straight adj.2
(drugs)1. unadulterated, of liquor; or subseq. of a powdered narcotic.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Pickings from N.O. Picayune 201: The watchman [...] has as great an aversion to street minstrels at night as a toper has to water straight. | |
| Doesticks Letters 59: My glass of brandy, [...] [which] should have been ‘straight,’ was also surreptitiously diluted. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Melbourne Punch 20 Nov. 3/3: ‘Proposals for a New Slang Dictionary’ [...] DRINKS, STRAIGHT.-Straight drinks are so called after the mathematical definition of a straight or right line, which is always the shortest: straight drinks frequently consisting of summut short. | |
| Innocents Abroad 148: Our general said, ‘We will take a whiskey straight.’. | |
| Innocents at Home 447: Absorbing nine gallons of ‘straight’ whiskey. | |
| Sazerac Lying Club 52: Mr. Truefact took the ‘usual thing,’ and the other members likewise took theirs ‘straight’. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 7 Feb. 6/4: The others fled / When they twigged the spread, / With their noses skyward slewed; / There were seven or eight / Went for whiskey straight, / And lord! how they grunted and phewed! | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Fortnightly Rev. N.S. xxxix 76: Dissipating their rare and precious cash on whiskey straight in the ever-recurring bar-rooms [F&H]. | |
| Things I Have Seen I 260: Imbibing too much whisky ‘straight’. | |
| ‘Proof of the Pudding’ in Strictly Business (1915) 249: Could you get me a drink from the sideboard, Tommy? No; straight; nothing on the side. | |
| ‘Big Blonde’ in Penguin Dorothy Parker (1982) 196: ‘You need a little snifter. How about it?’ ‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘Just straight.’. | |
| ‘Red Wind’ in Red Wind (1946) 13: Straight Scotch. Make it fast, will you? | |
| Mildred Pierce (1985) 521: ‘I’m out of ice and seltzer, but —’ ‘I prefer it straight.’. | |
| Small Time Crooks 22: ‘What’ll ya take, Mick?’ ‘Rye straight fer me, boss.’. | |
| Crazy Kill 75: Just put a little baking soda into that heroin, and don’t give it to them straight. [Ibid.] 109: Dulcy [...] drank two fingers of brandy straight. | |
| Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) 63: Nobody drinks a straight shot any more. | |
| (con. early 1950s) L.A. Confidential 283: Lunch: Fritos, straight vodka. | |
| ‘Cocaine’ [lyrics] Cause after the deal, we would all celebrate / Happy cause it wasn’t no jacking, and the product was straight. |
2. sober; emotionally stable.
| ‘Root Hog or Die’ Bob Smith’s Clown Song and Joke Bk 37: My wife to me did say / ‘Dear Bob, try if you can keep all straight to-day, / Don’t go drinkin’ nasty liquor or into your head ’twill fly’. | |
| Big Town 147: He’s the duke of them all when he lays off the liquor. He’s gave me his word [...] and he’s kept straight so far. | |
| ‘The Be-Bop Santa Claus’ [lyrics] Pops was wigged behind this crazy scene / And, before he was straight, / Down came the cat. | |
| Current Sl. V:4 20: Straight, adj. Abstaining from [...] alcohol. | |
| Song of the Silent Snow (1988) 76: He looks pretty straight, maybe he slept it off. |
3. not currently using drugs; orig. of narcotics but extended to any drug.
| letter 7 Aug. in Charters I (1995) 505: Bill G. is straight. | |
| We are the People Our Parents Warned Us Against 246: During the day he was pretty straight. He’d only shoot enough to maintain his habit. | |
| Rolling Stone 22 Sept. 42: The press immediately pounced on the drug references, especially since Elvis had maintained a straight image throughout his career. | |
| Bk of Jargon 344: straight: 1. Not high at the moment. 2. Off drugs. 3. Never using or having used drugs. | |
| (con. 1970s) King Suckerman (1998) 74: He couldn’t deal with it [i.e. confusion], high or straight. | |
| Rough Riders 148: ‘She was high when she told me what happened.’ [...] ‘And she wouldn’t admit this when she was straight?’. |
4. of an addict, having had the first dose of the day.
