state n.1
1. a condition of emotional distress or mental agitation; also used of glee, giddiness (see cite 1984).
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Percival Keene (1857) 255: Lord, what a state I shall be in till I know what has taken place. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Boston Jrnl (MA) n.p.: There is no concealing the fact that English printers and publishers are in a state of mind over the International Copyright bill [OED]. | |
 | Sheep-Stealers 132: Don’t you remember when she went away, what a state you were in and how you raged? | |
| They Drive by Night 91: Blimey, he was in a state now. Miles out in the bloody country. | |
| Loving (1978) 177: Oh Edie ’e got in such a state. I was frighted. | |
| Black and White Baby 268: Pal [i.e. a dog] [...] was killed by a car on Jackson Street. Mother was in a state for several days. | |
| The Barracks Thief 43: We were in a state. Every time we stopped laughing one of us would giggle and set it off again. | |
| ‘Coming Attractions’ in Back in the World 10: ‘You’ve got me in a state,’ Mr. Love said. |
2. an unkempt, dirty condition of dress or cleanliness.
| Coward Conscience II vii: Just look what a [dirty] state I am in! [...] ‘Never mind,’ said Tom, ‘'wher’'s your room?’. | |
| They Drive by Night 201: Coming in here in this state you two and kicking up this row. | |
| Chips with Everything I i: This billet here, you see it? This? It’s in a state now, no one’s been in it for the last four days so it’s in a state now. | |
| ‘Watching the Girls go by’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] God, look at the state of her, eh. |
3. a state of drunkeness; occas. pl.
| (con. 1985) Experience 331: Halfway through my third go he said: ‘You’re obviously an educated man. Why d’you want to go and get yourself into this states.’. |
In phrases
a phr. used to express disgust or disbelief at the way somebody is behaving, or at something they have said; usu. as state of you.
| ‘Healthy Competition’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] The state of him. | |
| Powder 20: ‘State of you, Al,’ moaned James, lighting his preposterous reefer and inhaling deeply. ‘Hardly out of Das Kapital, that, was it?’. |
SE in slang uses
In phrases
(US prison) serving time in jail.
| ‘Chatter of Guns’ in Sat. Eve. Post 13 Apr.; list extracted in AS VI:2 (1930) 133: lying in state, v.phr. Serving time. | |
| et al. DAUL 122/2: Laying in state. [...] Serving a prison term. |
(US campus) excellent, first-rate; also as excl.
| Campus Sl. Nov. 3: out of state! – exclamation that something is great, fantastic. | |
| Sl. and Sociability 43: Out of state, a synonym formed on out of sight, may be merely an already established, phonologically proximate sequence handy as a target form. |