Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. extreme, usu. in a negative sense and often as something chronic

1859		H. Kingsley Recollections of G. Hamlyn (1891) 344: He still carries on his old chronic flirtation with Mary; and she is as ready to be flirted with as ever.
1865		Dublin Eve. Mail 9 Oct. 2/2: The mass of the people of Ireland are in a state of ‘chronic disaffection’ and Fenianism is universal.
1885		B. Patterson Life in the Ranks 45: These native vendors entertain an idea that all British soldiers must be perpetually suffering from ‘chronic hunger’.
1890		‘F. Anstey’ Voces Populi 106: A Chronic Cockney.
1908		A.N. Lyons Arthur’s 15: The smell of dead ox was chronic.
1919		Marvel 3 Mar. 5: Ain’t he chronic? Oh, my!
1928		C. McKay Home to Harlem 223: The second cook on Bowman’s diner he’s been in a chronic way for about three months.
1928		Truth (Wellington) 14 July 5/4: [picture caption] ‘Jimmy’ Hayne, Dunedin’s Chronic Chemist.
1930		(con. 1914–18) Brophy & Partridge Songs and Sl. of the British Soldier.
1944		J. Cary Horse’s Mouth (1948) 205: You don’t know mother’s talk. It’s chronic.
1959		I. & P. Opie Lore and Lang. of Schoolchildren (1977) 181: Boring, cheesy, chronic, corny.
1964		J.A. Lee Shiner Slattery 102: I’m a chronic would-be alcoholic.
1989		M. Amis London Fields 392: Although for him personally the future looked bright, Keith was on chronic trouble.
1998		A. Warner Sopranos 100: We were totally chronic [...] we’ll never make the second round.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 61: A surprising number [of WWI terms] are still in use today, including [...] the Cockney chronic that, by 1916, had come to mean anything which was really bad which was a lot, including food, water, officers, the war, the lice, the mud, the heat, the cold...
2000		Guardian Guide 29 Jan.–4 Feb. 15: But it’s not like a chronic habit.

2. (orig. US drugs) of marijuana, first-rate, very strong.

1995		A. Heckerling Clueless [film script] Look, I’ll make amends. How about some chronic shit?
2000		G. Pelecanos Shame the Devil 104: This here is some chronic motherfuckin’ shit.

3. (US campus) excellent.

1998

Eble Campus Sl. Nov. 2: chronic – very good: ‘Those lamb-chops are chronic!’.