Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. delirium tremens; occas. in sing.

1861		T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxford (1880) 371: He’ll be having one of his fits [...] D.T., sir. After one of his rages the black dog comes.
1874		‘Old Calabar’ Won in a Canter II 135: ‘[He] never could play unless he had five or six tumblers of stiff brandy and water under his belt, and then he carne out grand; but he had ever to be watched [...] He had been down with D. T’s three or four times before.
1875		‘Aliph Cheem’ Lays of Ind (1905) 49: Sub. the third drank himself to D.T.
1876		Sheffield Indep. 23 Dec. 15/2: If the poor devil stops here much longer, an attack of D.T. will carry him out of the world at the double-quick.
1879		‘’Arry at the Gaiety’ in Punch 5 July 309/1: Then there’s Warner in Drink, now, that’s business [...] / I shall never forget that D.T.
1884		Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday 10 May12/2: A pig is incapable, through inordinate indulgence of spirituous liquors, of acquiring d.t.
1887		J. Payn Glow-Worm Tales I 209: As certain as D.T. is the end of drinking.
1894		H. Lawson ‘The Lost Souls’ Hotel’ in Roderick (1972) 154: A man who knows what the D.T.’s is.
1900		J. Conrad Lord Jim 35: A curious case. D. T.’s of the worst kind. He has been drinking hard in that Greek’s or Italian’s grog-shop for three days.
1909		Truth (Brisbane) 24 Jan. 9/5: All the visions wot they has / Are a abject hunger for it, / Wuss nor D.T. ever was.
1909		I.L. Nascher Wretches of Povertyville 238: It is delirium tremens, the D. T. of the hospital record, which ends in a stupor, followed by death.
1911		H. Champion ‘When the Old Dun Cow Caught Fire’ 🎵 Poor old Jones had the DTs bad.
1916		J. Lait ‘Canada Kid’ in Beef, Iron and Wine (1917) 155: My old lady’s finish, which come in the Bridewell from the D.T.’s.
1925		Dos Passos Manhattan Transfer 251: I’m having DT’s. Who am I? Where am I?
1930		‘Leslie Charteris’ Enter the Saint 35: Nobody blames the publican if his customers get drunk every night and eventually die of DT’s.
1938		X. Herbert Capricornia (1939) 197: [The doctor was] dealing with a friend of his in D.T.’s.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 37: The poor guy squirmed and wriggled like a jellyfish with the d.t.’s.
1953		‘William Lee’ Junkie (1966) 31: Someone who smokes a few cigarettes a day is no more likely to go insane than a man who takes a few cocktails before dinner is likely to come down with the DTs.
1962		H.S. Thompson letter 7 Feb. in Proud Highway (1997) 316: I keep having these dreams, not unlike the DTs in their substance and urgency.
1967		N. Dunn Poor Cow 68: One bloke, I think he was pissed or had DT’s, he was shaking so much.
1967		J. Wynnum I’m a Jack, All Right 43: Heard him muttering something or other [...] that could be anything, including the D.T.’s.
1970		E. Thompson Garden of Sand (1981) 313: Looks like he’s havin the D.T.’s.
1974		(con. 1924) E. Wilson Gone with the Raj n.p.: He and I exploded with laughter at imes and I have never met such an amusing and cheerful DT patient.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 253: I broke down sobbing in a beer garden and was hospitalized with incipient d.t.’s.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 384: A pasty dude with a wilted pomp, he shook with major D.T.’s.
2001		K. Sampson Outlaws (ms.) 111: I pure cannot stop myself from seeing things, proper hallucinating and that, palpitating, sweating, fucking DTs, the lot.
2005		J. Stahl I, Fatty 114: On top of the [...] puking I got DTs.
2020		S.A. Crosby Blacktop Wasteland 106: Beauregard wondered if it was the d.t.’s or seeing him as he entered the bar that made Melvin’s hand shake.
2023		A. Parks To Die in June 158: The DTs needed to be held at bay no matter the risk.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1890		Bulletin (Sydney) 16 Aug. 21/4: We hear of a D.T. patient who lately cut off his big toe, under the impression that he was cutting his throat.
1915		S. Ford Shorty McCabe on the Job 77: I’d make a fool of myself, of course. And inside of ten days I’d be in a D.T. ward.

3. a sufferer from delirium tremens.

1905

Sun. Times (Perth) 30 Apr. 1/1: The report of a raging lunatic set [the police] in a blue funk [and] they declined to go for the D.T. till assured he was trussed up.

4. a general malaise, not based on alcohol.

1952		(con. 1948) G. Mandel Flee the Angry Strangers 105: Hey, you’re givin me the d.t.’s. I got a real problem and you’re bugging me up with philosophy.
1977		(con. 1969) M. Herr Dispatches 64: I had the I Corps DTs, livers, spleens, brains, a blue-black swollen thumb moved around and flashed to me.