Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (78 page)

headdesk
n
,
exclamation

an expression of despair or frustration in which the banging of one's head on a work surface is carried out, mimed or referred to online.

Compare
facepalm

header
n Irish

an unhinged, deranged or unstable person. A version of the earlier
headcase
, recorded in 2004.

head honcho
n

1.
the top person in a hierarchy, the most important boss

2.
See
honcho

I can't be bothered dealing with assistants. Who's the head honcho around here?

headlamps, headlights
n pl

female breasts. These are jocular male terms from the earlier 20th century when large, raised car headlamps were the norm. The first version is British, the second American and Australian.
Bumpers
and
hooters
are other slang terms for the breasts using automotive analogies.

heads
¹
,
the heads
n pl

a toilet, latrine. This plural form is now rather dated, except in armed-services' usage. It originated in naval terminology where it referred to the for'ard location of the privies on a ship.
(The) head
is more common.

heads
²
n pl British

people. Used in street-gang code and its imitations since around 2010.

bare heads in da street

headshrinker, headshrink
n

a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst. A jocular term of the 1950s originating in the USA and reflecting the mild contempt, tinged with fear, felt towards the practitioners of these professions. Since the late 1960s both terms have normally been shortened to
shrink.

heat, the heat
n

1.
American
the police. A black street form of the early 1960s (using the image of heat as pressure, oppression, something stifling) which was adopted by
hippies
. ‘The heat's on the street!' was a warning among black communities and white activists alike.

‘Her man got took away by the heat/we're lost and incomplete.'
(
Endgame
, song by Doll by Doll, 1979)

2.
British
a firearm or firearms. The term has been used by gang members and
chavs
.

I got heat in my place.

heater
n American

a handgun. A pre-World War II term which was appropriated by writers of crime fiction.

heavage
n British

a.
defined by one male journalist in the
Sun
in 2007 as ‘breasts so big they need a special bra for support'

b.
‘male cleavage'. The sight of an open-necked or low-cut shirt, typically revealing chest-hair.

heave
vb

to retch or vomit. A literal, rather than metaphorical usage.

heave-ho, the old heave-ho, heave-o
n

a rejection or dismissal. A worldwide English expression, typically referring to being jilted by a lover or being fired from one's job. It originates in the shouts of exhortation made by men engaging in physical exertion. It was a sailors' call in the 17th century.

‘It was evens…four men had broken her heart and she had given another four the old heave-ho.'
(
A Touch of Spice
, British TV comedy, 1989)

heaves, the heaves
n

an attack of retching or vomiting. A literal description of these spasms, although the expression is, by its context, considered slang.

heaving
adj

1.
British
stinking. The term, in use in working-class speech in the north of England and Scotland, possibly evokes the notion of something so rotten as to be infested with maggots and literally pulsating, or else evokes the heaving (i.e. retching) of the person sensing the odour. Slightly less overwhelming experiences are evoked by
minging
and
howling
.

I couldn't stay in the flat more than five minutes – it was fuckin' heavin' in there
…

2.
British, Irish
very crowded with people
It was heaving in there last night.

heavy
¹
n

a thug,
minder
, someone employed for their intimidating physical presence rather
than their intellectual qualities. Originally an Americanism, the term has spread to world English via crime fiction and films. In current British colloquial speech it is sometimes used in the phrase ‘come the heavy', meaning to act in a threatening manner.

heavy
²
vb

to intimidate, threaten or pressurise (someone). The verb forms (expressed as ‘to heavy someone', ‘to heavy someone into (doing) something' or to ‘come the heavy') postdate the adjective and noun forms.

heavy
³
adj

1.
violent, oppressive, intimidating, powerful

2a.
(of a situation) emotionally charged

2b.
(of a person) difficult to cope with, having a powerful personality

These senses of the word, which were slang terms of the 1960s, have become common colloquialisms.

3.
British
cool
, interesting

hebe, heeb, heebie
n

a Jew. Based on the word Hebrew, these words originated in the USA. They have been heard in Britain and Australia since the early 1970s, sometimes jocularly lengthened to ‘heebie-jeebies'. Hebe is less offensive than
yid
,
kike
, etc., but discriminatory nonetheless.

hectic
adj British

excellent, impressive. The usage, probably originating in American speech, has been popular in youth slang across the anglo-sphere since around 2003. When used in texting or online it can be spelled
hektik
or
hktic
or
hktk
.

hedger
n British

a rural vagrant. The term, from the lexicon of the homeless, travellers, etc., denotes a
crustie
who prefers to live rough in the countryside. It was first recorded in the early 1990s, although phrases containing ‘hedge' – like ‘ditch' for a scene of sordid or dishonest behaviour – were common from the 16th century.

heel
n American

someone who behaves in an unworthy or base way. This use of the word appeared at the turn of the 20th century.

heesh
n American

an altered pronunciation and spelling of
hash
(hashish). The term was used on the street in the 1960s and 1970s, since when it has been adopted by schoolchildren and
preppies
in imitation of more louche speakers.

heifer
n

a.
a young woman. A usage which is mainly restricted to the slang of the USA and Australia. In Britain the word was common in the 19th century, but has been archaic since before World War I.

b.
an unattractive, clumsy or unsophisticated young woman. By 2013 the term was often being spelt ‘heffer', now derived by users from the childish ‘hefferlump', meaning elephant or heavy, clumsy individual.

