Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also stung for) tricked out of money (or some other commodity) [sting v. (3)].

1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 271: sting to rob or defraud a person or place is called stinging them, as, that cove is too fly; he has been stung before; meaning that man is upon his guard; he has already been trick’d.
1899		W.J. Kountz Billy Baxter’s Letters 59: I figured it up on the back of the invitation, and that lady sent me along for just two hundred and ten dollars, [...] Of course you will say I’m stung again.
1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 34: I don’t get stung very often.
1916		J. Lait ‘One Touch of Art’ in Beef, Iron and Wine (1917) 221: Slattery felt quickly for the wallet. ‘Stung!’ he cried.
1917		W.Y. Stevenson At the Front in a Flivver 13 Sept. 🌐 He frequently warns us when he is about to make an inspection; so it was entirely Culby’s fault he was stung.
1920		Ade Hand-made Fables 186: Even those who had been stung by Ichabod could not deny that he was booked for the Pearly Gates.
1924		‘Sapper’ Third Round 762: Drummond’s usual bright conversational powers had been limited to one word — ‘Stung’.
1925		T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 82: Ha — ha Ole 8-ball got stung — He picked up a man wid a golf suit, packed 3 bags fo half a hour an’ got a thin.
1930		E. Glyn Flirt and Flapper 66: Flapper: If you can’t get out of a jam you’ll be gypped [...] stung.
1936		(con. 1920s) Dos Passos Big Money in USA (1966) 848: Organized Labor gets stung every time it mixes in politics.
1946		(con. 1910s) J. Thompson Heed the Thunder (1994) 12: He had been stung once; that was their fault.
1957		C. Himes Imabelle 32: Many smart men, even other con-men, had been stung.
1962		H.S. Thompson letter 28 Aug. in Proud Highway (1997) 351: The Grace Company has been backing me in the check-cashing business and suddenly we are all stung.
1965		C. Himes Rage in Harlem (1969) 32: [as 1957].
1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972).
1997		P. Theroux Kowloon Tong 68: Bunt was stung – ashamed of his innocence.
1998		I. Welsh Filth 207: Donation. Sixty bar. Stung by that bastard Stronach!
2001		K. Sampson Outlaws (ms.) 91: They got stung didn’t they the previous year when the passout stamps was luminous.

2. enamoured of [fig. use of SE].

1902		Ade Girl Proposition 6: From the Moment when the Goddess flashed across his Pathway, he was Stung in eight different Places.
1903		A. Binstead Pitcher in Paradise 237: Being rather deeply stung by Kitty, this liaison, he reflected, might become a permanency.

3. (orig. Aus.) persuaded to lend money [sting v. (3)].

1919		W.H. Downing Digger Dialects 48: stung (adj. or p. part.) [...] (2) having been induced to lend.
1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: stung. [...] having been induced to lend.

4. subjected to some form of problem [sting v. (3)].

1917		G. Bowerman diary 6 Oct. in Carnes Compensations of War (1983) 27: As usual I get ‘stung’ and spend the whole day unloading wooden barrack sections from a freight car.
1934		T. Wood Cobbers 25: What with newspapers a week old and wool going bung you’d be stung for conversation nowadays.
1953		T.A.G. Hungerford Riverslake 191: You’re stung [...] you’re on the skids.
1977		L. Heinemann Close Quarters (1987) 128: Bravo Company had been stung too many times to leave anything to chance.
2001		G. Coughlan Everyday Eng. and Sl. 🌐 Stung (a): embarrassed after getting caught doing something ye shouldn’t.