Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also fizz-up) a fuss, a commotion.

1840		T. Haliburton Clockmaker III 204: He was a-gitten into such an almighty frizzle of a fizz.
1907		E. Dyson ‘Two Battlers and a Bear’ in Lone Hand (Sydney) Dec. 152/1: ‘That blighted bear-leader’s got out of hand. What a fizz-up there’d be if this crowd only knew!’.
1908		‘O. Henry’ ‘The Rathskeller and the Rose’ in Voice of the City (1915) 179: She is in the heyday of flattery, fame and fizz.
1938		J.H. Warner ‘A Word List From Southeast Arkansas’ in AS XIII:1 5: I was in such a fizz that I forgot my gloves.
1944		J. Cary Horse’s Mouth (1948) 86: He was in such a fizz that he couldn’t contain himself.

2. animal spirits, raw energy.

1883		E.J. Milliken Childe Chappie’s Pilgrimage 10: Life’s fizz till the last bubble’s gone!
1898		Dly Teleg. 30 Dec. 8/5: ‘There was no fizz in him [...] She liked a yob with a thirst on him and a pair o’ knuckles and a voice.
1914		E. Pugh Cockney At Home 61: There wasn’t no fizz in him.
1937–84		Partridge DSUE (1984) 398/2: from ca. 1850.
1947		‘A.P. Gaskell’ ‘Tidings of Joy’ in Big Game and Stories 39: It took all the fizz out of me.
1977		(con. 1940s) S. McAughtry Sinking of the Kenbane Head 92: Not even John Wayne [...] and the whole US Marine Corps could have put any fizz into Halifax.
1999		Guardian G2 30 June 15: Why not harness the school’s fizz.
2000		Guardian Weekend 18 Mar. 85: ‘Panache’, I continue, ‘bazazz – you know, sparkle, fizz.’.

3. (also fiz, fizzer, fizzly, pfiz, phiz, phizz water) champagne; occas. lemonade and ginger beer mixed.

