Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. the hedonistic, exciting world of the city, as opposed to the quietness of the countryside; spec. London, also as Babylon Town.

1793		J. O’Keeffe London Hermit (1794) 51: I be’s coom’d from Babylon [...] Great London itself.
1830		Egan Finish to the Adventures of Tom and Jerry (1889) 75: You have [...] missed some out-and-out events by your absence; but you must positively return to Babylon for a FINISH!
1849		Thackeray Pendennis I 162: We weren’t in a hurry to get to town. Neither one of us was particularly eager about rushing into that near smoking Babylon.
1859		G.A. Sala Twice Round the Clock 57: The cursory view we have taken of Babylon the Great.
1870		Barnsley Chron. 26 Mar. 6/1: He had a good deal to say about [...] painted madams in the great Babylon.
1889		Music Hall & Theatre Rev. 23 Feb. 28/1: The inimitable De Voy, Leclerq, and Co. left town for Glasgow last Sunday. We wish them as big a success away north as they meet with here in Babylon.
1890		Music Hall & Theatre Rev. 8 Mar. 9/1: Harris Fineberg has gone the length of his cable tour here in Babylon during the past few days.
1892		‘’Arry in ’Arrygate’ in Punch 24 Sept. 133/3: And I shan’t want a tub for a fortnit when back in Old Babbylon’s grime.
1953		A.J. Liebling Honest Rainmaker (1991) 123: What a mighty and wonderful city [i.e. New York] [...] A wonderful grand old Babylon.
1973		E. Braithwaite ‘Wings of a Dove’ in Arrivants 44: Them clean-face browns in / Babylon Town is who I most fear.
1980		M. Thelwell Harder They Come 143: Welcome to Babylon, Breddah!
2000		Guardian Guide 13–19 May 31: Festival lovers and reggae aficionados should prepare to leave Babylon and head for Lancashire.

2. (orig. W.I., then UK/US black) the police; a prison warder; thus Babylon House, a police station; also attrib.

1974		L. Kwesi Johnson ‘Five Nights of Bleeding’ in Voices of the Living Dead (1983) 31: Babylon tyrants descended / pounced on the brothers who were bold.
1980		M. Thelwell Harder They Come 203: He prowled the streets [and] fled the clutches of Babylon. [Ibid.] 342: First thing was to get home before the Babylons had a chance to organize a real search.
1983		C. Knight We Shall Not Die 58: Run, Panca! Get di fuck out! Babylon!
1994		M. Montague Dread Culture 98: He watched helplessly as they led Tuffy and two others outside to a cruiser. [...] He went back to the kitchen cursing Babylon.
2001		(con. 1981) A. Wheatle East of Acre Lane 257: ‘Go ’way, Babylon,’ someone yelled as the policeman caught up with the reeling teenager.
2001		N. Barlay Hooky Gear 31: Me & Duane is clock up inna Babylon House, as Duane put it.
2004		N. ‘Razor’ Smith A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun 162: To the true rastafarian dreadlocked hair and beard are sacred, so they would always put up a fight when ‘babylon’ (the screws) tried to shear them off.
2005		B. Hare Urban Grimshaw 99: When we get nicked the Babylon takes our DNA.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 10/2: babylon n. 1 a police officer. [...] 2 a prison officer.

3. (also Babylon-land) a generic term for white Western society; by ext. the authorities.

1972		D. Claerbaut Black Jargon in White America 57: Babylon n. a pejorative term referring to the United States of America.
1976		R. Daley To Kill a Cop 30: The bureaucracy here was as stupid and inept as in Babylon—meaning America—itself.
1978		D. Hebdige Subculture 59: It became all too easy for black youths to dismiss their white contemporaries along with the teachers, the police and the bosses as ‘Babylon’ or ‘crazy baldheads’.
1978		D. Marechera House of Hunger (2013) [ebook] They teach you self-respect, but in their image, so that even what you think is your own personal anger is actually Babylon’s anger.
1981		N. Farki Countryman Karl Black 165: The red and black puppies of imperialism are deadly! [...] The red, white and black Philistines must fall. Babylon must fall!
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 332: Listening to music, and rapping about the evils of ‘Babylon’, the white man’s depraved civilization.
2004		A. Mansbach ‘Crown Heist’ in Brooklyn Noir 124: All the old dreads [...] chanting down Bablyon.
2008		A. Wheatle Dirty South 178: Same old fucking Babylon! Same old fuckery!

4. any oppression or the forces that oppress the black (esp. Rastafarian) man; also attrib.

1977		D. Powis Signs of Crime 172: Babylon [...] any allegedly repressive government agency (West Indian term, also used in hippy communes).
1980		M. Thelwell Harder They Come 208: Through the wickedness of Babylon [...] there had had to be a change in the evening’s ceremonies.
1983		Bob Marley ‘Chant Down Babylon’ 🎵 And how I know, and that’s how I know / A Reggae Music, mek we chant down Babylon / With music, mek we chant down Babylon.
1994		M. Montague Dread Culture 121: Yuh tink I like fi send Aiesha to dis Babylon daycare, eh?
2001		(con. 1981) A. Wheatle East of Acre Lane 121: Babylon affe burn!

5. a world where people are perceived as putting material gains before spiritual ones.

2005

L. Theroux Call of the Weird (2006) 106: When you see your friends leave and go back into Babylon, it’s disheartening. I’ve seen a lot of them come and go, and they profess and believe the same things I believe.