Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. drunk.

1611		Shakespeare Tempest V i: Trinculo is reeling-ripe: where should they Find this grand liquor that hath gilded ’em?
c.1611		Fletcher Woman’s Prize I i: Do all the ramping, roaring tricks a whore, Being drunk and tumbling-ripe.
1818		W. Perry London Guide 52: It was to no purpose the groggy man cried off — pleading his ‘inability, — that he was too ripe to lay wagers’.
1819		R. Waln Hermit in America on Visit to Phila. 189: The greater part [...] of the present party were sufficiently ‘ripe’ to enjoy a little vocal.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc.
1842		Tennyson Poems n.p.: ‘Will Water-proof’: Half mused or reeling-ripe [F&H].
1862		J.A. Hardwick ‘The Browns Ruralising’ in Prince of Wales’ Own Song Book 41: And ere they started, got half ripe.
1933		‘William Juniper’ True Drunkard’s Delight.
1940		E. O’Neill Iceman Cometh Act I: He won’t be sober long! He’ll be good and ripe.
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 299: She was so ripe that if there had been no-one about I could have pulled her down on the couch behind us.

2. excessive, in poor taste, beyond the bounds of acceptability, e.g. phr. a bit ripe, ripe old time.

1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 158/1: There’s nothing been doing lately on the Dials except ‘copology;’ that has been pretty ripe of late.
1900		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘Out for the Day and In for the Night’ Sporting Times 9 June 1/4: His cigar, for his ‘class’ couldn’t stoop to a pipe, / Was a fruity and full-flavoured one; / Passers-by perhaps deemed it a trifle too ripe.
1923		Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves 40: And more to the same effect, all good, ripe stuff.
1945		‘Henry Green’ Loving (1978) 58: That’s ripe that is.
1960		H.E. Bates When the Green Woods Laugh (1985) 281: They were a pretty ripe old lot.
1999		K. Sampson Powder 253: The old lingo’s started getting a bit ripe of late.
2001		S. King Dreamcatcher 67: He wasn’t prissy about farts as a rule [...] but that is pretty ripe.

3. thoroughgoing, complete; esp. in phr. (you) ripe bastard.

1908		S. Ford Side-stepping with Shorty 41: Why, Bishop, you’re a reg’lar ripe old sport.
1923		Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves 8: He is a bird of the ripest intellect.
1934		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 249: Say, coach, that’s a ripe husky bunch of boys you got there.
1977		(con. 1969) M. Herr Dispatches 20: Not that you didn’t hear some overripe bullshit.

4. appealing, sensible.

1923

Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves 4: ‘You’d better come and meet her’ [...] ‘A ripe suggestion’.

5. (US campus) attractive.

1999		Eble Campus Sl. Nov. 10: ripe – good-looking.
2016		A. Wheatle Crongton Knights 19: ‘I don’t spill drool when I’m around ripe girls!’.

6. (W.I.) old, esp. too old to work.

1905		Sporting Times 22 Apr. 1/4: An over-ripe widow got married again. ‘Did she look bashful in church?’ asked one of her sweet little friends of another. ‘She was so pale. Even the roots of her hair were white.’.
2000		Guardian 18 Feb. 21: David Bowie set to be a father again at the ripe old age of 53.

7. of food, over-cooked, stale, poss. smelling bad; thus of people, places.

1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 27 Oct. 29/1: The cook in charge of two steam rice-boilers (which, to say the least of it, were fairly ‘ripe’) found the job was taking too long every morning, so, to expedite things, he hung an iron bar and a big billy of water on the end of the safety-valve lever.
1927		(con. 1914–18) L. Nason Three Lights from a Match 186: That trench was full o’ stiffs [...] No wonder I thought you was a little ripe!
1943		R. Llewellyn None But the Lonely Heart 335: It’s a proper ripe hole that is, you know? Thicker than bleeding cheese.
1977		S. Stallone Paradise Alley (1978) 29: He held his nose and pointed at El Suppa [dead person]. ‘Say, Lenny, ain’t El Suppa gettin’ a little ripe?’.
1988		(con. 1940s) C. Bram Hold Tight (1990) 112: He gets mighty ripe when he’s been sleeping in his funk all day.
2001		A. Schulman 23rd Precinct 8: [W]hen a group of junkies is brought in [...] the air becomes foul with body odor [...] ‘Hey, we got a ripe one in here!’ shouts the desk sergeant.

8. angry, irritated.

1966

R. Jeffries Death in Coverts 93: We all joked about it and Bill got really ripe [OED].