Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. drunk; thus dizzy ward, the alcoholic ward.

1791		‘Song’ in New Vocal Enchantress 33: Tipsy, dizzy, muzzy, sucky, groggy, muddled, / Bosky, blind as Chloe, mops and brooms and fuddled.
1804		C.L. Lewes Comic Sketches 27: While others would say he [was], ‘Very much disguis'd — Clipp'd the King's English —Quite happy — Bosky—Fuddled — Muddled — Tipsy — Dizzy — Muzzy — Sucky’.
1806		A. Douglas ‘Dave & Peggy’ Poems in Scot. Dialect 99: Riot, wi’ his head sae dizzy, / Newly haf gien o’er his grog.
1868		Cork Examiner 10 Apr. 3/4: If our friend Dizzy was a little more dizzy on Friday night, he might easily be excused [...] he had been drinking toasts with a party of [...] Orangemen.
1880		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 4 Dec. 7/3: [He] remarks of Lotta that ‘she’s a daisy, but the old man is a dizzy old snide’.
1899–1900		C.L. Cullen Tales of the Ex-Tanks 307: This is th’ dizzy-ward o’ th’ Moonisippal Hoshpit’l o’ St. Paul.
1914		Petersburg Daily Progress 12 Aug. 1: How is anyone going to dope a mess like that without being a candidate for the dizzy ward .
1914		F. Slee diary 13 Nov. [Internet] The bigger half of the squadron were about dizzy by the time we entrained.
1944		T. Thursday ‘Twin Lose or Draw’ in Popular Sports Spring [Internet] The bartender gave him gin via mistake. That made Sooper a wee bit dizzy.
1947–53		W. Guthrie Seeds of Man (1995) 251: I’m drunk dizzy, Rina, an’ I’ve not had a drink o’ likker this mornin’.

2. (UK) intoxicated by a drug.

1932

T. Croft Cloven Hoof 25: Scare headlines [...] ‘Dope Phials at Mayfair Parties.’ ‘Dizzy Guests.’ [...] Amyl Nitrate may be purchased at any chemists at the rate of a dozen phials for two shillings.

3. (US) startling, astonishing, vivid.

1840		N.Y. Daily Express 14 Dec. 2/5: There [i.e. a brothel] they found a large company of prostitutes and their male companions, assembled and engaged in the dizzy dance.
1896		Ade Artie (1963) 29: I know boys that went down there and put on a dizzy front.
1921		H.C. Witwer Leather Pushers 11: He played with the Allies as a dizzy aviator.
1929		D. Parker ‘Big Blonde’ Penguin Dorothy Parker (1982) 194: ‘Some dizzy blonde, eh?’ he would say. ‘Some doll.’.
1939		P. Hamilton To The Public Danger 51: Who’s the dizzy brunette in the corner, with the young fellow?
1962		‘Ed Lacy’ Freeloaders 81: That clown gets the dizziest hustles.

4. (also dizzey, dizzy-ass) eccentric, mad, stupid.

1880		Judy 62/3: A paper [i.e. Illus. Police News] appealing to vitiated tastes; a paper illustrating crimes of violence, giving in each number the portraits of at least half-a-dozen murderers, and enlivened now and again with the full length figure, in character, of a ‘Dizzy Blonde’.
1889		Epoch 5 67: You boys may think what you like, but I’m of the opinion that the dandiest maiden of the lot is the Dizzy Blonde.
1903		A.H. Lewis Boss 373: When our party’s head is again on halfway straight, and he isn’t such a dizzy Willie, I puts it to him that he’d better do a skulk.
1914		‘Bartimeus’ ‘The “Look-See”’ Naval Occasions 117: ‘Proper dizzy, ain’t they?’ he remarked in an undertone to a companion. ‘Wot’s the toon?’.
1919		A. Baer Two and Three 15 Mar. [synd. col.] Everybody dizzy. Waltzing from the neck up.
1923		H.C. Witwer Fighting Blood 78: Then I think of that dizzy sap downstairs!
1932		B.M. Harvey Me and Bad Eye and Slim 37: You say Pipe Down instead of Shut up, and a guy that’s goofy is dizzey.
1949		N. Algren Man with the Golden Arm 175: Don’t think that dizzy act can get you out of everythin.
1957		H. Simmons Corner Boy 201: You dizzy ofay prick.
1967		M. Braly On the Yard (2002) 300: I don’t want to be penned up with all those dizzy bitches.
1979		‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 34: That dizzy ’ho is aching to be a lady ’ho.
1989		M. Amis London Fields 260: You’re not a Sexpot. Not dizzy enough.
1999		Guardian Guide 15–21 May 25: The two dizzy sorts.
2000		F. Mac Anna Cartoon City 176: You mean the dizzy looking barman from The Chocolate Bar?
2011		J.J. DeCeglie Drawing Dead [ebook] If you punch her she’ll probably want to elope to Vegas with you. How fucking dizzy can one broad get?
2012		J. Robinson Gospel of the Game 3: Now, listen up, you dizzy-ass bitch, and don’t you ever try to switch.
2017		theculturetrip.com ‘Guide to London Slang 10 Jan. [Internet] Dizzy – crazy.

5. obsessed by; thus dizzy with a dame, obsessed with a woman.

1922		Harlow’s Wkly 21 16/3: They were playing ‘I’m Dizzy Over Lizzy,’ in the peculiar rhythm of Chinese music.
1924		C.S. Montanye ‘The Dizzy Dumb-Bell’ in Top Notch 1 Aug. [Internet] The dizzy dumbbell! Did you get all that guff? He’s in [i.e. love] again!
1931		D. Runyon ‘Broadway Financier’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 210: There is no doubt that Israel Ib is dizzy about her.
1939		R. Chandler ‘Pearls Are a Nuisance’ in Spanish Blood (1946) 132: Those screwy ideas a guy can get when he is dizzy with a dame.