Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) a sandstorm.

1966

K. Porter ‘Still More Ethnic and Place names as Derisive Adjectives’ Western Folklore XXV:1 37: Arizona cloudburst. A sandstorm.

a donkey or mule.

1882		Semi-Wkly Miner (Butte, MT) 15 Apr. 7/3: The Arizona strawberry is known as the red bean, the Arizona violet as the onion, and the Arizona nightingale as the burro or donkey, and also termed in nevada the ‘Washoe canary’.
1890		Ariz. Wkly Jrnl-Miner Presscott, AZ) 13 Aug. 1/7: Arizona Nightingale: Otherwise ‘burro,’ sometims termed ‘mocking bird.’ [...] Has a countenance of wisdom, ears of expresion and a voice of sonorous melody.
1896		Aizona Republican (Phoenix, AZ) 28 Feb. 1/5: He proposed the two make a trip across the Arizona wilds on the backs of Arizona canary birds (burros).
1909		Dly Arizona Silver Belt (Globe, AZ) 18 Aug. 2/1: Now there is the gentle Arizona nightingale (burro).
1913		Overland Mthly 62 379/1: The first sight that strikes the Easterner on coming to Arizona is the constant use that is made of the faithful burro, commonly called the Arizona ‘nightingale’.
1920		W.P. White Hidden Trails 201: ‘Three weeks,’ murmured Johnny, his eyes on the left hip of the retreating burro. ‘I never knowed you had a Arizona Canary’.
1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks 3/2: Arizona canary, a burro.
1940		FWP Guide (1966) n.p.: Because of his extraordinary bray [the burro] is sometimes called ‘the Arizona nightingale.’ .
1951		E. Corle Gila 360: He is sometimes unflatteringly called a jackass, which he is not, and sometimes an ‘Arizona nightingale’ because of his insistent bray.
1953		Eugenics Pamphlets 86 26: ‘Arizona Canary’ is the name affectionately given to the patient long suffering burro.
1968		R.F. Adams Western Words (2nd edn) 8/2: Arizona nightingale A prospector’s burro. So called because of its extraordinary bray.
1984		L. L’Amour Frontier 179: This long-eared son of Satan, often called the Arizona canary or the Rocky Mountain mockingbird, will feed complacently until one begins to draw close.

(US) no paint at all.

1962

Western Folkore 21. 29: Arizona paint job — used to describe an unpainted, weathered pine building [DARE].

(US prison/Und.) gas, as inhaled in the prison gas chamber.

2000

(con. 1940s–60s) Décharné Straight from the Fridge Dad.

(US) a red bean.

1882

Semi-Wkly Miner (Butte, MT) 15 Apr. 7/3: The Arizona strawberry is known as the red bean.

(US) a victim of tuberculosis who coughs deeply and often; the dry Arizona climate was seen as good for the lungs.

1942		Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Sl.
1944		P. Kendall Dict. Service Sl. n.p.: Arizona tenor ... a consumptive.
1968		R.F. Adams Western Words (2nd edn) 8/2: Arizona tenor A coughing tubercular.
1977		P. Watts Dict. of the Old West n.p.: Arizona tenor — a man suffering from tuberculosis [DARE].
1986		Newsweek 107 96/2: When was the last time you heard of someone who had tuberculosis, TB, consumption, inflammation of the lungs, phthisis, being called an ‘Arizona tenor?’.

(US) an onion.

1882

Semi-Wkly Miner (Butte, MT) 15 Apr. 7/3: The Arizona strawberry is known as the red bean [and] the Arizona violet as the onion.