Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US drugs) under the influence of opium.

1933		Ersine Und. and Prison Sl.
1942		Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Sl.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1959		J.E. Schmidt Narcotics Lingo and Lore.

(US) a regular opium user.

1896		S. Crane in Sun (N.Y.) 20 Oct. in Stallman (1966) 145: Finally he may become a full-fledged pipe fiend, a man with a yen-yen.
1909		I.L. Nascher Wretches of Povertyville 229: Drunks and pipe fiends [...] find recreation, pleasure, excitement and consolation in the whiskey glass or pipe.
1913		G.J. Kneeland Commercialized Prostitution in N.Y. City 90: A ‘pipe fiend’ and a gambler.
1937		B. Dai Opium Addiction in Chicago 172: The ‘pipe fiend’ or the opium smoker generally looks down upon the ‘skin shooter’.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1959		J.E. Schmidt Narcotics Lingo and Lore.

1. (drugs) a regular user of crack cocaine.

1992		R. Price Clockers 3: Seeing her two months from now, no more baby fat, stinky, just another pipehead.
1997		G. Sikes 8 Ball Chicks (1998) 47: With the way I was dressed, and I was talking to myself, she thought I was some crazy pipehead.
2000		G. Pelecanos Shame the Devil 10: A couple of young citizens charged with beating a pipehead to death.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

2001

J. Stahl Plainclothes Naked (2002) 228: If Marv got ’em high, they’ll wanna head back and scarf around for more. If they think he’s bunk [...] they’ll wanna head back and get you. By pipehead logic, you ripped them off.

see joint n. (3a)

a seller of crack cocaine.

1993

R. Shell Iced 3: Get some money for the pipe-man.

(drugs) an opium user.

1928		(con. 1900s) J. Callahan Man’s Grim Justice 25: The ‘pipe smokers’ were the boys who lay around the little red lamp and inhaled the opium through a long bamboo-stemmed pipe.
1933		D. Maurer ‘Junker Lingo’ in AS VIII:2 27: Opium is referred to specifically as O., mud, or hop, and the addict is known as a hophead, pipe-smoker, or cookie.

(US) a fantasy.

1896

F. Hutcheson Barkeep Stories 15: ‘[D]at guy round here [...] dat tells dem pipe-stories ’bout onct bein’ de champeen wrassler down east?

(US) fantasizing; nonsense.

1899–1900		C.L. Cullen Tales of the Ex-Tanks 257: I figured this to be pipe talk at first, but [...] I could see that this man was too solid to be a smoker of seconds.
1903		E.W. Townsend Sure 30: [W]hen Duchess says dat he’ll be a President, or Alderman, it don’t sound so much like a pipe talk as you’d tink.

1. to smoke opium; thus pipe-hitter n., an opium smoker [note Burnett, Little Caesar (1929): ‘Hit the pipe, drinking’; presumably an authorial error].

1882		A. Trumble Heathen Chinee 30: In the theatrical profession, ‘hitting the pipe’ is a specially favorite form of dissipation.
1886		‘Life in a New York Opium Den’ in T. Byrnes Professional Criminals of America 🌐 He then unbosomed his reasons for leaving. He was going to ‘hit the pipe.’ I demanded he should take me with him.
1888		L.A. Times 2 May n.p.: [headline] ‘Dope’ Fiends. Police Officers Raid A Notorious Den. A Sallow-faced Pipe-hitter and a Nude Female Captured.
1888		Popular Science Monthly 33 Sept. 663–67: Not only are there more Chinese ‘joints’ [...] than there were a year ago, but the number of individuals who ‘hit the pipe’ at home and in their offices is growing very fast.
1894		C.W. Gardner Doctor and the Devil 36: Don’t you want to hit a pipe? [Ibid.] 40: I got to smoking opium. Then I got to be a ‘pipe-hitter’ as they call slaves of the opium drug.
1894		Mirror of Life 27 Jan. 7/4: [T]he Chinese were the first to introduce the habit of ‘Hitting the Pipe,’ as it is called, into the States.
1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 196: Now this guy’ll take a shot [...] or he’ll hit the stem.
1906		‘O. Henry’ ‘The Caliph, Cupid and the Clock’ in Four Million (1915) 196: It’s Dopy Mike [...] He hits the pipe every night.
1913–14		E. O’Neill The Web in Ten ‘Lost’ Plays (1995) 55: Yuh’re half drunk now. And yuh been hittin’ the pipe too; I kin tell by the way your eyes look.
1920		F. Packard White Moll 175: Anyway, I’m no pipe-hitter.
1925		O.O. McIntyre New York Day by Day 15 July [synd. col.] If he is not seen for a few weeks, he is in Chinatown ‘hitting the pipe.’.
1930		Eve. Herald (Dublin) 9 Dec. 4/6: ‘Hitting the pipe’ means that a person has taken to opium.
1933		C.W. Willemse Cop Remembers 316: When we got to her she was hitting the pipe, which is police parlance for smoking opium.
1949		Sun. World-Herald Mag. (Omaha, NE) 3 Apr. 2/1: Opium smokers are considered at a low level [...] but a guy who profits when he hits the pipe is the plumber [DA].
1958		A. King Mine Enemy Grows Older (1959) 45: He’s an old hophead [...] He used to hit the pipe.

