Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

(Amelia) #1

barrel fever 1. n. drunkenness. She
seems to get barrel fever about once a week.
I think she has figured out what caused
her barrel fever. 2. n. a hangover. Man,
have I ever got barrel fever. That busi-
ness last night gave me a touch of barrel
fever. 3. n. the delirium tremens. The
old man is down with barrel fever again.
The barrel fever hit him in the middle
of the night.


barrel of funn. a tremendous amount of
fun. Tracy is just a barrel of fun on
dates. We had a barrel of fun at your
party.


baryGo to bari.


base 1. mod. rude; gross. (California.) 
You are so, like, base! What a base creep!
Oh, how base! 2. Go to free base.


baseballingGo to free-basing.


base binge[...bIndZ] n. a binge on free
base, a form of cocaine. (Drugs.) 
Clare is off on another base binge. Base
binges are very expensive.


baseheadGo to baseman.


baseman and baseheadn. someone who
is using free base, a form of cocaine;
someone who is on base. (Drugs.) 
They say that all those rich guys are base-
men. The baseheads in the dorm finally
got caught. The stuff is so powerful that
one whiff and you’re a basehead. Base-
men shouldn’t drive.


bash[bAS] 1. n. a wild party; a night on the
town. What a bash! I’m exhausted! 
There’s a big bash over at Wally’s place. 2.
in. to party; to celebrate. Let’s go out
and bash, how ’bout it? No more bash-
ing for me till I recover from last night.


bashed[bASt] 1. mod. crushed; struck. 
His poor car was bashed beyond recogni-
tion. Give me that bashed one, and I’ll
straighten it out. 2. mod. alcohol intoxi-
cated. All four of them went out and got
bashed. I’ve never seen anybody so
bashed.


bashingn. criticizing; defaming. (A com-
bining form that follows the name of the
person or thing being criticized.) I am
sick of your college-bashing! I hope


you’ll excuse the broker-bashing, but some
of these guys don’t play fair. On TV they
had a long session of candidate-bashing,
and then they read the sports news.
basingGo to free-basing.
basketn. the stomach. (See also bread-
basket.) I got a pain in the basket. 
You’ve got a lot of something in your bas-
ket. It’s huge.
basket casen. a person who is a nervous
wreck. (Formerly referred to a person
who is totally physically disabled.) Af-
ter that meeting, I was practically a bas-
ket case. The waiting was so intense that
I was a real basket case.
Basra belly[“basr@ “bEli] n. diarrhea; a case
of diarrhea. The Basra belly hit me
while I was on the bus. How do you tell
Basra belly from Montezuma’s revenge?
bastard 1. n. a person of illegitimate birth.
(Standard English. Considered by some
as impolite, at best, except in historical
references.) When I learned I was a
bastard, I couldn’t help but think of all the
times I have been called one. 2. n. an ob-
noxious and offensive person. (Usually a
male. Especially with dirty. Usually ob-
jectionable.) You goddamn, stupid bas-
tard! What the hell do you think you are
doing? Get your butt out of here—now!
basted[“best@d] 1. mod. beaten; harmed.
The team got basted three games in a
row. We were really basted in the mar-
ket crash. 2. mod. alcohol intoxicated. 
I got totally basted. I got so basted I
vowed never to touch another drop.
bat 1. n. a drinking bout. She was on a
bat that lasted over a week. What’s the
longest bat you’ve ever heard of? 2. n. a
drunkard; a person on a drinking spree.
Somebody give that bat a hand before
he falls down. A tired old bat—still
waving a bottle—met me on the stairs.
ba(t)ch (it)[bAtS...] tv. & in. to live alone
like a bachelor. I tried to bach it for a
while, but I got too lonely. I didn’t want
to batch, but I had to.
bathtub scumn. a totally despised person.
(See also pond scum; shower scum.

bathtub scum
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