House dick is American slang for a hotel detective — a plain-clothes security operative employed by a hotel to handle trouble discreetly.
House dick is American slang for a hotel detective — a plain-clothes security operative employed by a hotel to handle trouble discreetly. In the golden age of crime fiction, the house dick was a staple character: part bouncer, part investigator, loyal to the management above all else. The job involved everything from breaking up disturbances and catching thieves to quietly escorting guests with unpaid bills to the exit. The phrase has a wonderfully noir flavour and is often used with a knowing nod to pulp fiction.
The house dick had seen every kind of trouble the hotel could offer and handled it all with a tired professionalism.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
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(slang, vulgar) A very large penis.
A dated American slang term for a brothel — dressing up the nature of the establishment with a cheerfully evasive name. Like many euphemisms for sex work venues, 'joy house' leans into ironic understatement, using the word 'joy' to sidestep the blunter vocabulary. Common in mid-20th century crime fiction and noir dialogue, it belongs to a tradition of colorful underworld vocabulary that used innocent-sounding words to discuss illicit businesses.
(US, mainly Chicago, slang) A brothel, bordello.
(slang, vulgar, derogatory, synecdochically) A contemptible person.
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(slang) A hotel detective.
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