Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a term of abuse.

1981

(con. 1963) P. Conroy Lords of Discipline 143: You better put out, scumbag. Maggot-sperm. Wad-waste.

1. to indicate surprise or excitement .

1971		L. Bangs in Psychotic Reactions (1988) 7: And feedback, everybody just blew their wads and flopped over.
1997–2002		Alt. Eng. Dict. 🌐 blow your wad To ejaculate, to indicate surprise or excitement.

2. to speak one’s mind.

1999

P. McCabe Mondo Desperado 11: Not that I said it, of course. Not yet! I might be dumb like Pop said but I sure wasn’t gonna blow my wad straight away!

3. to ejaculate (prematurely).

c.1980		Donna Allen Raped Bitch Wife [ebook] ‘Hey, don’t blow your wad, honey,’ Clara giggled as Ed beat his meat.
1997–2002		Alt. Eng. Dict. 🌐 blow your wad To ejaculate, to indicate surprise or excitement.
2000		H. Dowd ‘Crazy Summer’ 🌐 I became keenly aware of her reactions and lost myself in the throws of her orgasm as I finally blew my wad.
2012		(con. 1980s) I. Welsh Skagboys 130: Ah mind ay really desirin her then [...] And I’d only just blown a wad.
2013		K. Shea ‘Having Chiqui’ in ThugLit July-Aug. [ebook] ‘[Y]ou blew your wad before you could even get your pathetic little man in the show’.

(US) of a man, to achieve orgasm.

1978

R. Price Ladies’ Man (1985) 196: I was going to pop my wad. She clawed my ass and moaned in my ear and I was a goner.

1. (US, also shoot the wad) to commit or bet everything one has, to say all one has to say [wad n.¹ (1)].

1860		Clearfield Republican (PA) 15 Aug. 2/5: He, too, was called to the stand, and after torturing himself some thirty minutes sat down — not that the audience were tired of him [...] but the gentleman had shot his wad.
1922		(con. 1917–18) S.V. Benét Beginning of Wisdom 220: ‘Shoot the wad!’ Philip answered, adding three dollars from his pocket to the sixteen already on the ground [...] Philip rattled the dice again.
1952		J. Jones From Here to Eternity (1998) 695: He was going now. He was ripe. He’d shot his wad and the anger was gone and he was ready for it.
1969		D. Pendleton Executioner (1973) 179: As a squad, we’ll shoot our wad.
1977		J. Sayles Union Dues (1978) 78: Mark gave her a smile. Not his killer smile, he didn’t want to shoot his wad too early.

2. (orig. US) to exhaust oneself, or one’s possibilities; to speak out forcefully and finally .

1879		Dodge City Globe 2 Dec. in Miller & Snell Why the West was Wild 404: If the great and good Nancy Balderstone [...] wishes to offer an exhortation on the subject of honesty [...] the present is a fit moment for him to ‘shoot his little wad.’.
1896		L.A. Times 20 Aug. 6: Mr. Bryan, in the language of the hoi polloi, has ‘shot his wad.’ From an oratorical point of view it fell short of the expectations of the people. It brought down no roofs and inspired no crowds to frenzy, likewise it captured no nomination.
1914		Sun (Sydney) 8 Mar. 14/1: ‘You’re in wrong,’ chirped a youngster, ‘the Thunderbolt has shot his wad long ago. Why, Jack Dillon is the main guy now’.
1949		G. McMillan Old Breed 331: Well before the 7th had shot its wad.
1966		H.S. Thompson Hell’s Angels (1967) 162: Any man desperate enough to sell himself into bondage in the first place had pretty well shot his wad in the old country.
1971		B. Malamud Tenants (1972) 6: I want to be thought of as a going concern, not a freak who had published a good first novel and shot his wad.
1989		H. Harrison Bill [...] on the Planet of Robot Slaves (1991) 159: Your guns are spiked, your batteries discharged, your wad shot.
2000		Guardian Weekend 22 Jan. 38: You don’t want them to shoot their wad eight weeks before they’re in front of the camera.

3. (orig. US, also shoot a wad) to ejaculate.

c.1930		(ref. to late 19C) N. Kimball Amer. Madam (1981) 102: Even a damn Indian [...] would come to St. Louie to celebrate and take the girls upstairs, shoot his wad.
a.1940		‘Peter Pullin’ Blues’ in G. Logsdon Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing (1995) 273: So she skinned my peter back, and that bitch began to jack, / She said, ‘Honey, you have got a pretty rod; / Let me get it hard again, then sweetheart, I’ll put it in, / It will feel good when you’re shootin’ off your wad.’.
c.1944		in P. Smith Letter from My Father (1978) 388: I shot one hell of a wad.
1949		H. Miller Sexus (1969) 182: I had such an erection that even after I shot a wad into her it stayed up like a hammer.
1970		in P.R. Runkel Law Unto Themselves 217: I went ahead and shot my wad.
1978		R. Price Ladies’ Man (1985) 35: I would shoot my wad with her cunt in my mouth.
1996		P. Beatty White Boy Shuffle 191: he pulled down his pants and stroked his penis. ‘Now I’m going to shoot my wad’.
1998		N. Palmer ‘Vegan Reich’ in Home Suspect Device 29: He fired one round into the guts of Duncan Oade, who shot his wad instantly.
2001		I. Welsh Glue 41: Ah shot ah fair auld bit ay wad intae Maggie.

4. (US) to break down emotionally.

1977

(con. 1969) M. Herr Dispatches 19: His mouth was sprung open, and his tongue was out, but he was smiling. Really a dude who’d shot his wad.