The Big Sleep

BOOTLEGGER - Smuggler; from the practice of hiding pint-bottles of liquor inside soldier's boots during the American Civil War. Specifically refers to Prohibition-era smuggling.

BIRD - A man, see also JACK, MAC.

DICK - Detective.


RACKET - Scheme, usually criminal.

SLICKER - Rubberized raincoat worn by cops - named for the shine when wet.

MOTORMAN - Trolley-Car driver.

VAGABOND HAT - Popular style of hat - usually men's where the brim curves from back to front.

VAGABOND HAT

DOPE - Either illicit drugs or a patsy, a fool.

JIMMY, TO - To open forcibly, with a pry-bar.

DAME - A woman. See also FRAIL.

BLACKJACK - A cosh, usually made of lead covered with leather.

BLACKJACK

SAP, TO - To knock someone out, with a BLACKJACK.

FRISK - To search, usually a person, but also a place, vehicle etc.

COOLER - Jail, as opposed to Prison.

HOTCHA - A Hot DAME.

FIREPLUG - American term for a Fire Hydrant.

FIREPLUG

JACK - General term for an unfamiliar male. See also BIRD, MAC.

MAC - General term for an unfamiliar male. See also BIRD, JACK.

QUINS, THE - Specifically, the Dionne Quintuplets of Canada. The first surviving Quintuplets, the Dionne Sisters were featured on a range of merchandise by the Canadian Govermnent after being removed from their birth parents. Phillip Marlowe has a Quins calendar in his office.

1939 QUINS CALENDAR

JAM - To be in a tricky or difficult situation, a SPOT.

LAY IT ON THE LINE, TO - To say something in a direct, frank way, to state one's case. From the gambling sense of setting a stake on a line on a gaming table.

BUTTONS - Uniformed cop. 

BUTTONS

PUG - A Boxer, from Pugilist.

SHAMUS - A Private Detective, a P.I.

JOHN - A Cop, from John Q.Law, an everyman term similiar to Joe Public (UK) and John Q.Public (US).

GRIFTER -A practitioner of Confidence Tricks - a Con artist. Probably based on the earlier 'Grafter' with same meaning.

CHECK RAISER - A forger who specialises in raising the face value of checks.

SPOT, TO - Gangster term meaning to murder someone.

JAG - As in 'Sex Jag' meaning pornographic book.

WHIFF, TO - Gangster term for murder, see also SPOT, TO.

LAM, ON THE- To run, originally Pickpocket slang via arcane British student slang, 'Lam' to beat. Literally to beat it.

STEP OFF, TO - To be hung, from the imagery involved.

RAP - Sentence, jail time.

SWELL - A good or a good time girl.

PUNK - A young, small-time crook.

BUZZER - Badge, either Police or P.I.

P.I. BUZZER

SQUEEZE - Attractive, desirable girl.

SCRAM, TO - To leave, quickly.

NIX - No.

ELECTROLIERS - Electric street lights, at the time of The Big Sleep, a comparative novelty.

ELECTROLIERS

GAS CHAMBER - Small chamber used to execute condemned prisoners, such as the one at San Quentin. The method involved was to strap the prisoner into a chair and seal then in. A mechanism would drop cyanide pellets into a bath of sulphuric acid below the chair to generate hydrogen cyanide gas. Death has been reported as taking eleven minutes in some cases. Usage discontinued for humane reasons except in three US states.

GAS CHAMBER AT SAN QUENTIN STATE PRISON

CAGEY - To act slyly.

FULLER BRUSH MAN - Door to Door salesmen selling a variety of brushes.

FULLER BRUSH CATALOGUE

TO PUT THE ARM ON - To arrest someone.

IN DUTCH - To become unpopular.

A DIME A DOZEN - Cheap, valueless. See TWO-BIT.

JAKE/JAKELOO - Fine, O.K. - originally Australian gangster slang in use from the 1920's.

NUTS - General dismissive expression.

JIBE - Agree.

JACK - Money.

TORCHER - Torch Singer; a vampish female singer, often a femme-fatale. 

RITA HAYWORTH IN GILDA (1946); A MEMORABLE PORTRAYAL OF A TORCH SINGER

CHISELLER - A Swindler, using fraud or deception to steal. Often a GRIFTER.

TWO-BIT - Cheap, low-class. See A DIME A DOZEN.

HEIST - To steal, from 'Hoist' as in to lift.

BREAK A HUNDRED AND TEN, TO - A mediocre performance, derived from golf or bowling.

FRAIL - Girl. See also DAME.

LOOGAN - A stupid or foolish gunman.

WAD - Any significant amount of money.

HOW'S A BOY? - Familiar greeting, esp. among underworld denizens.

RIGHT/WRONG GEE - A decent person/The opposite.

PEEPER - Private Investigator. See also SHAMUS.

SHATTING ON HIS/HER UPPERS - To be broke; a reference to being so poor only the uppers of the person's shoe remain, i.e. they could not afford shoe leather. 'Shatting' may also have scatalogical connotations.

CENTURY/C/C-NOTE - A hundred dollars.

CHICAGO OVERCOAT - Apocryphal allusion to being buried alive in either concrete or a coffin.

TWIST - A dishonest DAME.

BONDED LIQUOR - Authorised liquor carrying a Government stamp. The Bottled-in-Bond Act was designed to defeat counterfeit liquor production. Bonded Liquor comes from a single distiller and season, from January to December of any given year. 

BONDED LIQUOR STAMP.

FLOP - Flophouse. A cheap lodging house. Somewhere to FLOP.