z, n.¹ — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

z n.¹

also Z, zed, zee, z’s, zzz

[echoic of the sound of one’s breathing]

(orig. US) in pl., sleep in general; esp. in phrs. below.

1963		Dundes & Schonhorn ‘Kansas University Sl.: A New Generation’ in AS XXXVIII:3 174: Get some Z’s, which in verb form was noted twice as Z’ing it. Variants occurring once were: bagging Z’s, copping some Z’s, and knocking out Z’s.
1969		B. Beckham My Main Mother 15: I nodded and went straight to bed [...] I had trouble kiffing off. The Zs just wouldn’t come.
1972		T. O’Brien If I Die in a Combat Zone (1980) 17: You get tired walking the whole damn day [...] not even the Red Army could keep me from my Z’s.
1982–2004		G. Sculatti Catalog of Cool 🌐 to pile up the z’s (verb): To sleep.
1983		A-Team Storybook 42: Grab your z’s and leave Mack on the back track.
1993		K. Scott Monster (1994) 225: I’ma step back and get some z’s.
1997		‘Q’ Deadmeat 283: No nightmares just good quality Zs.
1998		I. Welsh Filth 55: I just want to [...] fuck her until I feel tired enough to get some zeds in.
2001		G. Coughlan Everyday Eng. and Sl. 🌐 Z (n): when you need to get some sleep you need to get some zeds.
2001		K. Waterhouse Soho 159: A few sly zeds before dawn broke or he got chucked out, whichever came the sooner.
2016		T. Robinson Rough Trade [ebook] ‘I’m going to take some Z’s’.
2018		H. Hitchings in elephant.art 21 July 🌐 Missing out on my zeds each night makes me romanticize the past, a sleep-glutted dreamland.

z-head (n.) [-head sfx (1)]

(US campus) a stupid person.

1982

Eble Campus Sl. Spring 9: z-head – one whose brain is asleep.

bag Z’s (v.) (also bag zeds)

(US campus) to nap, to sleep.

1963		Dundes & Schonhorn ‘Kansas University Sl.: A New Generation’ in AS XXXVIII:3 174: Get some Z’s, which in verb form was noted twice as Z’ing it. Variants occurring once were: bagging Z’s, copping some Z’s, and knocking out Z’s.
1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS.
1999		Guardian Weekend 25 Sept. 69: Whereas Mel gets her full forty winks [...] I can’t bag zeds.

blow Z’s (v.) (also hit some Z’s)

(US) to sleep; also to snore.

1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 83: Blow Z’s, ready to Very tired.
1976		(con. 1969) C.R. Anderson Grunts 62: The rest of them are blowing fucking Zs in a fucking hammock.
1985		Eble Campus Sl. Oct. 6: hit some z’s – to sleep or to be in a deep sleep.

bust some Z’s (v.) (also cut (some) Z’s, cut (some) zulus, pick up some Z’s, pop..., snag...)

(US) to have a nap; to sleep.

1966		Current Sl. I:3 7/1: Snag some Z’s, v. To get some sleep.
1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 25: Z’s, catch some [...] Z’s, cop some [...] Z’s, cut the [...] Z’s, do some [...] Z’s, get the [...] Z’s, grab a few/some [...] Z’s, make some [...] Z’s, saw [...] Z’s, watch the To sleep.
1968		Current Sl. III:1 5: Cut Z’s, v. To sleep.
1970		Current Sl. V:2 14: Z, n. [...] I’m going to pop some Z’s.
1971		H.E. Roberts Third Ear n.p.: cop some z-z-z-z-’s v. to take a nap; to go to sleep.
1979		(con. c.1970) G. Hasford Short Timers (1985) 88: We got [...] some areas where you can cut a few Z’s without digging a hole.
1982		(con. 1970) J.M. Del Vecchio 13th Valley (1983) 10: You better pick up some Zs.
1985		Eble Campus Sl. Apr. 3: cut some z’s – to go to sleep.
1985		Kurtis Blow ‘If I Ruled the World’ 🎵 African babies dying overseas / While you sucker metro-politicians busting out Z’s.
1990		(con. c.1970) G. Hasford Phantom Blooper 10: First Platoon is cutting a few well-earned zulus. Time to wake them up. [Ibid.] 45: The squad was cutting Zs, lying on the double layer of sandbags in the bed of the truck.
2002		J. Lerner You Got Nothing Coming 49: ‘Aiight, O.G. I’m gonna bust some z’s, y’unnerstan’?’ ‘You’re going to take a nap?’ ‘Right on, dawg.’.

catch a few Z’s (v.) (also catch some winks, catch some Z’s )

(US) to have a nap.

