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Glite Dictionary
Mickey Finn

Mickey Finn

1 9.9
A drink secretly given to make someone unconscious
  • noun
  • /ˈmɪki fɪn/
  • NSFW
translation icon : Mickey Finn
  • The usual line or a Mickey Finn?

Examples

  • The bartender secretly added a drug to her drink, turning it into a Mickey Finn.

  • Yeah, with a Mickey Finn.

    The Singing Detective (2003)

  • Come on, let's get away from that Mickey Finn.

    Shadow of the Thin Man (1941)

  • It's called a Miguel Finn, a Mickey Finn.

    Marlowe (2023)

  • Tammy`s friend sIipped him a Mickey Finn.

    The Firm (1993)

  • Despairing and weakened by the drugs in the Mickey Finn, the later Solomon was no match for him, and the penetration of the other's blade was a release from pain.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • He was unaware that his friends had spiked his beverage with a Mickey Finn to prank him.

  • After consuming the Mickey Finn, she felt dizzy and unable to stand.

Synonyms

mickey
vsMickey Finn
  • NSFW
1 9.9

To secretly put a drug into someone's drink to make them unconscious

is a secretly laced drink intended to knock someone out
knockout drops
vsMickey Finn
  • NSFW
1 9.9

A liquid secretly put into a drink to make someone pass out

is a secretly laced drink meant to incapacitate the drinker

How Dangerous

poisoning
  • NSFW
27 4.4
Mickey Finn
  • NSFW
1 9.9
beverage
166 1.7

Surface Forms

Mickey Finn singular
Mickey Finns plural

Morphology

mickey + Finn

The overall meaning 'a drugged drink intended to incapacitate someone' is not transparently derivable from the parts: 'Finn' is a proper name with no semantic contribution and 'mickey' in this sense is an idiomatic slang term that B1 learners are unlikely to know. The phrase is historically and culturally specific (idiomatic) rather than compositionally built, so learners who only know the literal constituents would not predict the meaning.

Etymology

The noun Mickey Finn may come from a real Chicago bartender named Mickey Finn who is said to have secretly put drugs into customers' drinks so they would pass out and be robbed. So today Mickey Finn means 'a drink secretly made with a drug to make someone pass out'.