5150
English
Alternative forms
- fifty-one fifty
Etymology
From Section 5150 of California's Welfare and Institutions Code, regarding involuntary commitment for psychological evaluation and treatment.
Verb
5150 (third-person singular simple present 5150s, present participle 5150ing, simple past and past participle 5150ed)
- (transitive, US slang) Synonym of commit: to involuntarily confine a person for a mental illness that poses a risk to themself and/or others.
- 1998, Timothy R. Tangherlini, Talking trauma: paramedics and their stories, page 117:
- And they're all, "He's over there against the tree, he's not talking to us, he's not saying anything and he has a history of being a psychiatric patient and so we're 5150ing him."
- 2000, Clint Catalyst, Cottonmouth Kisses, page 150:
- Sure, if you've ever been 5150ed by the Psychiatric Evaluation Team (no thanks to you and Rachael. Just because I was flipping my wig, flinging dishes and threatening to kill myself didn't mean I was actually SUICIDAL, guys! Jeez!) […]
- 2006, J. T. McCalla, Reversal of Fear (page 187)
- “I'm going to keep him under sedation until tomorrow morning, and then 5150 him at UCI Medical Center Psychiatric Unit.”
- 2007, Allison Brennan, Karin Tabke, Roxanne St. Claire, What You Can't See (page 382)
- Finally she said, “Zach, i'm calling 911 and have them 5150 you.”
- 2010, Jane Vandenburgh, A Pocket History of Sex in the Twentieth Century, page 358:
- Then, almost immediately on the heels of Beverly came Dante, who'd been 5150ed by his mother.
- 2011, Patricia Benner, Patricia Hooper-Kyriakidis, Daphne Stannard, Clinical Wisdom and Interventions in Acute and Critical Care (page 438)
- And it's not possible to 5150 him [place him on a psychiatric hold]. He's not a danger to self, not a danger to others.
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Adjective
5150 (comparative more 5150, superlative most 5150)
- (US slang) Synonym of crazy.