Bird Lime Cockney Rhyming Slang
Bird Lime is Cockney rhyming slang for time
💬 “Me old man’s inside, doin’ Bird.“
Bird Lime is one of our favourite slangs, because it has a related meaning. Bird lime is actually stuff that’s used to trap birds. You spread it on the branches of trees, and when the bird lands, it sticks to it and is caught.
It’s a practice that’s thankfully died out in the UK and is in fact illegal.
Bird lime does not mean bird droppings, contrary to popular belief.
Bird lime has acquired a wider meaning, of anything that traps or ensnares something. So it’s not surprising that Bird Lime has come to mean being in prison – trapped, caught, probably unfairly.
If you are “Doing Bird”, it means you are “Doing time”, which in turns means spending time in prison. It is most often used in this context.
Submitted by the following 3 peeps:
- Danny,
- jayne,
- Terry. ,
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