Jap n.
1. (also Jappo) a derog. term for a Japanese person.
in | With Perry 100: The Commo: gives a grand dinner to the Japs on the 27th.||
Naval Surgeon (1963) 34: The Japs have a high opinion of Americans — call us No. 1 (icheban). [Ibid.] 9 Aug. 89: Mr. Jap took upon himself the right to arrest and detain the ward room steward. | diary 10 Apr. in Barnes||
Overland Monthly (CA) July 44: One Jap, more or less, didn’t matter. | ||
United Service Aug. 148: The Japs are young, too [HDAS]. | ||
Bulletin (Sydney) 9 Apr. 9/2: We had not seen for years, perhaps, / More merry chaps than these dark ‘Japs’. | ||
St. Paul’s Dly Globe (MN) 22 May 1/3: The Jap the Winner. Muldoon Makes a Stern Struggle to Throw Sorakichi, the Celestial. | ||
Leeds Times 2 Dec. 7/5: The Japs and Foreigners [...] At one time is a Japanese girl married a foreigner she was instantly decapitated. | ||
Truth (Sydney) Feb. 1/7: Which of the three interested parties is the most ‘respectable’, the respectable Jap, the respectable civil servant, or the respectable girls. | ||
Otago Witness (N.Z.) 1 Apr. 51/4: In a short time the Jap had everything imitated, even to the firm’s name. | ||
🎵 So I packed my traps and on board ship / To the land of the Japs took a third class trip. | [perf. Marie Lloyd] The Geisha||
A Gunner Aboard the ‘Yankee’ 110: I gave the shirt to the Jap. | ||
Sun. Times (Perth) 20 Mar. 5/1: The average person [...] isn’t rabidly pro-Russ or pro-Jap. | ||
Confessions of a Con Man 170: I stopped [...] for breakfast at the restaurant of a Jap who stood in with us. | ||
Union Jack 5 May 3: Japs and lascars, for the most part. | ||
Bulldog Drummond 82: It was even money whether the Jap or he would win in a practice bout. | ||
Broadway Brevities Aug. 7/2: Those not in the know who visit the shop are impressed with the Jap-like personality of ‘Lotta’. | ||
Down and Out in Complete Works I (1986) 165: I’ve even had sixpences off Japs, and blackies, and that. | ||
They Die with Their Boots Clean 15: He never gave a damn for all the Japs in China. | ||
Battle Cry (1964) 13: I don’t suppose I’ll see any Japs for a while. | ||
Right to an Answer (1978) 250: I wouldn’t mind ’aving one of these two little Japs that you’ve got ’ere. | ||
Godfather 91: I killed some Japs. | ||
Living Black 159: Americans are winning all the time. The Germans never win. The Japs never win. | ||
Minder [TV script] 7: The Japs have got this down to a fine art. | ‘Senior Citizen Caine’ in||
Chopper From The Inside 15: My Dad [...] hates the Japs. | ||
Pound for Pound 276: I’ll [...] tell him you been sparring with Mack’s Jap. | ||
(con. 1943) Coorparoo Blues [ebook] ‘Why are you running round with crooks [...] instead of defending us against the heathen Jappo’. |
2. (Aus.) the Japanese language.
Bulletin (Sydney) 9 Apr. 9/2: On which each one said ‘Jap’ for Hip-Hoo-ray’ . |
3. (US gang) a sneak, a spy.
Duke 31: If you’re a Jap or a turkey [...] it’s going to be bad stuff for you. | ||
I’m Glad You Didn’t Take it Personally 211: If you knew Bouton / Like we know Bouton / Oh boy, is he a Jap. / What he calls candor / Is just plain slander [etc]. |
4. (US gang) a surprise attack by a teenage gang.
DAS. | ||
(con. 1953–7) Violent Gang (1967) 63: A ‘Jap’. That’s when a group of guys, two guys or three guys, go down to a different club’s territory, get in fast, beat up one or two guys and get out. [Ibid.] 64: A Jap is a small raid. A Jap is where you hit the other team before they hit you first. Hit first and get out is pulling a Jap. | ||
Maledicta III:2 164: jap n [DAS 1941] Ambush; from the alleged stealth and craftiness of the Japanese. | ||
A2Z 56/2: jap – n. a punch. He was too zooted to see the jap comin’. | et al.
5. (US campus) an unexpected test, a bad surprise.
CUSS 144: Jap Difficult Course. Difficult exam. Surprise test. | et al.
