wooden kimono
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
A variation of earlier criminal slang such as wooden coat.
Pronunciation[edit]
Audio (AU) (file)
Noun[edit]
wooden kimono (plural wooden kimonos)
- (US, slang) Synonym of coffin.
- 1935, Capt. Billy's Whiz-Bang Winter Annual, back cover:
- "And you're just about ready to give up the ghost and call for a wooden kimono."
- 1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Not too Far Tangent”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 1 (1899–1923: A Nothin’ but a Child), page 19:
- I expected the man to show up any minute with his tape measure to outfit me with a wooden kimono.
- 1976, Tom Waits, Small Change, Asylum Records, 1976, Track #10:
- "The wooden kimono was all ready to drop in San Francisco Bay, but now he's mumbling something all about the one that got away."
- 1935, Capt. Billy's Whiz-Bang Winter Annual, back cover: