Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. an intravenous drug user.

1952		(con. 1948) G. Mandel Flee the Angry Strangers 368: You’re a baseball man, not a goof popper.
1956		‘Raymond Thorp’ Viper 77: I knew one or two poppers by sight.
1961		T. Taylor Baron’s Court All Change (2011) 31: ‘That’s Popper [...] he’s sick [...] no doctor can help him’.

2. an injection.

1996		J. Cameron It Was An Accident 77: Lay there while they took away the breakfast I never ate, lay there while they gave me regular poppers and clocked me every thirty minutes.
2014		M. Sheridan ‘Feeling Good’ in ThugLit Jan. [ebook] Serotonin poppers [...] don’t come cheap.

3. a pill-taker.

1975

cited in Spears Sl. and Jargon of Drugs and Drink (1986).

4. amyl or (iso)butyl nitrite, usu. in pl. [SE pop, to explode, i.e. the necessity of breaking open the ampoule that contains the drug].

1968		T. Wolfe Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1969) 375: Ten thousand children of the flowers and grass and acid, speed and poppers, yellow jackets, amyl nitrate.
1972		(con. 1965) E. Newton Mother Camp 93: Carter says ‘Poppers?’ referring to a heart-stimulanting drug used to enhance orgasm.
1977		C. McFadden Serial 39: Wasn’t she supposed to be fourteen or something and hooked on poppers?
1978		L. Kramer Faggots 104: Breaking open a popper and ramming it into Fred’s nose.
1985		‘Thommo’ Dict. Aus. Swearing & Sex Sayings 101: POPPERS (OR RUSH) — amylnitrate used as an aphrodisiac.
1986		S. King It (1987) 138: A popper in the morning, coke in the afternoon, wine at night, a Valium at bedtime.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 178: Dildoes, dog collars, whips, chains, amyl nitrite poppers.
1992		D. Jarman diary Smiling in Slow Motion (2000) 255: Ken [...] produced capsules of old-fashioned poppers in glass phials wrapped in cotton wool.
1999		Guardian G2 24 June 2: He unzipped it and pulled out his poppers. He had a personalised Rock Hudson popper case!
2000		Guardian Guide 25–31 Mar. 28: Throughout the 90s, ker-razy people invariably climbed into the tank in a moment of popper-addled hi-jinx.
2001		(con. 1975–6) E. Little Steel Toes 128: The acrid odor of poppers and sexually charged sweat.
2004		J. Ellroy ‘Hollywood Fuck Pad’ in Destination: Morgue! (2004) 212: I snagged [...] discard dildos, amyl nitrate poppers.
2010		K. Richards Life 201: He [...] would actually wake up and break an amyl nitrate popper under his nose.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 215: He’s pushing amyl nitrite poppers.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 87: Just like real thing they were apart from holding hands and whiff of popper I got off of them.