1953 W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 66: Sometimes I see little kids around here with guns they bought in the five-and-ten.at five and dime, n.
1953 W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 4: ‘I – I’ve got a monkey on my back.’ At the phrase the detective suddenly became alert. To have a monkey on one’s back describes, in the jargon of the drug user, the frightful sensations of the addict when he or she is unable to get a ‘fix’.at monkey on one’s back, n.
1953 W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 3: The kid’s got it bad. She needs a jolt.at have (got) it bad (v.) under bad, adj.
1953 W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 226: Sometimes, too, he would manage to buy a couple of ‘bags’ on his own, which he would then make into capsules and sell to contacts.at bag, n.1
1953 W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 34: Vesta got out some marijuana cigarettes and offered Dave a ‘joint’ [...] Dave ‘got a ball’ right away. He felt ‘on top of everything’.at ball, n.3
1953 W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 93: Bammies (the poorest grade of marijuana cigarettes) could be bought for as little as three for a quarter.at bammy, n.
1953 W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 113: Pretty soon it wouldn’t be safe there any longer. There’d be a shank in my ribs or a beanie laid over my skull.at beanie, n.1
1953 W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 44: They bought some junk from a cat in the park, but it was real beat stuff (highly adulterated).at beat, adj.
1953 W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 112: Rico always seemed to have a moderate amount of money and he considered work as something ‘strictly for the birds’.at for the birds under bird, n.1
1953 W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 257: He’d never used a gun, only the blackie.at blackie (n.) under black, adj.
1953 W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 147: Upon his arrival in Lexington, he would be ‘blue-grassed,’ legally declared a drug addict under the laws of Kentucky.at bluegrass, v.
1953 W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 89: ‘What about tea?’ ‘That’s different. Boom makes you gay. You take a couple of sticks and you’re way up there looking down.’.at boom, n.2
1953 W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 164: Most of them were ‘junkies’ selling for the ‘bosses’ – non-users who employed addicts to distribute heroin.at boss, n.2
1953 W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 199: The tourist, too, may wander into fag joints and bow tie clubs. [Ibid.] 203: ‘There’s a party going on – a hairpin joint.’ ‘A what?’ ‘Hairpin joint – bow tie party – lesbians.’.at bow tie, n.
1953 W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 107: Each one chipped in maybe a quarter or half a buck.at half-a-buck (n.) under buck, n.3
1953 W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 36: She always talked ‘easy’ even when she was ‘giving him the go-by’.at give someone/something the go-by (v.) under go-by, n.
1953 W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 73: Of the two he vastly preferred cocaine but frequently used heroin because ‘C’ is hard to get.at C, n.3
1953 W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 99: Cat was also employed as a verb meaning to talk, while digging the cat meant talking aimlessly or at length.at cat, v.2
1953 W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 99: The word cat, for example, was used to mean another boy, or a prostitute, or a man looking for a woman, or a homosexual.at cat, n.1
1953 W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 99: The word cat, for example, was used to mean another boy, or a prostitute, or a man looking for a woman, or a homosexual.at cat, n.1
1953 W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 99: To cat out was to sneak away.at cat (out) (v.) under cat, n.1
1953 W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 44: They bought some junk from a cat in the park, but it was real beat stuff (highly adulterated) and they couldn’t even get a charge.at charge, n.2
1953 W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 127: Luis [...] would go down the line of parked cars trying the doors while Hector ‘lay chic’.at lay chickie (v.) under chickee!, excl.
1953 W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 107: For Crizzakes, what kind of a cookie was I?at for Christ’s sake!, excl.
1953 W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 27: He had thought of her as ‘real class’ and had been dazzled by his good luck.at class, adj.
1953 W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 45: When he was asleep they cleaned him out. They got his wallet, some jewelry, his clothing, and a typewriter.at clean out, v.
1953 W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 103: A place where the boys could ‘cook’ and take their shots.at cook, v.1