Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. one’s habitual choice of drink, beverage or food.

1843		W.T. Moncrieff Scamps of London II iii: Sir! (this is the waiter) dever: A drop of the usual.
1890		Sporting Times 29 Mar. 2/5: U for the ‘usual’ glass the staff take / Whenever invited, you make no mistake.
1923		W. Holtby Anderby Wold (1981) 45: She goes well enough till she has to stop for her ‘usual.’.
1929		‘Henry Green’ Living (1978) 223: Time was they’d give pint and a ’alf measure when you asked for the usual.
1932		W.R. Burnett Giant Swing 37: ‘My “usual,”’ said Joe. ‘What’s your “usual,” dearie? [...] ‘Orange juice, one soft-boiled egg, toast, and coffee.’ ‘O.K. Coming right up’.
1955		F. Brookhouser Now I Lay Me Down 20: Bill, give me the usual.
1961		W.R. Burnett Conant 13: ‘Glad you dropped in, Mike. [...] You want the usual?’.
1974		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell Plays Solomon (1976) 45: ‘Usual luv,’ bawled a ruddy-faced man with a handkerchief on his head, knotted at each corner.
1979		F. Norman Too Many Crooks Spoil the Caper 12: ‘Wotcha, Lionel,’ said the beer-gutted barman [...] ‘The usual?’.
1991		D. Jenkins You Gotta Play Hurt 318: Wanda served the Little Hornet her usual, a vodka on the rocks.
2000		T. Blacker Kill Your Darlings 198: My usual, please, Greg.

2. sexual intercourse.

1992		R. Barnard A Fatal Attachment (1993) 175: They go up t’woods for a bit of the usual.
2010		K. Richards Life 44: She caught him bonking an ARP warden [...] caught him up to the usual.

3. in pl., nervousness.

2010

K. Richards Life 208: Obviously there was a shiver of the usuals, but there didn’t seem to be much we could do about it [i.e. a police raid] at that moment.