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What does "the poop" mean in this sentence from "Of Mice And Men" (section 2)? Even Wiktionary, with all its slang and dialect vocabulary, is no help
"After that the guys went into Soledad and raised hell. I didn't go in there. I ain't got the poop no more."
Merriam-Webster doesn't offer an appropriate usage for a noun, but as a verb it can mean
poop
to become exhausted
to tire out
So here the speaker seems to mean
I can't make the effort any more.
I can't be bothered.
etc.
Based on the context, there's some chance that the word "poop" is being used in its third noun meaning from M-W:
Information; scoop
(with "scoop" meaning inside information). In other words, the speaker has just said that he wasn't present for part of the evening's activities and therefore has no more information about exactly what happened.
It's hard to say for sure, though. The dialogue from this novel is that of a migrant labor class from the 1930s and the modern reader shouldn't expect to find all of the expressions familiar.
I'm not convinced by the answers that ascribe "being pooped" in the sense of being exhausted to the the expression "not having poop," where "poop" of course is a noun. But since the expression in the text is unfamiliar, it's hard to rule anything out.
This not an answer, but too long for a comment and adds to @Weather Vane's answer; the OED gives the following definition:-
poop, verb, colloquial, origin U.S. To tire, to exhaust. So pooped exhausted, worn out.
With the following quotations:-
1931: Technol. Rev. Nov. 65/2 “If his engine poops or konks, he will be forced down.”
1932: Amer. Speech VII. 335 “Pooped; all pooped, tired out; exhausted.”
1934: J. T. Farrell Young Manhood xii. 187 “He was tired and pooped.”
1938: `E. Queen' Four of Hearts (1939) iv. 57 “He ain't had a drink in five days. That would poop up any guy.”
1944: E. B. White Let. 15 May (1976) 253 “This would be a very bad time to pull our exhaustion on our readers, a lot of whom are pretty well pooped out themselves for one reason or another.”
1949: R. Chandler Little Sister xxx. 222 “
Tired?' he asked.Pooped.'”1955: M. Dickens Winds of Heaven iv. 93 “He'd better be..or he'll find his mother-in-law in the hospital with him. You've really pooped yourself, mother.”
1957: D. Karp Leave me Alone xviii. 274, “I don't think he understood me. The poor old guy is pooped out.”
1959: N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) 45 “He remembered the old man sitting on the porch..all pooped out after work.”
1960: Sunday Express 24 July 4/2 “Bringing up eight kids..really has me pooped.”
1966: New Scientist 22 Sept. 658/1 “Lt Cdr Richard Gordon's space walk was cut short because..`he was blinded by sweat and felt pooped'.”
1967: Time 2 June 33 “Paley Park offers pooped passers-by a respite at little white tables and chairs in a setting of geraniums, honey locust trees, and a 20-ft. waterfall.”
1971: B. Malamud Tenants 7 “If it [sc. the heating system] pooped out, and it pooped often—the furnace had celebrated its fiftieth birthday—you called the complaint number of Rent and Housing Maintenance.”
1977: Time 18 Apr. 64/3 “Pheidippides..was so pooped by his performance that he staggered into Athens.”
poop noun (1) Definition of poop (Entry 2 of 6) 1informal : FECES, EXCREMENT As a brand-new father, a new substance plays a big role in my life: poop. — Scott Kramer As the years go by, there's trouble in paradise, and it isn't just the ubiquitous goose poop. — Katherine Lanpher 2informal : the act of defecating I have a complaint against dog owners that take their dogs for a walk but do not take a bag, then let their dog stop by people's mailboxes and take a poop. — Billie Johnston
