Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Irish) close, very friendly; thus great with, close to, esp. of lovers.

1669		Pepys Diary 6 Jan. n.p.: Lady Castlemaine [...] says that the Duchess of York and the Duke of York are mighty great with her.
1724		Defoe Roxana (1982) 332: They’d talked of a young Lord that was very great with her.
1734		C. Johnson Hist. of Highwaymen &c 308: These Furies got a poor Woman among them, whom one of them suspected of having been great with her Husband.
1761		G. Colman Jealous Wife I i: Did I not discover that you were great with Mademoiselle, my own woman?
1786		Northampton Mercury 21 Jan. 1/3: On her asking why he had murdered the young woman, he answered, ‘because I wanted to be great with her, and she resisted him’.
1825		Pierce Egan’s Life in London 28 Aug. 243/2: [Irish speaker] ‘Molly, you were great with my brother afore you got the Omathaun that’s your husband now’.
1908		G. Seagram Bushmen All 246: He’ll scent a black-fellow as far as any other prad ’ull smell a camel. He’s great on niggers, is Black Arrow.
1914		Joyce ‘The Dead’ Dubliners (1956) 217: ‘I suppose you were in love with this Michael Furey, Gretta,’ he said. ‘I was great with him at that time,’ she said.
1960		J. O’Donoghue In Kerry Long Ago 44: Johnnie O’Sullivan Corrig was to make music with a melodeon, borrowed from Kate Norrie, a girl he was great with at the time.
1982		E. Lenihan Long Ago by Shannon Side 18: Both of them were in love with the same girl, an’ neither Conn knew that Finn was great with her, or Finn didn’t know that Conn was great with her.
1990		W. Love Times of our Lives 57: He and the cashier were very great, so he was able to walk behind the bank counter.
1993		O’Reilly & Sixth Class Over the Half Door n.p.: She was a hard ould divil. She was great with some crowd down in Carbury [BS].