| ‘Teen-age Hophead Jargon’ AS XXVII:1 24: are you holding? phr. Have you any drugs for sale? Usually prefaced by: ‘Man, set me straight.’. | |
| Panic in Needle Park (1971) 11–12: This is his ‘wake-up,’ a morning shot to hold off the anxiety and sickness of withdrawal and get him ‘straight’ enough to start the day. |
5. in possession of drugs.
| Scene (1996) 100: I want to cop [...] Can I? Are you straight? | |
| Cop Team 177: He told me he’ll be straight for later on [...] He’s got to go and re-up. | |
| Tuff 69: Smoke? Smoke? Red top. Jumbo. Double Up. You straight, man? |
6. (US) under the influence of drugs, the underlying sense is of escaping the pain of withdrawal symptoms.
| Corner Boy 103: You straight man, just straighten me. | |
| Vice Trap 42: I didn’t want to get straight. But it was too late now. [Ibid.] 55: Graemie [...] his pop-eyes half closed, smiling to himelf. He was straight all right. Not on grass either. | |
| Panic in Needle Park (1971) 12: He hopes that the shot will be at least strong enough to make him straight for a few hours. | |
| Jones Men 176: Enough [heroin] to keep us straight so we won’t have to worry bout coppin’ for a while. | |
| Requiem for a Dream (1987) 9: Just a taste once in a while [...] just enough to stay straight. | |
| (con. 1940s–60s) ‘Johnnie I’ in Eve. Sun Turned Crimson (1998) 116: Somehow maintaining a junk habit – just managing to keep straight enough not to collapse completely. |
7. of marijuana, of average quality.
| Vulture (1996) 13: ‘Red [i.e. extra-strong Panamanian red marijuana] all you got?’ ‘Naw. I got some straight smoke too. It’s Cuban.’. |
In compounds
alcohol that has not been weakened with water.
| Home to Harlem 17: Gimme the siphon, Doc. I’m off the straight stuff. |
In phrases
1. (US campus) to sober up, from either drink or drugs, esp. when overcoming an addiction; also in fig. use.
| Really the Blues 80: We pitied him for going tangent and we hoped he’d get himself straight soon. [Ibid.] 217: Ow, I know I’m gonna get straight now, I know you gonna put me on. | |
| Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 50–1: ‘My wife kicked my ass out and locked the door / and I been lookin’ around for a good-lookin’ whore.’ / She looked at her watch, it was half-past eight. / She said, ‘Come on up my place, daddy, we’ll get things straight.’. | |
| (con. 1969) Dispatches 164: It was a place where they could [...] get drunk, get stoned, get straight, groove in the scivvie houses. |
2. (drugs) of a heroin addict, to inject the drug, thus relieving the pain of withdrawal symptoms.
| Addict in the Street (1966) 180: You don’t care about nobody but yourself, you just want to get straight. | |
| Underground Dict. (1972). | |
| Brown’s Requiem 71: I can tell you’re starting to hurt. This might take a little longer. Why don’t you go into the can and get straight? | |
| Homeboy 220: Please lemme get straight . . . I’ll do ya. |
3. (drugs) to consume a narcotic, whether or not one is addicted/suffering withdrawal.
| Manchild in the Promised Land (1969) 115: You get straight, man. Here, you take some first. | |
| Snakes (1971) 29: You know someplace where we can score for some gangster—and then you talk about getting straight for real, oooooweeee! | |
| ‘Topless Vampire Bitches’ in C. Rhatigan and N. Bird (eds) Pulp Ink 2 [ebook] I just need a little something to get my head straight. |
to sell drugs to an addict; to give an addict their injection of drugs.
| Narcotics Lingo and Lore. |