2. to smoke cannabis.

1955

E. Hunter ‘See Him Die’ in Jungle Kids (1967) 99: I figured maybe he had hit the pipe after all.

3. (also crack the pipe) to smoke crack cocaine.

1993		R. Shell Iced 200: I hadn’t started crackin’ the pipe yet.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 367: Gred is fucked up on that shit. He hittin’ that pipe almost every day.
2001		(con. 1990s) in J. Miller One of the Guys 51: ‘Comin’ home to seein’ my mom do whatever, hit the pipe’.
2004		Mad mag. Nov. 59: My sister was hitting the pipe when she was pregnant.

1. using opium on a regular basis.

1926		J. Black You Can’t Win (2000) 235: I saw an opium smoker doubled up with the cramps and pleading for hop, and learned he had been ‘on the pipe’ only three months.
1952		C. Hamilton Men of the Und. 324: Pipe, on the, Addicted to opium.

2. using crack cocaine on a regular basis.

1985		T.R. Houser Central Sl. 39: on the pipe To be hooked on cocaine.
1989		(con. 1982–6) T. Williams Cocaine Kids (1990) 45: Everybody knew he was on the pipe. It was killing him.
1997		Simon & Burns Corner (1998) 26: Those on the pipe are so coke-crazed, so hungry for that ready rock that even hardcore dope fiends are apt to show disgust.
2011		E. Beetner ‘Zed’s Dead, Baby’ in Pulp Ink [ebook] And that wind blows me to his drug buddies. If anyone knows where Zed’s gone [...] it’s his pals on the pipe.

to smoke opium.

1959

J.E. Schmidt Narcotics Lingo and Lore.

(US) an act of sexual intercourse or fellatio.

1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972).
1981		H. Gould Fort Apache, The Bronx 35: Think of all the money you’ll save on pipejobs [...] You won’t have to be tossin’ those hookers at Hunts Point every night.

a gay man .

1997

Roger’s Profanisaurus in Viz 87 Dec. n.p.: pipe smoker 1. US n. Botter (qv). 2. A person who smokes a pipe.

(US) to fellate; thus pipe-blower n., a homosexual.

1917		(ref. to 1894) T. Dreiser Newspaper Days (2000) 590: They go down on you – blow the pipe – play the flute. Aren’t you on?
1919		Transcript Foster Inquiry in L.R. Murphy Perverts by Official Order (1989) 27: He was seeking ‘a piece of tale’ [sic] provoked Brunelle’s suggestion that he get together with one of the ‘pipe blowers’.

to masturbate.

2002

‘xpi3’ ‘Male & Female Masturbation Terms’ at Spankmag.com 22 Oct. 🌐 Clamping the pipe.

(US) to release sexual tension, either through intercourse or masturbation.

2002		BSNN.net 🌐 Now, as I was saying … if the Brothers hafta get horny and clean their pipes, tell’em its Okay to ‘beat the Bishop,’ hump a sheep, or get a blowjob from a nun. That don’t break no vow of celibacy.
2008		J. Lansdale Leather Maiden 81: ‘You still ballin’ for money?’ [...] ‘You lookin’ to clean your pipes?’.

(US) to perform oral sex on a man.

