Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a thug, esp. a hired killer; also attrib.

1969		Salerno & Tompkins Crime Confederation 102: The ‘hitters’ [...] will do the shooting or break the arms and legs required.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 59: He had put a group together [...] all hitters, all veterans of the Batista wars.
1988		D. Woodrell Muscle for the Wing 202: You a hitter for Mr. B., huh?
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 97: That’s what this hitter is, a moonlighting prison guard.
2000		F. Mac Anna Cartoon City 151: It’s interesting that such a bloke can get away with his kind of caper without some heavy hitters alongside as a guarantee.
2004		Simon & Pelecanos ‘Amsterdam’ Wire ser. 3 ep. 4 [TV script] So Marloe’s a hitter. Maybe he works for Stringer.
2012		G. Pelecanos (con. 1972) What It Was 169: Hitter name of Clarence Bowman came into the diner.
2015		67 ‘Hookahs’ 🎵 Live hitters in the cut, you don’t wanna see man dressed in all black.
2016		T. Robinson Rough Trade [ebook] ‘They figured pretty quick that you and me weren’t involved in doing any kind of hitter work’.
2017		Eve. Standard 4 July 8/4: ‘The public just see “gang member”, there there are different levels. [...] The next level is what we call a hitter. He’s a thug who will hit you up and not care’.
2017		Young M.A. ‘OOOUUU’ 🎵 Like I don't always keep the hammer next to me / Like I ain’t got a hitter to the left of me.
2020		D. Winslow ‘Paradise’ in Broken 267: [A] dozen serious hitters from Honolulu—skilled with guns, knives and jitz.
2021		Breen & Conlon Hitmen 99: One source [...] said John was ‘not a hitter’.

2. a success, a star, an influential individual; usu. with overtones of violence or criminality.

1974		(con. 1960s) R. Price Wanderers 202: He used his thumb and forefinger to take the cigrette out of his mouth [...] like the hitter he was.
1986		C. Hiaasen Tourist Season (1987) 241: Our circulation’s supposed to shoot sky-high, and where’s our star clean-up hitter?
1999		Indep. 8 Nov. 2: London needs a big hitter as a mayor rather than a big whinger.
2000		W. Shaw Westsiders 119: L’il Half Dead and Kokane will need persuading that Babyboy is a big enough hitter to manage them.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 51: All those dudes we used to serve [...] some are big-hitters now.

3. attrib. use of sense 1.

1991

D. Gaines Teenage Wasteland 104: We laughed at our predecessors, the older ‘hitter chicks’ we used to idolize.

4. in drug uses [hit the pipe under pipe n.¹ ].

5. one who derives sexual satisfaction from beating a partner.

1987

R. Campbell Alice in La-La Land (1999) 44: ‘He used to like them [i.e. whores] old enough to take it [...] A little kicking around, a little punishment.’ ‘Bosco told me he was a hitter.’.

6. (US teen) a pager, a beeper.

1997–2002

Hope College ‘Dict. of New Terms’ 🌐 hitter n. A pager or beeper.