Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. boxing) destined, fated, agreed upon; caught, disposed of.

1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 15: Booked, ring, mostly, for any event already settled beforehand, as so certain ’tis already set down in the book of history.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 7: Booked – in for it, dished.
1839		H. Brandon Dict. of the Flash or Cant Lang. 161/2: Booked – caught, taken, disposed of.
1845		J. Lindridge Sixteen-String Jack 116: ‘How know you we are discovered?’ ‘How know I? Heard you not that signal? By all that’s good, we are caged, booked, lost.’.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open 99: Booked, in for it, dished.
1852		A. Smith Comic Tales 154: If a bachelor escapes being booked until he is five or six years after age, the chances are that he will remain single some time longer.
1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn).
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1880		W. Hooe Sharping London 34: Booked, caught.
1890		C. Hindley Vocab. and Gloss. in True Hist. of Tom and Jerry 160: Booked. The time fixed when a thief is ripe for the gallows [...] He’s booked for a ride in the Government omnibus, i.e., prison van.
1901		Marvel XV:373 Jan. 11: We’re booked.
1920		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘The Strenuous Week-End’ Sporting Times 31 Jan. 1/3: When he started the week at the office, he looked / So completely off song that the boss / Said, ‘That Mondayfied aspect will soon get you booked / As a wash-out, so drop it, if pos.’.
a.1964		‘Bad Dan’ in D. Wepman et al. Life (1976) 125: Playing blackjack, short on blues, / A game all bad motherfuckers were booked to lose.

2. (US Und.) arrested.

1839, 1848		see sense 1.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum.
1881		Trumble Sl. Dict. (1890).
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 2: Booked - Caught, taken, disposed of.

3. (US) fatally ill; thus booked for kingdom come.

1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 8 Aug. 15/3: ‘A prod o’ that spur an’ you’ll be booked for the last journey.’ ‘Is it pizonous?’ asked Chummy. ‘Deadly,’ was the reply.
1916		R. Service ‘The Black Dudeen’ in Rhymes of a Red Cross Man 138: Then Micky, he cops one bad [...] Says he: ‘Old chummy, I’m booked right through.’.
1929		K.S. Prichard Coonardoo 306: All in now ... rotten with disease, and booked for the island.
1936		L. Pound ‘American Euphemisms for Dying’ in AS XI:3 202: You are booked.

4. (UK Und.) insane.

1939

V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 158: Shanny is booked [...] Going mad.