1988		H. Max Gay (S)language.
1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 63: Clean the Pipe The act of oral sex.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 33: He’d probably throw her an extra grand or two she cleaned his pipes.
2015		I. Welsh Decent Ride 48: Perr wee Jonty thinks ah’m cleanin offices. Cleanin out pipes mair like!

to gain sexual release.

2006		M. Karp Rabbit Factory (2007) 113: Sometimes a guy needs his pipes cleaned.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 40: Vento insisted on stopping to see one of his girlfriends to get his pipes cleaned.
2018		I. Welsh Dead Man’s Trousers 100: You fel as if you are ha to get your passport stamped rather than your pipes cleaned.

(US) to have sexual intercourse, whether vaginal or anal.

c.1940		in E. Cray Erotic Muse (1992) 367–8: If I were a maiden fair, / Fairer than all the others, / I would marry a plumber / As quick as one of the others. / We’d fix a pipe here. / We’d fix a pipe there. / We’d fix a pipe together, / But wouldn’t we have a helluva time / Laying pipe together.
1967		E. Liebow Tally’s Corner 140: [f.n.] [W]hen the subject is sex, and as the talk narrows down to one’s own person or sex partner, the language becomes less direct and descriptive phrases such as ‘I really laid some pipe last night’ tend to replace the more specific [...] labels for intercourse.
1971		B. Malamud Tenants (1972) 74: She has a whole lot of nature going for her and I wouldn’t mind laying some pipe in her pants.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 152: Yes, I’m d’ plumber and I’m here today to lay some pipe!
1999		‘The Master Pimp’ Pimp’s Rap 198: His body was drenched with sweat. He was stroking with the craftsmanship of a professional cocksman. He was laying heavy pipe to a sister who had her legs spread wide eagle.
2007		UGK ‘Like That’ 🎵 Nigga knife, he ain’t layin no pipe.
2012		M. Lacher On the Bro’d 44: Derek lays pipe to Maryann over at her hotel.

(US prison) living as a jail homosexual.

2000

Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 On Pipe: A homosexual or ‘punk’ as in ‘He’s on pipe.’.

(UK Und.) to masturbate.

1788

‘Rolling Blossom’ in Festival of Anacreon in Wardroper Lovers, Rakers and Rogues (1995) 179: I left the youth to stretch his pipe: / I nabbed a bill for fifty.

see lead-pipe cinch under lead n.

see separate entry.

(US) an arm.

1913

J. London Valley of the Moon (1914) 286: I can see myself becomin’ a farmer an’ plowin’ with a pair of pipe-stems like these.

to annoy, to infuriate, to provoke.

1998

Guardian Sport 31 July 16: Notice how Athers was able to get right up Donald’s pipe [...] outstaring him and generally provoking Mr 98 mph.

(US prison) using the waterpipes to communicate between cells.

1992

Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 56: On the Pipealso Talking on the Pipe In a cellhouse there is little opportunity for prisoners to conduct private conversations from one cell to another. ‘Talking on the pipe’ is a procedure inmates use enabling them to do this.

1. to ruin someone’s plans.

1821–6		‘Bill Truck’ Man o’ War’s Man (1843) 308: Here was a choker [...] an absolute freezer of all kindly or loyal feeling! which [...] absolutely put my pipe out.
1827		Guards 101: [He] whispered something [...] about serving: him out if he set up any of his French airs; which, doubtless, if carried into practice, would have put Monsieur’s pipe out.
1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn) 190: Pipe ‘to put one’s pipe out,’ to traverse his plans, ‘take a rise’ out of him.
1873		Sl. Dict.

2. to shock, to disgust.

1821–6

‘Bill Truck’ Man o’ War’s Man (1843) 285: The too common [practice] of keel-hauling, it shocked the whole fleet, and completely put my pipe out.

(US) of a man, to urinate.

1997

(con. 1970s) G. Pelecanos King Suckerman (1998) 242: I gotta run some water through my pipe.

1. (US) to fail to act or achieve under pressure, esp. in sports; thus to be punished.

1964		Current Sl. (1967) I:4 5/2: Take pipe, v. To receive the just punishment for a misdeed.
1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 171: Pipe, take the Do poorly on an exam.
1969		Current Sl. IV:1.
1986		S. King It (1987) 148: Unless you’re willing to take the pipe or eat the gun or take a long walk off a short dock, you can’t say no to some things.