In compounds
Japan; also attrib.
Columbian (Bloomsburg, PA) 5 Mar. 1/7: As for the dramatic talent in Jap-land, it is probably greater than we suppose. | ||
Belmont Chron. (St. Clairsville, OK) 24 May An interesting talk with Rev. J.R. Frazier, recently one of the American legation in Jap-land: . | ||
Morn. Post (London) 2 May 11/2: Stray Notes of Life in Japland. By the Hon. Mrs A Sugden. | ||
Times (Richmond, VA) 26 Dec. 11/5: [headline] Gift Giving in Japland. | ||
Times (Richmond, VA) 18 Mar. 3/5: The nimble soldier of the Japland scampered here and there [...] fresh and smiling as their tireless leader, Gen. Fukushima. | ||
Daily Ardmoreite (OK) 19 Mar. 8/4: The house was a picture of Japland and the young ladies [...] were beautifully gowned in Japanese robes. | ||
Dundee Courier 3 Apr. 4/6: Miss Margaret Gilchrist, who fulfilled the role of Princess Chrysanthemum, mae a daint Japland maiden. | ||
(con. 1940s) Hold Tight (1990) 72: He’s out getting his cookies off in Japland. |
the urethral opening at the end of the penis.
Powder 380: Holding the japseye up under the jet until the pain was too much to take. | ||
Get Your Cock Out 33: An intravenous drip of hospital quality heroin and cocaine was stabbed up through the folds of his stomach into his jap’s eye. | ||
Hot Sister [manga] at www.incestquest.com 🌐 Do you like my tongue down your japseye? | ||
Ten Storey Love Song 41: It sounded like Johnnie was gouging Angelo’s eyeballs out or slicing his Jap’s eye open. | ||
Kimberly’s Capital Punishment (2023) 174: Donald’s Jap’s eye bulged open in the condom. |
(US) to slap someone suddenly; also used fig. and as n.
🎵 Ghetto Music [album] Instead of a rap I jap-slap all of ’em back / Because the teacher that you see is not wack. | ‘The Style You Haven’t Done Yet’||
Dancing with Charlie 115: Jackson Jap-slapped them so fast they didn’t know what hit them [HDAS]. | ||
West Coast Turnaround 217: He dropped two gears and stomped the floor with the accelerator, jap-slapping the governor silly with excessive Rs [HDAS]. | ||
‘Mystery remains around Lawler’ South Coast Today 10 Mar. 🌐 A group that promotes fairness for Japanese-American citizens has filed a formal protest of WCW. In the Jeff Jarrett segment on Nitro, where Ric Flair portrayed Dusty Rhodes, there was mention of a ‘Jap Slap’. |
(US) partially or insufficiently informed.
AS IX:1 27: jap wise. Knowing only part of a thing. | ‘Prison Parlance’ in||
Maledicta III:2 164: Jap wise adj phr Knowing only part of a thing, not completely informed. |
In phrases
(US) to take by surprise, to ambush.
[ | News-Palladium (Benton Harbor, MI) 14 Sept. 2/5: Congress as a body is about to pull a Jap trick and as soon as election is over, you will find out what a Jap trick is]. | |
Beckley Post-Herald (WV) 1 Dec. 7/4: Pull a Jap —Make a sneak attack. From the attack on Pearl Harbor. | ||
(con. 1953–7) Violent Gang (1967) 64: A Jap is a small raid. A Jap is where you hit the other team before they hit you first. Hit first and get out is pulling a Jap. | ||
Maledicta III:2 164: jap, pull a v phr [DAS 1941] Ambush someone; deceive. | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 216: To pull a Jap or to Jap [someone] became synonymous with a sneak attack of any kind. |
(Aus.) said of anything that is absolutely unacceptable.
[ | Chocolate Frog 36: Shirker Our mate ’ere seems ter like people [...] Tosser Like ’em! I reckon he does! He’d kiss a Jap on Anzac Day [...] red ’ot poof, fer mine]. | |
Canberra Times (ACT) 12 May 31/5: [A] place where the counter-lunches are some thing that, in one drinker’s words, you wouldn’t serve to a Jap on Anzac Day. | ||
Davo’s Little Something 37: Bloody Wollongong. Fair dinkum – you wouldn’t send a Jap there on Anzac Day . | ||
Macquarie Dict. 🌐 wouldn’t feed it to a Jap on Anzac Day, (of food) absolutely disgusting. |