Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US, also dump off, dump out) to get rid of, to dispose of.

1784		J. Hiltzheimer Diary 16 Mar. in Parsons (1893) 62: The Street Commissioners selected sites to dump the dirt from the streets.
1838		Knickerbocker (N.Y.) XII 463: The ships [...] may ‘dump’ their stores at the very doors of the numerous mills [DA].
1899		E.W. Hornung Amateur Cracksman (1992) 129: Have you dumped it overboard?
1903		T.W.H. Crosland ‘Hospital’ in Five Notions 35: It reely ain’t no good, my boys, it reely ain’t no good: / They dump you into London – an’ London ain’t no good.
1910		‘O. Henry’ ‘The Fifth Wheel’ in Strictly Business (1915) 60: Guess he’ll dump me out when he gets to some joint.
1926		Boys’ Realm 16 Jan. 265: Dump him in the street, where a policeman can find him.
1937		E. Anderson Thieves Like Us (1999) 89: I’m going to dump you at Dee’s.
1944		Observer 11 June 7: Unregulated camping and caravanning and dumping of old buses, tram-cars, etc.
1950		H. Ellson Tomboy (1952) 84: Let’s dump the carriage [...] We don’t need it any more.
1966		P. Willmott Adolescent Boys of East London (1969) 153: We was pulling up those ‘House to Let’ boards, and we used to dump them in the canal.
1972		G.V. Higgins Friends of Eddie Coyle 120: The first thing he thinks is whether the people in the bus dumped him.
1974		Dly Press (Newport News, VA) 12 July 7/4: ‘I’ve heard [...] about people trying to dump it off on me, as an example’.
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 134: You keep trying to dump me off on some other surgeon.
1995		C. Hiaasen Stormy Weather 242: Dumping bodies is like buying real estate — location, location, location.
1999		Indep. Rev. 9 Dec. 4: Headlines such as ‘Dump the Dome, Tony’.
2000		G. Pelecanos Shame the Devil 23: Dump your guns in the trunk, too, and we’ll split.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 9: We dumped Buzzy Stein with the DB guys at Highland Park.

2. see dump on v.¹ (1)

3. (US) to injure or kill by gunfire.

1864		J. Horrocks letter in My Dear Parents 21 May 82: An Irishman who was standing near said, ‘If I was one of the men carrying him I would dump him,’ meaning jolt him.
1977		E. Torres Q&A 56: Somebody gets dumped, I grab a stool. ‘Who did it?’.

4. to beat up; to knock down; cit. 1958 refers to sexual sadism; thus dumping n., a beating.

1909		Van Loan ‘The Bush League Demon’ in Big League (2004) 42: Did you see me dump the big farmer?
1933		‘Goat’ Laven Rough Stuff 2: I gave this kid a good dumping with my fists.
1947		R.O. Boyer Dark Ship 153: When they speak of being assaulted, they say they were ‘dumped’.
1958		Murtagh & Harris Cast the First Stone 155: We girls call beatings dumpings. [...] Tricks pay a hundred dollars to dump girls.
1964		H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 27: A couplea creeps wouldnt give us the packages they got from home so we dumpedem.
1972		C. Bukowski Erections, Ejaculations etc. 271: We saw [Joe] Louis get dumped by the Dutchman [i.e. Max Schmeling].
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 164: The storm passed through. It dumped power lines. Stoplights were down.

5. (also take a dump) to lose a game, esp. on purpose.

1911		Lincoln Star (NE) 23 July 8/1: With bad luck [...] another game was dumped to Sioux City by the score of 6 to 5.
1951		Associated Press 21 Mar. n.p.: Players accepting bribes to ‘dump’ games [W&F].
1955		R. Graziano Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) 222: Hey, kid, there’s ten grand in it for you if you take a dump tomorrow night.
1970		D. Jenkins Dogged Victims 261: I was called Dump, basically because of what so many [gambling golf] partners thought I did to them.
1985		N. Pileggi Wiseguy (2001) 161: The players loved it, because they were not dumping games. They could keep their honor.

6. (US) to confess, to betray.

1942		C. Himes ‘Strictly Business’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 141: Get out there and take that rat before he dumps.
1972		G.V. Higgins Friends of Eddie Coyle 162: And besides, what if he is trying to throw us in, what if he did want to dump us? What could he tell them?

7. to murder.

1942		Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Sl.
1971		E. Wilson Show Business Nobody Knows 125: [H]e was getting to be a nuisance to somebody in the mob, and he had to be dumped.
2004		D. Grann ‘The Brand’ in New Yorker 16 Feb. 161/3: It always got tipped off by the time we got back to you and said, ‘Yeah, dump the guy.’ . . . You can’t have someone in the yard that you want to bump and let them be out there for two or three weeks.

8. to jilt, to terminate a relationship; thus n.

