chill adj.
1. (US black) fashionable, chic, ‘with it’.
Campus Sl. Oct. 2: chill – all right. | ||
(con. 1982–6) Cocaine Kids (1990) 26: ‘The owner,’ Jake says, ‘tell us not to snort at the bar, but we do it anyway [...] He say the bathroom be chill for that – he don’t want us to get caught in his place, so we be chill’. [Ibid.] 97: It must be a secret place to keep the squares out and let the hip, fresh and chill crowds in. | ||
A2Z 19/2: Those jeans are chill. | et al.||
Observer Rev. 7 Nov. 1: To listen to his Radio 1 shows [...] is to be met with a lexicon of ‘fresh’ and ‘chill’. | ||
NY Times 17 Jan. 🌐 ‘Yeah dude that’s chill’ [...] means that something is cool. |
2. (US black) correct, the real thing.
(con. 1982–6) Cocaine Kids (1990) 119: But the big kid with the cap on said he wanted to make sure the package was chill, otherwise he wouldn’t put his money in. |
3. (orig. US black) calm, untroubled, relaxed.
Campus Sl. Mar. 2: chill – relaxed, in control: Try to be chill when the cops ask you why you ran the red light doing 75mph. | ||
(con. 1982–6) Cocaine Kids (1990) 78: If you were white, you either didn’t come to school much or kept real chill. | ||
Times Square Hustler 48: Every once in a while, I’ll see a girl I want and it’s chill. | ||
S.F. University High School Update Mar.–Apr. 2: chill – (adjective) cool, in a relaxed way. | ‘Sweet, Tight and Hella Stupid’ in||
Alphaville (2011) 10: He’s been pretty chill from the moment we dropped him. | ||
Opal Country 477: ‘The Seer was chill, had his act together’. |
4. (US black) safe.
(con. 1985–90) In Search of Respect 35: Yo Pops [waving Primo over], listen to this, [turning to me] Felipe thinks the block is chill. |
5. (US black) emotionless, withdrawn, detached.
(con. 1982–6) Cocaine Kids (1990) 59: He pulled away from that dancer when she was trying to get him to go with her. Not just that time, but many times with the females he’s been real chill and shit. | ||
Two-Bear Mambo (1996) 8: You homos, man, y’all are chill motherfuckers. |
In compounds
(US black) one’s home.
Black Talk. | ||
🌐 Pamela has graciously offered me a chill pad with a water view. I’m here to take her up on it. | 6 Feb.
(US campus) a metaphorical ‘medicine’ that acts to calm one down; usu. in imper. phr. take a chill pill, take a pill, relax.
Campus Sl. Spring 8: take a chill pill – get off on. | ||
Campus Sl. Mar. 9: take a chill – calm down. | ||
Sl. U. 186: This class is not as difficult as you think, Glenn, so take a chill pill. | ||
Sl. and Sociability 42: Examples of rhyme from college slang are [...] take a chill pill ‘calm down, relax’. | ||
Phat Cats 🌐 Cheap Insults/Comebacks: Take a chill pill. / Don’t look at me in that tone of voice! / I resemble that remark! / I must break you. / How can you look at me with that face? | ||
CNN 23 Aug. 🌐 [headline] Stressed out? Vitamin C is possibly the perfect chill pill. | ||
Andover (MA) Townsman 🌐 [headline] Take a chill pill, mom and dad. | ||
PS, I Scored the Bridesmaids 189: All this aggravation ain’t satisfactioning me, goys. I’m prescribing chill pills. | ||
🎵 See what you need to do is take a chilly-willy pill / Go and chill yo ass out, fo dey deal yo ass out. | ‘Be better Than Me’||
D. Mail 🌐 Take a chill pill. | ||
Panopticon (2013) 168: It’s nothing major [...] Take a chill pill. | ||
Hard Bounce [ebook] ‘Jeez, Take a chill pill’. | ||
Headland [ebook] ‘Whoa, take a pill. I thought you were a hardened criminal slash detective’. |