Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) to meet; usu. as connect with.

1872		G.P. Burnham Memoirs of the US Secret Service 171: This agent failed to ‘make connection’.
1890		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘The Rejected’ Sporting Times 29 Mar. 1/3: Soon after that he tumbled / That with some one very wide he’d been connected.
1901		J. Flynt World of Graft 158: When I’ve got another piece of coin planted, I connects with the fam’ly again, an’ takes another turn ’round the circle.
1916		E. Genet letter 21 July in Brown An American for Lafayette (1981) 75: No word from Dave has reached me yet either altho thru letters from my mother I know he tried twice to connect with my eldest brother and missed him both times.
1920		Ade Hand-made Fables 41: As soon as he got into Practice and began to connect with the Currency he could shake the Oatmeal Circuit and move up to an A 1 Hotel.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 54: Connect. – To meet ; to enter into an agreement.
1938		J.E. O’Donnell ‘Overcoat Bennie’ in Mss. from the Federal Writers’ Project 🌐 Very often he didn’t even handle the loot. He would have the crook connect with the customer.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 795: connect –To meet; enter into an agreement.

2. (US) to succeed in obtaining something, e.g. the spoils of a burglary.

1903		Nebraska State Jrnl (Lincoln, NE) 14 June 9/7: They’ve been tagged about to see that they don’t connect with the crimson eye [i.e. whiskey].
1905		Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Dec. 30/2: It made me feel sick to think that I would ’ave to give the ole shark ’arf. [...] ‘So,’ I decided, ‘Mr. Profess, you won’t connect wi’ a penny o’ my cash. To-morrow I’ll be far away.’.
1917		‘A-No. 1’ From Coast to Coast with Jack London 46: Been having troubles connecting with a handout, sir?
1926		J. Black You Can’t Win (2000) 144: Did you connect, Kid?
1938		D. Runyon Take it Easy 289: He will move himself in for a few dibs if the good thing connects.
1953		‘John Eagle’ Hoodlums (2021) 25: [H]e pulled the lone one-dollar bill from his pocket. Christ, he thought, Big Gump and I better connect tonight.

3. (drugs) to obtain drugs, usu. by keeping a specific appointment with the dealer.

1920		F. Williams Hop-Heads 33: I was in a cold sweat when I went out to ‘connect’.
1937		B. Dai Opium Addiction in Chicago 197: Connect. To make a purchase of drugs.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 57: connecting Buying narcotics.
1953		‘William Lee’ Junkie (1966) 92: Cole did not have a habit at this time and he wanted to connect for some weed.
1963		M. Braly Shake Him Till He Rattles (1964) 69: On the way home he stopped twice and tried to get a line on some pot [...] but he didn’t connect.
1978		(con. WWII) T. Sanchez Hollywoodland (1981) 65: You don’t want to connect, all you want is to bet on Sea Biscuit.
1980		(con. 1940s–60s) H. Huncke ‘Whitey’ in Eve. Sun Turned Crimson (1998) 213: We talked [...] of Whitey contacting his man and connecting for weight in heroin, and of pushing.
1997		G. Sikes 8 Ball Chicks (1998) 168: They were, in all likelihood, LA Boyz selling weed [...] Wicked grinned. ‘Oh, so you’re going to connect? Better hurry up.’.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 6: Connect — Purchase drugs.

4. to achieve sexual fulfilment; of a couple, to conceive a child.

1933

J.T. Farrell Gas-House McGinty 186: You know first crack out of the box on the night me and my wife got married, we connected.

5. (US drugs) for a user of narcotics to make a successfdul injection into a vein .

1973

E.F. Droge Patolman 168: The younger the addict, the harder it is to find the vein and often he must stick himself several times before he ‘connects’.