Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (Aus./Irish/UK) £10, a £10 note, a €10 or A$10 note.

1848		Era (London) 4 June 3/4: Davis, the big book-maker [...] nibbled a tenner out of the Ninny filly for the Oaks.
1856		in G.D. Atkin House Scraps (1887) 25: I’ll lay you a tenner, my pippin, / You’ll repent when you’ve once got a wife.
1861		Bell’s Life in Sydney 1 June 3/2: The ‘tenner’ escaped [...] no trace of that could be discovered.
1861		T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxford (1880) 217: ‘No money?’ ‘Not much: perhaps a ten’ner.’.
1874		‘Old Calabar’ Won in a Canter I 10: A tenner and endless blood money in the shape of half-crowns.
1884		‘Experiences of a Cunt Philosopher’ in Randiana 101: She said she was afraid she would have to go to the hospital [...] but a ‘tenner’ soon squared that.
1888		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery Under Arms (1922) 339: He disengaged the two tenners and a five-pound note from his well-filled receptacle.
1898		Binstead & Wells Pink ’Un and Pelican 134: No, from each and every one he took one ‘tenner’ to go towards the muniment chest of the Inland Revenue extortioners.
1900		Marvel XIV:344 June 2: Cost you tenner each.
1900		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 5 Dec. 1/1: A tenner numbered 000306 [...] is the identical £10-pound note.
1907		N.Z. Truth 30 Nov. 2/3: I changes a tenner wot I got off a silly pea at the trots.
1911		Gem 16 Sept. 10: I was expectin’ a fivah, but the governah has spwung a tennah this time.
1919		L. Esson Drovers (1977) 5: I’m going to get a tenner for two days’ cooking.
1922		Smith’s Wkly (Sydney) 2 Dec. 18/2: He was just biting him for a tenner.
1926		‘Sapper’ Final Count 916: Since you have had such a rotten time, I must make that fiver a tenner.
1938		G. Kersh Night and the City 166: Does that mean to say that you can’t make yourself a tenner?
1946		S. Jackson Indiscreet Guide to Soho 58: The men in the highest pay brackets [...] earn a tenner a week.
1959		F. Norman Fings II i: ‘Ow much do you want for the smother, Red?’ [...] ‘I’ll take a tenner.’.
1966		T. Keyes All Night Stand 71: Tenner maybe. English money.
1976		P. Theroux Family Arsenal 94: I’ll give you a tenner for it.
1989		T. Blacker Fixx 146: I waved a tenner in the general direction of a young girl in jeans.
1996		P. Howard The Joy (2015) [ebook] [T]he cunt’s nothing more than a labour day junkie who spends a tenner on gear when he gets his dole.
1996		J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 64: [A] potential client needed a kick full of tenners to even claim her attention, let alone her favours.
1999		N. Cohn Yes We have No 135: She [...] promotes a tenner for the taxi home.
2004		L. Redhead Peepshow [ebook] One of the guys who’d put in a tenner was at the bar.
2009		J. Joso Soothing Music for Stray Cats 125: If I give you a tenner [...] get me a jar of coffee out of it.
2015		L. McInerney Glorious Heresies 53: [T]hey’ve heard I’ve got yokes. They sit down beside me [...] and I exchange tablets for tenners.

2. (US) a $10 bill.

1880		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 25 Dec. 7/1: ‘It [i.e. a stolen watch] stands good for a tenner.’ ‘It stands good for a twenty’.
1895		Colorado Springs Gazette 21 July 2/1: An occasional ‘fiver’ or ‘tenner’ soothes his spirit.
1926		Van Vechten Nigger Heaven 11: He gimme a tenner.
1938		D. Runyon ‘Hymie’s Ever-Loving Wife’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 599: I have a ten-dollar note, although [...] I do not mention another tenner which I also have.
1949		N. Algren Man with the Golden Arm 13: You can’t make this tenner and make your interest too.
1953		S. Bellow Augie March (1996) 164: You’ve got the tenner I gave you for the chow.
1995		R. Campbell Wizard of La-La Land (1999) 134: You want to go buy a bottle with this tenner, you can come back and we can talk some more.
2001		‘Randy Everhard’ Tattoo of a Naked Lady 40: He ponied up a tenner.

3. (UK/US prison) a ten-year prison sentence.

1885		M. Davitt Leaves from a Prison Diary I 201: He has done a tenner in Gib for a burst in the city, and is sent back on his ticket.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 13 May. 5/5: If we get pinched we will get a tenner apiece.
1900		Flynt & Walton Powers That Prey 205–6: I ain’t done such tall lyin’ in a tenner as I did to that copper; but he never got on to me.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 221/1: Tenner. 1. (P) A ten-year prison sentence.
1967		N. Dunn Poor Cow 117: Just come out from doing a tenner.
1991		in J. Breslin Damon Runyon (1992) 118: Tell Mr. Dugan he could do a tenner based on this [i.e. a piece of evidence].