I feel like such a heifer.

height
adj American

excellent, first-rate. A term of approbation from the
hip hop
youth culture of the 1980s, coined by black teenagers (as a shortening of ‘height of fashion') in the USA and spread with the music and dance trend to Britain where it enjoyed a brief vogue.

‘Don't reach for a tape measure the next time someone refers to your bullet-proof safari jacket as “height”. They just mean it's cool.'
(Charles Maclean on New York terminology,
Evening Standard
, 22 January 1987)

heimie
n

an alternative spelling of
hymie

heinie
n American

the backside, buttocks. A coy diminutive of hind(quarters) or behind, although spelt as if it were Yiddish. The term is innocuous enough to be used by mothers and children.

‘He hit me daddy – and then he kicked me in the heinie.'
(
Date with an Angel
, US film, 1987)

heist
vb
,
n

(to commit) a robbery or hold-up. The word, redolent of American gangsterdom, dates from the first two decades of the 20th century. It is probably a variant form of
hoist
which, like ‘lift', is a 200-year-old euphemism for steal, influenced by German and Yiddish speakers who would know the verb as
heisst
. Heist in its current usage usually suggests a carefully staged major robbery or criminal operation.

helicopter
n American

a temporary visitor. In middle-class adult slang of the 1990s the word would be applied to a neighbour who drops in just to eat and then disappears or, as in the phrase ‘helicopter-parents', by school staff
referring to parents who stay only long enough for a brief consultation or complaint. In 2006 ‘helicopter parent' was in vogue with the slightly different sense of one who hovers constantly, prompting offspring and scrutinising teachers.

helicopters, the
n British

a bout of dizziness.

See also
whirling pits, the

helioproctosis
n British

arrogance, overweening self-assurance. In medical slang the supposed condition in which ‘the sun shines out of someone's
arse
'. Also known as
proctoheliosis
, from the Greek
helios
– Sun and
procto
– rectal.

hella, hellov
prefix American

very. A variant form of ‘helluva' and ‘hellish', influenced by the fashionable prefix
mega
. The first popular use of the device was in the combination ‘hellacool', heard among American teenagers in 1987 and 1988. By 2000 the variant form hellov was also in use.

hellacious
adj American

a.
appalling, awful, horrifying. A hyperbolic term mainly used and presumably coined by educated speakers, this is an invented elaboration of ‘hellish'.

‘Well, we made it but we had a truly hellacious flight.'
(US visitor to the UK, June 2005)

b.
impressive, excellent. The term, like
bad, wicked,
etc. has since the early 1980s been used by the young to indicate approval.

Hey, they're a hellacious band.

hench
adj British

muscular, well-built. A term from Caribbean speech, also heard in the UK since 2000, especially among younger speakers. It may derive from henchman (itself from the Old English
hengestman
, a groom, where
hengest
meant ‘stallion').

See also
blench

heng
vb British

to stink. The term was posted on the b3ta website in 2004.

hep
adj

aware, in touch with the latest (cultural) trends. An Americanism from the jargon of jazz musicians in the early part of the 20th century, hep was adopted by the white intellectuals of the
beat
generation in the mid-1950s and slightly later by teenagers. The word metamorphosed into
hip
(although the two terms co-existed in the early 1960s), which itself prompted the coinage of
hippy
. The precise dates and derivation of hep are somewhat obscure, although it almost certainly originates in a shout of exhortation or encouragement: either the noise used by riders, ploughmen, etc. to horses, or (perhaps more likely, given the importance of marching bands in the early history of jazz) that used by parade leaders, drill sergeants, etc. to keep time. To ‘get hep' or ‘be hep' signifies to be working in harmony or in step.

hepcat
n

an aficionado of
jive
, jazz and other aspects of progressive popular culture of the 1940s and 1950s. Originally a black term combining
hep
(fashionably aware) and
cat
(a man), it was adopted by white bohemians, intellectuals and proto-
beatniks
and used until replaced by such terms as
hipster
in the 1960s. British jazz fans also picked up the expression and used it self-consciously or humorously until the mid-1960s.

herb
n

1.
marihuana, herbal cannabis. This is probably the most common name for the drug in Caribbean use (usually pronounced
'erb
). The word has been given especial prominence since the early 1970s by reference to it (in popular songs and elsewhere) by Jamaican Rastafarians, for whom it is sacramental.

2.
British
a street urchin. A rare shortening of
Herbert
, typically pronounced
'erb
.