away adj.
1. in prison; (London) in any prison outside London.
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | ‘The Man Who Was Away’ in Man from Snowy River (1902) 62: I thought a lawyer ought to know — I don’t know what to say — / You’ll have to do without him, boss, for Peter is away. | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Sporting Times 15 Apr. 2/4: Do the canaries an’ git put away for three months! | |
| Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 12/1: Away (London Thieves’ Etiquette), A man is never spoken of as ‘in prison’, though he is there for many a ‘stretch’. [...] ‘Mine’s away, bless ’is ’art,’ the grass-widow of lower life will say, as indication that her husband is in jail. | |
| Human Side of Crook and Convict Life 299: The world will begin to think that I must have been ‘away’. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | ‘Undertaker Song’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 333: She hears that Joey Perhaps gets sent away. | |
| (con. 1920s) Burglar to the Nobility 54: When a man has been away a long time [...] he becomes out of touch with ordinary life. | |
| Hy Lit’s Unbelievable Dict. of Hip Words 9: college – Jail; the cat was away at college for an education. | |
| Hazell and the Three-card Trick (1977) 77: ‘Alan’s about due back from bein’ away,’ he said. Away meant Chelmsford nick. | |
| Lowspeak. | |
| Do or Die (1992) 6: Your homeboys, the ones who had already been away, told you about that early on. | |
| Vinnie Got Blown Away 44: She stuck by me last time I was away. | |
| Empty Wigs (t/s) 590: She didn’t go into lag-wife mourning while her husband was away. Far from it. | |
| Joey Piss Pot 7: ‘I haven’t screwed anybody else since before Carmine went away’. |
2. emotionally satisfied, usu. when intoxicated with drugs or drink.
| Poor Cow 41: One dinner time she had thirteen lagers bought for her. She only drank four, but [...] she was well away. | |
| Grits 113: Flask o’ Jameson’s an a spliff or two an am afuckinwey. |
3. successful, as in a seduction.
| Mouthful of Rocks 159: Slasher was well away with Romy, intertwining tongues with pink ferocity . | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Cartoon City 225: They saw him strike up an animated conversation with the dark-haired woman in the black mini dress. The woman ordered drinks, then handed Bob a foaming pint. They all agreed that Bob was away. |
In phrases
1. (UK und.) to be transported to Australia.
| [perf.] ‘The Artful Dodger’ 🎵 I'm going away for the good of my 'ealth, / But not at my own expense. |
2. to go to prison.
| Argus (Melbourne) 18 Sept. 5/5: ‘Have you ever seen Spencer since he escaped from Goulburn in 1894?’ ‘No I never saw him since he went away’ . | |
| Sporting Times 15 Apr. 2/4: Do the Canarys and go away from three months. | |
| Man with the Golden Arm 87: Sparrow had gone away for thirty days. | |
| (con. 1948) Flee the Angry Strangers 93: Red’s havin a goin-away party-like [...] He’s goin inside. | |
| Junkie (1966) 54: He took a fall and went away for three years. | |
| Sunderland Dly Echo 30 Mar. 7/2: If you had had a gun you would have gone away for five years. | |
| Panic in Needle Park (1971) 168: She’ll go away a long, long, long time. ’Cause you know she’s got this three-year SS from the last time and like they’ll lay that on her too. | |
| Cogan’s Trade (1975) 136: Now I’m going away again [...] and I know she’ll play around. | |
| Nam (1982) 218: I went away for carrying a piece, possession of a weapon. | |
| Inside 59: His father went away for his second term of imprisonment for drug-dealing and grievous bodily harm. | |
| Layer Cake 81: They don’t seem to mind going away for stretches. | |
| (con. 1973) Johnny Porno 244: They think for a minute they’ll go away, they’ll cough up every wiseguy they know. | |
| ‘Moody Joe Shaw’ in Life During Wartime (2018) 245: One more strike and I go away for goodl. | |
| ‘Sunset’ in Broken 180: Terry went away for a year and a half. |
3. to be executed.
| ‘The Informal Execution of Soupbone Pew’ in From First to Last (1954) 68: I see some poor stiff that’s been tagged to go away. Some of them make me nervous. |
4. (US black) to die.
| Beale Black & Blue 137: Well there was fighting [...] And one would stick one with a knife, and you’d find him over there in the corner, gone away from here. |
SE in slang uses
In phrases
of a relationship, usu. sexual, illicit, adulterous.
| Observer 10 Jan. 14: Claiming he ‘had been shagging away from home, a druggie who had been kiting cheques’. |
(Irish) mentally unbalanced.
| Slanguage. |
1. mentally unbalanced.
| Aran Islands (1912) I 52: I turn the conversation to his experience of the fairies. [...] He had seen two women who were ‘away’ with them. | |
| Rocky Road to Dublin n.p.: He’s away. He must have met the mist [the ceo draíochta, druid mist] and been taken in it [BS]. | |
| Lily on the Dustbin 50: A confused patient may also be ‘away with the fairies’, ‘ga-ga’, ‘doe-doe’, ‘dumbo’, ‘dubbo’ or have ‘lost ’is marbles’. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 11/2: away with the fairies daydreaming or considered unsound in the head. NZA . | |
| One Night Out Stealing 118: The woman spoke in her dreamy tone. [...] She was away with the fairies. | |
| Indep. Mag. 26 Feb. 15: Keith Moon was already a pretty wild man, he was away with the fairies. | |
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988]. | |
| Black Swan Green 363: Even before her stroke, she was a little ... away with the fairies, like. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Gutted 196: That fucking jakey was away with it. He was off his nut on meths. | |
| Ringer [ebook] n.p.: Davie points again, at me this time. ‘Are you away with the bloody pixies, son? [...] I thought I told you about dealing in my club already’. |
2. out of this world.
| Sun. Trib. (Dublin) 1 Dec. n.p.: I had an oul free flick through Hello! God Maggie, that magazine’s away with the fairies, isn’t it? [BS]. |
(UK Und.) to work as a receiver.
| Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964). |
(Aus. Und.) to trick, to hoax.
| Bulletin (Sydney) 7 Mar. 13/1: Well, the fact is […] there’s nothin’ to be made ‘on the never’ now; there’s too many on the bloomin’ game. If you cop a mug out of the Metropolitan, and are just a getting him away right, ’bout six of seven in the same line wants to stand in; and that puts the mug fly and chokes him off the push. |
In exclamations
a general dismissive excl., usu. Scot./Irish.
| ‘From ‘Landsflykt’ in Fivemiletown 44: Away to hell, England [...] your cheapo novels your daily Godawful papers. | |
| Trainspotting 11: ‘Ye ken she’s really intae ye.’ ‘Kelly? Away tae fuck!’. | |
| Breakfast on Pluto 160: Would you go away to fuck out of that! | |
 | All of These People 215: Get away to fuck, ye Fenian bastard! Go on. Off with ye. | |
| Panopticon (2013) 194: Away tae fuck, ya wee pleb. | |
| Blood Miracles : ‘Get away t’fuck,’ Phelan says. |