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.

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.