1836		Comic Almanack Mar. 50: [illus. by George Cruikshank; a champagne bottle speaks] I will speak out! – I don’t care a fizz for old Father Mathew or anybody.
1858		‘A. Pendragon’ Queen of the South 79: What with hot drinks through the night, and cool ‘fizzers’ in the morning, bad luck to a ha’porth of grog or lemonade will be left to the firm.
1864		Punch XLVII 100: So away we went to supper For hungry we had grown, And ordered some fizz, which the right thing is, With a devilled turkey bone.
1879		London Life 30 Aug. 3/2: We’ll play light upon the sherry, as we mean to stick to ‘biz,’ / And we know that we are certain to be deluged quite in Fiz.
1881		Bulletin (Sydney) 8 Jan. 4/2: A young lady of 74 summers, who had imbibed one glass each of ‘fiz’ and liqueur, remarked, in rather a vacant tone to the host, that the champagne was excellent but the Keroseno (Maraschino) made her feel very peculiar.
1883		E.J. Milliken Childe Chappie’s Pilgrimage 6: These were but comrades of the cheery hour, / The sharers of his ‘fizz’ or bitter beer.
1884		Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday 8 May 5: [caption] Pot of six sale. Half a quartern. Bottle of Fiz.
1888–94		‘Walter’ My Secret Life (1966) VII 1425: A little more pfiz and we were all on the spree. [Ibid.] IX 1894: I’ll let you look for a minute if you’ll give me a bottle of phiz, I’ve not had a drop of anything to day.
1888		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery Under Arms (1922) 78: There’ll be a little lunch, and perhaps some fizz.
1890		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 31 May 2/3: I was on my uppers, and I couldn’t produce a peg to get a drop of bug juice or a smell of fizz.
1891		G.R. Sims ‘A Ballad of Soap’ Dagonet Ditties 65: That pint of fizz with Joe, / That big cigar with Fred, / Have wrought dyspeptic woe.
1891		Bird o’ Freedom (Sydney) 28 Feb. 4/1: He'll never refuse if you ask him to dine, / When your Turkey and Phiz he will shunt.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 4 Mar. 1/6: Much fizz and plenty prog.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 29: Fiz, champagne.
1897		Star (Canterbury) 24 Apr. 2/6: A pint of fizz, coffee, liqueur, and a Henry Clay to follow.
1899		‘Pot’ & ‘Swears’ Scarlet City 86: Fizz, gooseberry, B. and S., gingerbeer, whisky, or sherbet?
1903		Ade People You Know 210: When he wanted her to take some of the Phizz Water she made an Awful Stand.
1905		Sun. Times (Perth) 24 Sept. 1/4: A Mulga magnate makes the dollars fly when in town [...] his ‘fiz’ bill already runs to three figures.
1906		Sun. Times (Perth) 16 Dec. 4/8: Round to the pub, with a roar and whizz, / Rolled ice and asparagus, turkey and fizz.
1906		S. Ford Shorty McCabe 99: With his second glass of fizz Sir Peter began to thaw a little.
1908		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘When The Cranks Have Had Their Way’ Sporting Times 16 May 1/4: What! No billing and no cooing, no John Barleycorn, no ‘fizz,’ / No hilarity, no music, sport nor play! / Then I’m o.p.h.
1910		Sun. Times (Perth) 6 Feb. 3rd sect. 1/4: The open of the water-sceme was [...] celebrated in fizz and turkey.
1912		Rollitt & LeBrunn [perf. Marie Lloyd] I’ve never lost my last train yet 🎵 I've experienced what it is / To have quaffed a glass of ‘Fizz’.
1915		R.P. Hamilton diary 14 Aug. 🌐 Had some fizzly with Thorne & Lovibond, who are going on leave.
1916		J. Buchan Greenmantle (1930) 292: He brought out [...] three bottles of champagne. ‘Fizz,’ said Sandy rapturously. ‘And a dry Heidsieck too!’.
1916		O.O. McIntyre New York Day By Day 25 July [synd. col.] It might be imagined that most of them [i.e. ‘the rich young bloods of Gotham’] were saturated with fizz water all the time.
1920		E.F. Benson Queen Lucia (1984) 86: Pass the fizz.
1920		Bulletin (Sydney) 19 Feb. 44/1: You will hear them sighing, drunk with love of you—and fizz.
1926		Van Vechten Nigger Heaven 32: Well, boys, just in time for a little fizz-water, Adora cried.
1929		(con. WWI) J.B. Wharton Squad 4: An’ fizz-water costs only five francs a bottle.
1938		G. Greene Brighton Rock (1943) 39: Ask you round the corner to split a bottle of fizz if those beggars hadn’t taken the last fiver.
1946		S. Jackson An Indiscreet Guide to Soho 107: The only props are plenty of ‘fizz’.
1947		‘A.P. Gaskell’ ‘School Picnic’ in Big Game and Stories 89: We gotta hundred fizz [...] And straws.
1953		W. Eyster Far from the Customary Skies 61: I figure the last night ashore oughta be something worth remembering [...] You know, fizz, a snazzy band, a dame that can dress.
1966		Frank Zappa ‘You’re Probably Wondering Why I’m Here’ 🎵 Stomp all night / And drink your fizz.
1992		R.G. Barrett White Shoes 81: [He] returned with a bottle of ’71 Moët [...] ‘Want a glass of fizz, Les?’.
1995		(con. 1860s) P. Ackroyd Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem 81: She [...] came back with a bag of monkey nuts and a bottle of lemon fizz.
2000		R.G. Barrett Leaving Bondi (2013) [ebook] Lareina nodded to the bottle of cheap fizz.
2001		Eve. Standard Mag. 23 Feb. 42: Securing me enough cash for a bottle of fizz.
2010		Sun. Times Mag. 19 Dec. 9/1: Mum would arrive with [...] some fizz and a French cigarette in her mouth.

4. attrib. use of sense 3 .

1916

R.D. Doughty diary 11 May 🌐 Major, Chas and I had a Fizz Supper. Glorious war this.

5. (also fizz water) sparkling water; soda water; lemonade.

1915		R.P. Hamilton diary 11 May 🌐 Tea at a cake-shop and some (fizz) lemonade at an open-air café.
1936		H.W. Bentley ‘Linguistic Concoctions of the Soda Jerker’ in AS XI:1 43: FIZZ. Carbonated water.
1940		M. Marples Public School Slang 65: Lemonade and other aerated drinks are usually pop orfizzz.
1941		J.M. Cain Mildred Pierce (1985) 373: He put in ice and fizz water.
1949		H. Miller Sexus (1969) 108: Squirting the fizz water into glasses.
2000		Indep. Rev. 26 Jan. 1: To find out more about the history of Barr’s soft drinks [...] typing in the keyword ‘fizz’ to the main catalogue.
2000		Indep. Rev. 10 June 20: I’m sure you’ll want to know the hot news from the fizz biz.

6. sherbet.

1979

H. Leonard A Life (1981) Act II: An’ the fizz-bags the chiselurs could buy for a ha’penny.