1936		A.E. Duckett ‘Truckin ’round Brooklyn’ in N.Y. Age 24 Oct. 7/1: Sonny Atwell seems to have been dumped [...] by Edna Mayo. So she promptly returned the dump and set forth to try a cart away a certain [...] chick’s affections.
1946		D. Stivens Courtship of Uncle Henry 29: I dunno what’s got into you tonight. You’ve never been like this before. You’ve dumped plenty of fellows before.
1950		(con. 1936–46) K.S. Prichard Winged Seeds (1984) 54: Wally’s dumped me.
1963		Dundes & Schonhorn ‘Kansas University Sl.: A New Generation’ in AS XXXVIII:3 171: To get away from an unpleasant or undesirable person: dump.
1963		in T.I. Rubin Sweet Daddy 29: Dumped her [...] Hauled ass out fast.
1964		‘Charles Barrett’ Address: Kings Cross 77: I had been dumped and I was mad. It was the first time a guy had ever dumped Claudine Hamilton.
1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 110: Dump Turned down when asking for a date.
1989		M. Amis London Fields 172: If Keith dumped her, which he intended to do, and do soon, like today at the latest, Trish wouldn’t have many options.
1992		R. Price Clockers 59: He got dumped by a girl.
2002		Indep. on Sun. Rev. 27 Oct. 14: She dumped me for this fat man from Cornwall.
2006		C. Hiaasen Nature Girl 48: I’m not going anywhere till you tell me the real reason you’re dumpin’ me.
2007		L. Redhead Cherry Pie [ebook] ‘The guy that dumped her in highschool. What was his name?’.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 195: The girl you might’ve been in love with dumped you for some smooth-talking college prick.
2010		L. Redhead Thrill City [ebook] ‘What?’ He hadn’t dumped me.
2011		IOL News (Western Cape) 27 May 🌐 She blamed it all on her boyfriend, whom she said she had dumped.
2012		(con. 1980s) I. Welsh Skagboys 181: Tonight, in this hotel bar, ah’m gaunny dump the best girlfriend I’ve ever had.
2012		R. Milward Kimberly’s Capital Punishment (2023) 31: [S]hould he dump me particularly heavu-handedly.
2012		L. Berney Whiplash River [ebook] Gina had never in her life been dumped. The possibility, to be honest, had never occurred to her.
2015		L. McInerney Glorious Heresies 6: He’d admitted his circumstances [...] terrified that she’d lose it and dump him.
2020		C. Hiaasen Squeeze Me 277: ‘Did she really get dumped by her studly Secret Service man?’.

9. (orig. US campus, also dump it out) to defecate.

1958		T. Berger Crazy in Berlin 187: I was dumping in my pants for fear.
1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 111: Dump Defecate.
1971–2		C. Shafer ‘Catheads [...] and Cho-Cho Sticks’ in Abernethy Bounty of Texas (1990) 203: dump it out, v. – defecate.
1975		G. Underwood ‘Razorback Sl.’ in AS L:1/2 58: dump vi Defecate.
1985		Eble Campus Sl. Apr.
1995		J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 32: As I went in the stairwell someone came out of the shadow and I nearly dumped one there and then.
2001		OnLine Dict. of Playground Sl. 🌐 dump n. defecate.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 329: If he added a bottle of Jack before she dumped on him he didn’t really notice... and no way did she scrimp on the Wipettes.

10. (drugs) to vomit through drug withdrawal sickness, or on first taking a drug; thus n. dumping.

1968		‘Sl. of Watts’ in Current Sl. III:2.
1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972).
1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 77: Dump also Lunch Gut When ‘shooting’ or injecting the drug Dilaudid or a good quality heroin, most people become nauseated and vomit within the first few minutes. This does not last long and it is called dumping or spilling your lunch guts.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 8: Dump — To vomit after taking drugs.

11. to dismiss from a job; to demote for incomptence, thus dump job, one who had suffered such a demotion.

1959		H. Ellison ‘May We Also Speak’ in Gentleman Junkie (1961) 29: He was going to get dumped when Gogroth informed the boss young Spence was not thinking pro-Gogroth.
1991		B. McCarthy Vice Cop 38: ‘Traffic had been manned by dump jobs from all over the city. [...] They forced them there’.

12. (US prison) to reject a parole application.

1967

M. Braly On the Yard (2002) 342: ‘I hear the board dumped you.’ ‘They shot me down a year.’.

13. (US) to leave.

1969

B. Beckham My Main Mother 120: We dump this place for the Apple.

14. (US) to wreck an automobile.

1973

J. Wambaugh Onion Field 113: Jimmy cut the wheel to the right, bouncing over the divider curb, skidding sideways, screeching rubber [...] ‘You damned near dumped it, Jim!’ Greg shouted.

15. to defeat, to ruin.

1975

V.B. Miller A Very Deadly Game 11: That was the only way we were going to dump the joy-boys who were dealing the big dope [HDAS].

16. (US black) to attack verbally.

1980

E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 95: Terms like to blow away, to scream, to dump [...] all connote loud or energetic action.

17. (US und.) to break into, to rob.

2021

J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 7: I formed a 459 ring [...] They popped pawnshops and dumped dope-pushing pharmacies.