Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. unadulterated, of liquor; or subseq. of a powdered narcotic.

1846		D. Corcoran 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.
1855		‘Q.K. Philander Doesticks’ Doesticks Letters 59: My glass of brandy, [...] [which] should have been ‘straight,’ was also surreptitiously diluted.
1856		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.
1869		‘Mark Twain’ Innocents Abroad 148: Our general said, ‘We will take a whiskey straight.’.
1872		‘Mark Twain’ Innocents at Home 447: Absorbing nine gallons of ‘straight’ whiskey.
1878		F.H. Hart Sazerac Lying Club 52: Mr. Truefact took the ‘usual thing,’ and the other members likewise took theirs ‘straight’.
1885		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!
1886		Fortnightly Rev. N.S. xxxix 76: Dissipating their rare and precious cash on whiskey straight in the ever-recurring bar-rooms [F&H].
1894		G.A. Sala Things I Have Seen I 260: Imbibing too much whisky ‘straight’.
1910		‘O. Henry’ ‘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.
1929		D. Parker ‘Big Blonde’ in Penguin Dorothy Parker (1982) 196: ‘You need a little snifter. How about it?’ ‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘Just straight.’.
1938		R. Chandler ‘Red Wind’ in Red Wind (1946) 13: Straight Scotch. Make it fast, will you?
1941		J.M. Cain Mildred Pierce (1985) 521: ‘I’m out of ice and seltzer, but —’ ‘I prefer it straight.’.
c.1950		K. Howard Small Time Crooks 22: ‘What’ll ya take, Mick?’ ‘Rye straight fer me, boss.’.
1959		C. Himes 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.
1972		G.V. Higgins Friends of Eddie Coyle 70: Nobody drinks a straight shot any more.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 283: Lunch: Fritos, straight vodka.
2007		UGK ‘Cocaine’ 🎵 Cause after the deal, we would all celebrate / Happy cause it wasn’t no jacking, and the product was straight.

2. sober; emotionally stable.

1865		‘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’.
1920		R. Lardner 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.
1955		Babs Gonzales ‘The Be-Bop Santa Claus’ 🎵 Pops was wigged behind this crazy scene / And, before he was straight, / Down came the cat.
1971		Current Sl. V:4 20: Straight, adj. Abstaining from [...] alcohol.
1986		H. Selby Jr 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.

1955		Kerouac letter 7 Aug. in Charters I (1995) 505: Bill G. is straight.
1968		N. von Hoffman 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.
1977		Rolling Stone 22 Sept. 42: The press immediately pounced on the drug references, especially since Elvis had maintained a straight image throughout his career.
1981		D.E. Miller Bk of Jargon 344: straight: 1. Not high at the moment. 2. Off drugs. 3. Never using or having used drugs.
1997		(con. 1970s) G. Pelecanos King Suckerman (1998) 74: He couldn’t deal with it [i.e. confusion], high or straight.
2008		D.R. Pollock ‘Bactine’ in Knockemstiff 110: I was supposed to be staying straight [...] but late one night I found myself fucked up in a strange car.
2012		C. Stella Rough Riders 148: ‘She was high when she told me what happened.’ [...] ‘And she wouldn’t admit this when she was straight?’.
2020		S.A. Crosby Blacktop Wasteland 74: ‘We all straight. Don’t get high. Don’t pop no Oxy. Don’t smoke a blunt’.
2023		A. Nette Orphan Road 144: No doubt it helped the old man was straight. He’d assured Chance he wouldn’t so much as smell a joint while they were working.

4. of an addict, having had the first dose of the day.

1952		Lannoy & Masterson ‘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.’.
1966		J. Mills 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.
1971		R.D. Pharr S.R.O. (1998) 363: ‘I can’t get myself straight before they’re [i.e. the Welfare dept.] closed’.

5. (US) under the influence of drugs, the underlying sense is of escaping the pain of withdrawal symptoms.

1948		Dan Burley ‘Back Door Stuff’ 30 Oct. [synd. col.] Hoss Steele got straight Sunday night.
1957		H. Simmons Corner Boy 103: You straight man, just straighten me.
1958		E. Gilbert 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.
1966		J. Mills 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.
1974		V.E. Smith Jones Men 176: Enough [heroin] to keep us straight so we won’t have to worry bout coppin’ for a while.
1978		H. Selby Jr Requiem for a Dream (1987) 9: Just a taste once in a while [...] just enough to stay straight.
1980		(con. 1940s–60s) H. Huncke ‘Johnnie I’ in Eve. Sun Turned Crimson (1998) 116: Somehow maintaining a junk habit – just managing to keep straight enough not to collapse completely.

6. in possession of drugs.

1960		C. Cooper Jr Scene (1996) 100: I want to cop [...] Can I? Are you straight?
1975		Sepe & Telano Cop Team 177: He told me he’ll be straight for later on [...] He’s got to go and re-up.
2000		P. Beatty Tuff 69: Smoke? Smoke? Red top. Jumbo. Double Up. You straight, man?

7. (UK drugs) of a cigarette, without cannabis either mixed with or substituting for tobacco.

1961

T. Taylor Baron’s Court All Change (2011) : ‘Do you smoke?’ [...] She gave a girlish giggle. ‘No, silly, not straight ones. Charge’.

8. of marijuana, of average quality.

1970

G. Scott-Heron Vulture (1996) 13: ‘Red [i.e. extra-strong Panamanian red marijuana] all you got?’ ‘Naw. I got some straight smoke too. It’s Cuban.’.