1971		T. Whitmore Memphis-Nam-Sweden 170: He won’t bother me while I try to catch a few z’s.
1977		J. Langone Life at the Bottom 112: All of the Bees / Were asleep in their beds catching some ZZZs.
1977		C. McFadden Serial 71: All Harvey wanted [...] was to pop his Sominex and catch a few z’s.
1985		J. Wambaugh Secrets of Harry Bright (1986) 209: That’s where the cops around here catch a few z’s on a quiet graveyard shift.
1987		(con. Vietnam War) M.L. Lanning Only War We Had 251: They spent much of their time at the base camp ‘catching Zs.’.
1993		Tarantino & Avery Pulp Fiction [film script] 69: He lies on a table catching a few zzzzzz’s before his big fight.
1994		T. Willocks Green River Rising 253: That’s pretty cool [...] bein’ able to catch some Z’s at a time like this.
1994		Rebennack & Rummel Under A Hoodoo Moon 133: We’d catch a few zees.
2001		S. King Dreamcatcher 71: Lie down and catch some winks.
2001		Source Aug. 68: Jersey just came off the sand pipe catchin’ Z’s.
2013		N. Knight ‘Not Even a Mouse’ in ThugLit Nov.-Dec. [ebook] ‘Should get home and catch some Z’s’.
2016		N. Cummins Adventures of the Honey Badger [ebook] [I] headed to my room to catch some Zs in the fart sack.

clock (up) Z’s (v.)

(Aus./US black) to sleep.

1995		L. Stavsky et al. A2Z 21/1: Pops be clockin’ Z’s instead of clockin’ dollars.
2016		N. Cummins Adventures of the Honey Badger [ebook] [W]e were pretty buggered [...] and decided to clock up a few Zs before our last night in paradise.

cop some Z’s (v.) (also count Z’s)

(US) to sleep, to have a nap.

1961		(con. early 1950s) J. Peacock Valhalla 29: Guess I’ll go below and cop some Zs.
1961		N.Y. Times Mag. 25 June 30: coppin’ zzzz: taking a nap.
1963		Dundes & Schonhorn ‘Kansas University Sl.: A New Generation’ in AS XXXVIII:3 174: Get some Z’s, which in verb form was noted twice as Z’ing it. Variants occurring once were: bagging Z’s, copping some Z’s, and knocking out Z’s.
1965		H. Rhodes Chosen Few (1966) 101: Man, it sure doesn’t take long to get t’sleep here ... forty-five minutes and everybody’s countin’ Z’s.
1972		O. Hawkins Ghetto Sketches 176: Can’t you talk to me later. I’m tryin’ to cop some zzzs.
1987		S.F. Examiner 15 Feb. 35/3: ‘Hey, hold it down, will ya, I’m tryna cop some Zs!’.
1996		Star Trib. (Minneapolis, MN) 20 Jan. 56/1: [crossword puzzle clue] 14. Cop some z’s.
2009		Tampa Bay Times (FL) 28 Aug. 77/3: A pooped pup. A rescued sewal pup cops some Zds at the [...] Marine Mammal Rescue Centre.

stack Zs (v.)

(US) to have a sleep, to nap.

1961		H. Ellison Rockabilly (1963) 83: The boy was more than glad to drop onto the rack and stack up Zs.
1972		D. Jenkins Semi-Tough 179: Now I, Billy Clyde Puckett, am going off to stack me up some Z’s.
1975		J. Wambaugh Choirboys (1976) 153: Thought you were stacking those Z’s.
1981		J. Wambaugh Glitter Dome (1982) 173: One of us might as well stack a few Z’s.