fuckers all be base heads’.
1988		G. Tate ‘Public Enemy’ in Flyboy in the Buttermilk (1992) 127: Chuck’s plea for crack dealers to be good to the neighborhood on ‘Night of the Living Baseheads’.
1989		(con. 1982–6) T. Williams Cocaine Kids (1990) 108: There was nothing but baseheads wanting another hit.
1992		T. Williams Crackhouse 135: It is unclear how the father knew she was a ‘basehead’.
1995		Mack 10 ‘Based on a True Story’ 🎵 Plus I’m makin’ money, keepin baseheads waitin.
1997		Da Bomb Summer Supplement 1: Basehead (n.) A person who smokes crack cocaine.
2002		‘Touré’ Portable Promised Land (ms.) 155: We Words (My Favorite Things) [...] Dope fiend. Speedfreak. Basehead. Beaming up. Lifted. Nod.
2021		S.A. Crosby Razorblade Tears 65: ‘Baseheads wandering up and down the street like zombies’.

basehouse (n.)

(drugs) a place where users gather to consume crack cocaine.

1989		(con. 1982–6) T. Williams Cocaine Kids (1990) 106: The Kids rarely went to base houses.
1992		T. Williams Crackhouse 146: base house – location for purchasing and using crack-cocaine freebase (pre-1985).

base-rock (n.)

see sense 3 above.

In phrases

based out (adj.)

(drugs) overcome by the effects of excessive freebasing or smoking crack cocaine.

1995		L. Stavsky et al. A2Z 5: based out – high from smoking crack or cocaine: I was so based out I could barely make my way back to my crib.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 2: Based out — To have lost control over basing.

base n.1

In compounds

In phrases

base n.¹