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.
1900		M. Waddell diary entry in Corrigan H. Waddell (1986) 47: Last but not least comes Miss Helen. She is in fine spirits especially after tea, when the soda gets in her little heels. She keeps me busy keeping down the fizz but otherwise is remarkably good and docile.
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.
1986		F. Corrigan H. Waddell 97: There was a shadow over Degree Day: it had no fizz, since Meg was unable to be present .
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. (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.

5. attrib. use of sense 3 .

1916

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

6. sherbet.

1979

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