General
heart check
What does heart check mean?
An unprovoked attack on a newcomer — usually by a gang or wing crew — purely to find out whether he's got the bottle to swing back. Stand up and you might get respect or a recruitment offer. Curl up and you're marked as a victim for the rest of your stretch.
"First day on the yard they ran a heart check on him; he caught one of them with a chair leg and they left him alone after that."
Origin
American prison and gang slang. 'Heart' here means courage; the 'check' is the test.
Frequently asked questions
What does heart check mean?
A heart check is jumping a new inmate to test whether he'll fight back and stand up for himself.
How do you use heart check in a sentence?
The new guy got a heart check on his first day to see what he's made of.
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