freebasen.
/ˈfriːbeɪs/, U.S. /ˈfriˌbeɪs/ Originally U.S. slang.
Cocaine in a purified form which has been obtained by heating with ether, and may be taken by inhaling the fumes or smoking the residue; = crack n. 20.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > use of drugs and poison > an intoxicating drug > [noun] > a) narcotic drug(s) > morphine, cocaine, or heroin > cocaine > mixed with other substances
freebase1979
base1980
basuco1983
1979 [implied in: Washington Post 25 July c4/2 I eyeballed the cocaine before I freebased it. (at freebase v.)].
1980 Associated Press Newswire (Nexis) 10 June He was burned when ether being used to make ‘free base’, a cocaine derivative, exploded in his face.
1980 Daily Herald (Chicago) 11 June 1/4 Freebase is a mixture of cocaine and some type of flammable liquid, usually ether.
1986 Q Oct. 51/2 Crack is the next step on, a sort of fast-food freebase.
1993 V. Headley Excess vii. 54 The thing that fucks you up is freebase, that's bad, man, you've got to have a lot of money to afford it.
2003 J. Frey Million Little Pieces 295 There was no crack over there, but there was freebase, and there was powder, and I did a lot of both of them.
Compounds
General attributive and appositive.
ΚΠ
1980 N.Y. Times 15 Sept. c4/1 The practice of mixing cocaine in an ether solution to produce a stronger ‘free-base’ product that can be smoked.
1982 Newsweek (Nexis) 3 May 48 He [sc. Richard Pryor] plays everything from himself to..the freebase pipe that speaks to Pryor..about the ecstasies of getting stoned.
1997 M. Collin & J. Godfrey Altered State v. 173 The people who had a binge on E from the start are now having a freebase binge on cocaine.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
freebasev.
/ˈfriːbeɪs/, U.S. /ˈfriˌbeɪs/ Originally U.S. slang.
transitive. To prepare (cocaine) in the form of freebase; to take (the drug) in this form. Also intransitive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > use of drugs and poison > take drugs [verb (intransitive)] > make or take freebase
freebase1979
base1984
the world > physical sensation > use of drugs and poison > take drugs [verb (transitive)] > make or take freebase
freebase1979
1979 Washington Post 25 July c4/2 I eyeballed the cocaine before I freebased it.
1980 Daily Herald (Chicago) 11 June 1/3 Police said Pryor had told the doctors treating him that he had been ‘freebasing’, a new craze among cocaine snorters.
1989 Empire Sept. 33/2 That..pop singer..set off an L.A. hotel alarm while she was freebasing cocaine.
1995 ‘Boy George’ & S. Bright Take it like Man xli. 432 We were hanging with the ruff of the rough, freebasing in the back room of Jack's shabeen.
2006 She Caribbean Nov.–Dec. 72/1 Why trouble yourself with holding the line on innocence at all, when your 6-year-old has just been shown how to freebase cocaine?
Derivatives
ˈfreebasing n.
ΚΠ
1979 Washington Post 25 July c4/1 [He] explained that..‘freebasing’ is a method of heating cocaine so it can be smoked rather than inhaled.
1981 Daily Tel. 30 June 15/3 She recalled that her seven-year-old daughter used to follow her around the house with a deodorant spray because she could not stand the smell of freebasing.
1993 D. Coyle Hardball ii. ii. 60 He had fallen and sliced his hand on his freebasing pipe.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1979v.1979