street, adj. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

street adj.

(orig. US black) used of people believed to be of the ‘real life’, of the world which exists on the streets; sophisticated and aware, trendy.

1967		J. Horton ‘Time and cool people’ in Trans-action 4 5/1: Street culture exists in every low income ghetto. It is shared by the hustling elements of the poor, whatever their nationality or color. In Los Angeles, members of such street groups sometimes call themselves ‘street people,’ ‘cool people,’ or simply ‘regulars.’ .
1970		G. Scott-Heron Vulture (1996) 11: You meetin’ a lotta fine street foxes an’ dey gon’ promise you a l’il dis if dey kin git a l’il dat.
1972		Milner & Milner Black Players vii: Looking back at the parade which has passed through our lives, we see [...] sociologists, entertainers, street cats, winos.
1979		E. Torres After Hours 122: Gimme a street guy anytime.
1985		N. George ‘Rappin’ with Russell’ in Buppies, B-Boys, Baps and Bohos (1994) 46: They are mostly young, real street, and real anxious.
1987		R. Campbell Alice in La-La Land (1999) 8: Getting off on the attention she was attracting from the street freaks tuning in on her action.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 377: I was ready to [...] get downright street with some dude at a stoplight.
1999		K. Sampson Powder 18: No matter how street his clobber, his face gave it away.
2000		Observer Mag. 27 Feb. 25: They have that kind of street thing where you just set out to do something, and don’t take any shit about it.
2006		Cham ‘Fat Punnany’ 🎵 Fat punanny girl blowin’ up the spot / [...] Keepin’ it street.
2010		A. Steinberg Running the Books 271: He was ‘keepin’ it strictly street!’.
2013		K.Koke ‘Are You Alone Fam’ 🎵 I’m too street for ya half way crooks.
2016		‘Chelsea Summers’ in http://www.racked.com 28 Dec. 🌐 Fashion writers are committed to calling this school of fashion ‘street.’ Slashed, repurposed, mended, patched and abraded.
2023		Rayman & Blau Riker’s 159: [N]ow this guy, he’s a Crip. And he’s kind of a tough guy, like a street guy.

In compounds

street justice

(US) extra-legal measures, e.g. the use of force to settle disputes, punish, etc.

1970		Life 13 Nov. 35: [T]here is still a little street justice in his blood. There are moments when he [i.e. a policeman] would like to whack a loudmouth, the way his father could.
1999		J. Maple Crime Fighter 216: Judges who reduced charges and sentenced people to ‘time served’ would sometimes note—with approval—that ‘street justice’ had already been administered.
2006		(con. 1972) Jurgenson & Cea Circle of Six 155: Of course, they wanted street justice, a real attack against the mosque.
2014		D.B. Flowers Bangs 338: Bangs always got paid, one way or the other—usually the other, in the form of vicious beatings bestowed on delinquent debtors. [...] Bangs became too enamored of such street justice for Barrett’s taste.
2016		Barer et al. Betrayal in Blue 73: In those days cops didn’t think twice about ‘tuning up’ a piece-of-shit perp that well deserved it. Street justice was the rule, not the exception.

street money (n.)

(US und.) money paid out at election time to cover canvassers’ expenses, and often, alledgely, votes.


2004		R. Cooley When Corruption Was King 113: He took along bags of ‘street money’ for the party workers. Each voter got five dollars to sign for a punch card ballot and then hand it over to the precinct captain in the polling place.

street racer (n.) [i.e. a fast adj.¹ (2) woman]

a street-walking prostitute.

1856

Life in Boston & N.Y. (Boston, MA) 25 Oct. n.p.: Miss Isabella K—e [...] she is a perfect gashouse and a street racer.

street rip (n.)

(US police) a drug- or weapon-possession arrest, typically of a low-level offender, arising from an encounter in the street.

2020

Woods & Soderburg I Got a Monster 91: [H]e used the poorer, blown-out neighborhoods of East and West Baltimore for street rips.

street solicitor (n.)

(N.Z. gay) an underage male prostitute.

2010

W. Ings ‘Trolling the Beat to Working the Soob’ in Int’l Jrnl Lexicog. 23:1 71: In New Zealand there have been many terms for a young male street worker. These include school bag, street solicitor, merchandise, Kleenex, commercial, trade, street trick, and Illegal Tegel.

street tax (n.)

(US und.) criminal exactions regarded as a cost of doing business, e.g., by organized crime, the police.

2004		R. Cooley When Corruption Was King 84: The five Mafia groups got along very well [...] If you were doing anything illegal, and lived within a few hundred miles of Chicago, they wanted. apiece of it—what they called street tax.
2014		Ruderman & Laker Busted 143: They were willing to eat the loss, chalking up the cop robberies as a Philly street tax.

streetwalker (n.)

(N.Z. prison) .

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 180/1: streetwalker n. a prison officer recently completed his or her training.