hit on, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

hit on v.

1. to approach, e.g. for help, to ask.

1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 8 Dec. 42/2: Dan Boyle jogged into New Plymouth [...] with a £75 cheque [....], a chronic thirst [...] and a settled determination to ‘lay himself out,’ and ‘to do it in,’ and ‘make a name for himself’ in the approved fashion. His idea was to hit upon some chum who was prepared to devote himself body and soul to the proposed spree, and to ‘make things hum’ while funds lasted.
1967		M. Braly On the Yard (2002) 241: You’d better hit on Mendoza, the assignment loot’s clerk.
1973		E. Bunker No Beast So Fierce 43: A guy’s been hittin’ on me to find a good heist man.
1980		(con. 1940s–60s) H. Huncke ‘Ed Leary’ in Eve. Sun Turned Crimson (1998) 129: One of them we simply hit on by chance passing his office.
1983		N. Heard House of Slammers 5: Maybe that’ll keep ya from hittin’ on me f’wat I owe.

2. (US) to criticize.

1880		Henley & Stevenson Deacon Brodie II tab.IV viii: You dry up about his old man, and his sister; don’t go hitting on a pal when he’s knocked out of time and cannot hit back.
1957		‘Ed Lacy’ Lead With Your Left (1958) 91: My wife is always hitting on me. She doesn’t like my being a cop.

3. (orig. US black, also hit) to make advances to, to make attempts to seduce.

a.1954		‘Mexicana Rose’ in D. Wepman et al. Life (1976) 38: Go hit on one of them Indian bitches selling blankets outside.
1960		C. Cooper Jr Scene (1996) 286: All sorts of broads hittin on me, wantin to give me anything.
1971		D. Goines Dopefiend (1991) 78: I’m going to tell him that you hit on me.
1986		J. Ellroy Silent Terror 67: If a ‘fruit jockey’ made a sexual advance toward you, ‘wail on his head’ [...] because if you didn’t ‘put him straight,’ you would acquire a ‘fruit jacket’ and be ‘hit on’ by all the ‘boodie bandits.’.
1992		R.C. Cruz Straight Outta Compton 39: A tall, muscular man [...] moved over from a nearby chair and hit on her.
1993		(con. 1930s-40s) Kennedy & Davies Boots of Leather (2014) 37: ‘It was always best to let them [i.e. another woman] hit on you first, then you knew where you stood’.
1998		A. Warner Sopranos 127: If we start hitting on the boys now, they’ll be a fucking queue of butchers’ dogs ahind us by seven.
2006		G. Iles Turning Angel 334: Wade’s okay. He’s never hit on me.
2010		L. Berney Gutshot Straight [ebook] ‘Are you hitting on me, perhaps?’ Gina asked.
2011		Eve. Standard 3 Feb. 3/4: The number of women who hit on him has gone up dramatically. I don’t get jealous because more men have hit on me too.
2020		(con. 1991-94) W. Boyle City of Margins 32: ‘I get hit on a lot at the place where I work’.

4. (US black) to ask, to approach, usu. against the subject’s wishes.

1957		H. Simmons Corner Boy 80: I’m going to hit on Monk for the same deal in J City.
1960		C. Cooper Jr Scene (1996) 286: Everybody hittin on me ’cos I got the bag.
1977		(con. 1960s) D. Goines Black Gangster (1991) 155: He hit on me the second day after Shortman died.
1983		N. Heard House of Slammers 32: All day various dudes were hitting on him, asking him about the meeting.
1999		E. Bunker Mr Blue 114: I expected him to hit on me for enough to buy a fix.

5. (US) to attempt to swindle or victimize.

1968		J. Colebrook Cross of Lassitude 104: Don’t let those pimps hit on you.
1977		A. Brooke Last Toke 59: Don’t you be hittin’ on me, you jive motherfucker with you Panama hat an’ fine clothes.

6. in pimp use, to attract a woman to one’s team of prostitutes.

1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 138: I wondered if she was a whore. I decided to hit on her.
1977		J.L. Dillard Lex. Black Eng. 88: A pimp trying to acquire either the experienced professional or the new recruit will hit on the girl ‘try repeatedly to win her’.

7. (US) to rob.

1978		R. De Christoforo Grease 193: Me and Danny hit on an old Chevy for front fenders and just as we got them off we heard this guy screaming at us.
1992		R. Price Clockers 21: A stickup crew from Newark [...] was hitting on Dempsy dealers.

8. (US) to enjoy, to indulge in.

1998		P. Cornwell Point of Origin (1999) 37: Thankfully, Pepper doesn’t hit on alcohol [...] Because there’s about a thousand gallons of bourbon out here.
2001		D. Jenkins Money-Whipped Steer-Job 140: [S]he could visit the North Park Mall and hit on Neiman’s and all the other fancy Dallas stores that women like to slap around with their plastic.