spear, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

spear n.

1. (Aus.) as the spear, dismissal from a job.

1897		implied in get the spear
1914		Bulletin (Sydney) 8 Oct. 14/1: He got a wink from the overseer to hang around until one or another of the tomahawkers did something that would admit of the spear. It came next day, and Morgan, the hut comedian, was sacked.
1959		Baker Drum.

2. (US drugs) a hypodermic syringe.

1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks.
1961		Rigney & Smith Real Bohemia xx: Synonyms for the hypodermic needle are the ‘spear,’ ‘spike,’ ‘spizz,’ and ‘point’.
1984		Abel Dict. Drug Abuse Terms.

3. (US Und.) a pickpocket.

1982

in J. Ciardi Good Words (1987) 218: Spear. A pickpocket.

get the spear (v.) (also get the gun, …harpoon)

(Aus.) to be dismissed from a job.

1897		Worker (Brisbane) 4 Sept. 8/3: Poor Billy Mayne has got ‘the spear’ and Dick his mate is ‘shot’!
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 19 May 15/1: [O]ne morning, when the men went up for orders, one of them, who wore his hair long and tucked-in, got the ‘spear.’ ‘Look at the bingey he has got on him,’ said the boss, ‘and his hair greased with my fat! Come up to the office, my man, and get your cheque!’.
1906		Bulletin (Sydney) 25 Oct. 16/1: We don’t want swagmen here! And before you get the bullet you will find you’ve ‘got the spear’.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 69: Get the spear, to be dismissed from a job.
1955		N. Pulliam I Travelled a Lonely Land (1957) 233/1: get the run (get the spear, the harpoon, the gun) – get fired.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 155: Other terms for losing one’s job include to [...] get the spear (a shearing term, it seems).

toss the spear (v.)

spearo (n.) [-o sfx (3)]

(Aus.) a spear-fisherman.

1963		B. Cropp Hbk for Skindivers 138: This day will see well over a dozen fast boats lined up on a Sydney beach and dozens of ’spearos’ preparing for a keen four-hour contest, while the women and children picnic on the beach and prepare refreshments for their return [AND].
1970		J.S. Gunn in Ramson Eng. Transported 55: Some are trite and could fade away, for example, spearo, ‘fisherman’ [etc.] [AND].

spearchucker (n.) (US)

a derog. term for a black person [the image of the African tribesman as a ‘primitive’].

1961		(con. early 1950s) J. Peacock Valhalla 57: It’s a nigger joint [...] All the spear chuckers hang out there.
1976		P. Conroy Great Santini (1977) 36: I’m sure it’s for a worthy cause like sending Maryknolls to Tanganyika to convert spearchuckers.
1982		R. Spottiswoode 48 Hrs [film script] You’re just a spearchucker with a number stencilled on the back of his prison fatigues!
[2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 451: Jigs see the riot. Jigs exult. Monkey see/monkey do. They roam West LV. They chuck some spears. They burn some shacks].
2000		T. Fontana ‘A Town Without Pity’ Oz ser. 4 ep. 7 [TV script] Shit, there’s a whole bunch of other names I can use: coon, jigaboo, spearchucker.
2002		‘Touré’ Portable Promised Land (ms.) 151: We Words (My Favorite Things) [...] Sambo. Spade. Spook. Spear chucker. Coon. Darkie. Buck. Buckwheat. Mandingo.
2008		J. Niven Kill Your Friends (2009) 17: ‘MaxMan, their rapper [...] had to go back to Trinidad to . . .’ He blathers on about what these shiftless spear-chuckers have been up to with our money.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 126: What about this other [movie] with the spear-chucker?