Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also bird shit lime, bird’s lime) time.

1857		‘Ducange Anglicus’ Vulgar Tongue.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1880		D.W. Barrett Life and Work among Navvies 42: A common custom on the line, if a man wishes to know the time, is to inquire, ‘What’s the bird lime?’.
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 29/2: We have been awfully stoney in our birdlime, and didn’t know where to turn for a yannep, so we’ve had to fill up our insides on something less than two quid a week.
1921		N&Q 12 Ser. IX 345: Bird-lime. Time. ‘What’s the bird-lime?’.
1927		Eve. Herald (Dublin) 30 Nov. 6/4: Cockney bricklayers seem to have a quaint language of their own [...] bird lime — time.
1932		‘P.P.’ Rhy. Sl. 15: What’s the bird lime?
1938		(con. 1900s) in J.B. Booth Sporting Times 88: Round the Johnny Horner, to where she’d been / Just a birdlime or two before.
a.1945		L. Payne private coll. n.p.: Time Bird Lime.
1958		F. Norman in Sun. Graphic 23 Nov. in Norman’s London (1969) 40: I took a butchers at my kettle, and saw that the bird-lime was coming up to half past seven.
1969		S.T. Kendall Up the Frog.
1972		Dodson & Saczek Dict. of Cockney Rhy. Sl.
1983		R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 14: His uninvited guests had hit the toe to the frog and toad and the Beecham was again on his Pat Malone. He decided it was bird shit lime to put the nose bag on for some munga.
2002		Pete’s Aussie Sl. Home Page 🌐 bird’s lime: the time.

2. a prison sentence.

1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1912		Leamington Spa Courier 20 Sept. 7/1: ‘Warty’ has done a bit of ‘bird lime’ (time) in Warwick Gaol.
1935		Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 2: Bird-lime: [...] imprisonment.
1938		F.D. Sharpe Sharpe of the Flying Squad 329: birdlime : Time (in prison). Of an old convict the Underworld would say : ‘He has done plenty of bird’; the ‘lime’ part is usually left out.
1977		D. Powis Signs of Crime 174: Birdlime Time (in prison).
1980		S. McConville ‘Prison Language’ in Michaels & Ricks (1980) 525: One may speak of [...] bird (rhyming slang bird lime = time).
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 246: Two minutes ago he was prepared to slaughter me and lob me in a freezer, do the bird-lime, sixteen-year tariff for murder.
2002		D. Shaw ‘Dead Beard’ at www.asstr.org 🌐 He went off to do his bird lime for armed robbery but Dionne’s big north and south had got her a free charlie pride back onto the streets and freedom.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 71: Ted was so glow-white, translucent from too much birdlime, too little sunlight.