2. see take the gas route under gas n.¹

an excl. meaning deal with that, whether you like it or not; ad hoc vars. exist.

1824		R.B. Peake Americans Abroad I i: ‘No tobacco allowed in England.’ There – (shuts book.) put that in your pipe and smoke it. There’s another slap at ’em!
1837		R. Barham ‘Lay of St. Odile’ in Ingoldsby Legends (1840) 256: So put that in your pipe, my Lord Otto, and smoke it!
1846		Thackeray Diary of C. Jeames de la Pluche in Works III (1898) 410: Put that in your Ladyship’s pipe and smoke it.
1853		T. Haliburton Sam Slick’s Wise Saws II 166: These are nateral truths, Mr. Bluenose, put them into your pipe and smoke them.
1854		Bell’s Life in Sydney 23 Sept. 3/1: Mr Wearin considerately recommended him to ‘put it in his own pipe and smoke it’.
1856		C. Reade It Is Never Too Late to Mend III 76: Put that in your pipe.
1859		P. Asbjornsen East of the Sun and West of the Moon (1914) 71: That was one for you, Peter Sandaker, put that in your pipe and smoke it!
1873		Sl. Dict. 255: Put that in your pipe and smoke it said of a blow or repartee, and equivalent to take that and think over it, or digest it, or let it be a warning to you.
1882		E. Nye Forty Liars (1888) 184: Now, put that in your pipe and smoke it.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Aug. 20/1: Aisy to talk of yer civil-i-sayshun, sirs; / Aisy to talk of yer knowledge as ripe – / Ireland was Ireland, and we were a nayshun, sirs, / Hundreds of years before iver Creayshun, sirs, / Was thought of or dreamt of. Put that in your pipe!
1894		Truth (Sydney) 23 Sept. 1/4: I’ve been to Henry Five, ole man [...] so put that in your pipe and smoak it.
1906		C. M’Govern Sarjint Larry an’ Frinds 132: Dere’s wan good thing [...] dat youse can roll up into yer cigarette and smoke it.
1906		Marvel 27 Oct. 391: Locked out, that’s it! Put that in your pipe and smoke it!
1914		C. Holme Lonely Plough (1931) 82: They can just put this in their pipes and smoke it.
1923		Sara Martin ‘Squabbling Blues’ 🎵 Just for that, just for that, just listen here what I’ve got to tell you; / Smoke this in your pipe!
1929		C. McKay Banjo 306: Put it in you’ flute and blow it.
1934		Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves 33: So put that in your twelve-inch cigarette-holder and smoke it.
1936		G. Greene Gun for Sale (1973) 22: Write it down, write it down, old boy [...] and then smoke it.
1937		A. Christie Murder in the Mews (1954) 44: Now then, put that in your pipe and smoke it.
1947		S. Lewis Kingsblood Royal (2001) 225: So you can just put that in your pipe and smoke it, Mister Educated Nigger.
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 81: Mr. Mucking Millionaire Noble could put that in his pipe and smoke it!
1957		Laurents & Sondheim West Side Story I v: I like the island Manhattan – Smoke on your pipe and put that in!
1960		J.R. Ackerley We Think The World Of You (1971) 24: And put that in your pipe and smoke it, I thought as I set the receiver down.
1970		C. Brown Down All the Days 213: Bejasus, Genocky, the truth he has spoke it, so put that in your bloody pipe and smoke it.
1970		‘Troy Conway’ Cunning Linguist (1973) 90: ‘Fair enough. But put this in your pipe and smoke it. I will make my intentions clear’.
1976		H. Leonard Time Was (1981) Act I: Put that in your saucepan and simmer it!
1982		E. Mac Thomáis Janey Mack, Me Shirt is Black 102: He had two famous brands of pipe tobacco, High Toast and Irish Blackguard [...] Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
2000		Observer 16 Jan. 31: Put that in your spliff and smoke it.
2008		D. Sedaris When You Are Engulfed in Flames (2009) 198: OK Lumpy, you just lost yourself a tip. [...] It could have hapened here [...] so put that in your pipe and smoke it.

see under strike me...! excl.

a euph. synon. of up your arse! excl.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 1291: [...] since ca. 1930.