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. 🌐 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 🌐 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. (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.

3. (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’.
1882		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 11 Nov. 3/3: [A] serio-comic daisy of a low concert hall, one of your veritable old time dizzy blondes.
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.
1890		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 18 Jan. 2/3: ‘We were both very “dizzy” actors at the time [...] and very much in fear of Mrs. John Drew. We all called her “the Duchess,” she was so high and mighty’ .
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.
1932		M. Marshall Travels of Tramp-Royal 229: To tell you the truth, Scottie boy, the Toby’s gone to the dogs, it has. Wot with A.A. scouts, R.A.C. patrol men, speed cops, and them there dizzy hikers, curse me if there’s room for a reg’lar jungle-wallah.
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.
1971		B. Crump ‘Bastards I Have Met’ Best of Barry Crump (1974) 275: Whimsical, perhaps, even a little faddy [...] dippy, dizzy, giddy, screwy, wacky, scatty or daft.
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. 🌐 Dizzy – crazy.

4. 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. 🌐 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.

5. (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.