2. (old).—'A custom-house officer or tide-waiter' (Grose). Also in pl. = the press-gang.
1828. Douglas Jerrold, Ambrose Gwinett, i. 3. Gil. A word with you—the sharks are out to-night. Label. The sharks? Gil. Ay, the blue-jackets—the press-gang.
3. (old).—'One of the first order of pickpockets. Bow St. term, A.D. 1785' (Grose).
4. (military).—A recruit.
5. (American College).—At Yale = reckless absence from college duties: of persons and conduct.
6. (Western American).—A lean hungry hog (Bartlett).
Verb. (colloquial).—1. To fawn for a dinner.
2. See subs.
Sharp, subs. (old).—1. A swindler;
'one that lives by his Witts'
(B. E).; a rook (q.v.): the
opposite of Flat (q.v.): also
sharper: cf. sharker (Grose
and Vaux). As verb. = to
cheat; sharping (or on the
sharp) subs. and adj. = swindling;
sharper's tools = (1)
fools, and (2) false dice (B. E.
and Grose). See Bible-sharp;
Flats-and-sharps.
1688. Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia [Works (1720), iv, 18]. 'Tatts . . . what's that?' 'The tools of sharpers, false dice.'
1690. Dryden, Don Sebastian, Epilogue, l. 35. All these young sharpers would my grace importune. Ibid. (1691), King Arthur, Prol. 38. Among the rest there are a sharping set That pray for us, and yet against us bet.
1693. Congreve, Old Batchelor, Dram. Pers. Sharper.
1706. Mrs. Centlivre, Basset Table, iv. 1. But if he has got the knack of winning thus, he shall sharp do more here, I promise him.
1729. Gay, Polly, iii. 5. Death, sir, I won't be cheated. Cul. The money is mine. D'you take me for a sharper, sir?
1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, lviiii. Who supported myself in the appearance of a gentleman by sharping and other infamous practices.
1749. Lucas, Gamesters, 250. She would play altogether on the sharp.
1768. Goldsmith, Good Natured Man, i. How can I be proud of a place in a heart, where every sharper and coxcomb find an easy entrance.
1789. Geo. Parker, Life's Painter, 142. Sharps. . . . This term is applied to sharpers in general.
1821. Egan, Life in London, 1. ii. From autumn to winter, from winter to June, The "flat" and the sharp must still play the same tune.
1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford (Ed. 1854), 190. 'They are both gone on the sharp to-night,' replied the old lady.
1837. Warren, Diary of Physician, xi. I began to suspect that he was neither more nor less than a systematic London sharper—a gamester—a hanger-on about town.
1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, xxxvii. Tom's evil genius did not . . . mark him out as the prey of . . . those bloodless sharpers.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. of Eng., xviii. The crowd of pilferers, ring-droppers, and sharpers who infested the capital.
1861. Trollope, Framley Parsonage, xxxiii. What an ass I have been to be so cozened by a sharper.
1872. Besant and Rice, R. M. Mortiboy, xxiv. It is not usual to see men play in your fashion. You have sharped us, sir—sharped us.'
1886-96. Marshall, Beautiful Dreamer ['Pomes' 65]. The sharps tipped The Lump, and left Pip in the lurch.
2. (old).—A pointed weapon: a sword as contrasted with a foil.
. . . . . Joseph of Arim. [E. E. T. S.], 17. Mony swoughninge lay thorw schindringe of scharpe.
1679. Behn, Feigned Curtizan, iii. These dangerous sharps I never lov'd.
