Gecks

[George Thompson]

Here is a word not recorded in the U. S. -- a neat word, too.

        THE GECKS AND GULLS, OR KNAVES AND FOOLS OF NEW YORK. . . .  [the names
and addresses of astrologers, with a humorous poem about each]
        The Broadway Omnibus, November 1, 1858 (I:15) p. 2, cols. 2-3

not in HDAS; OED (noun #1: A fool, simpleton; one who is befooled or
derided, a dupe) 1515, 1601, 1611, 1859, 1876

If we assume a parallel  between "GECKS AND GULLS" and "KNAVES AND
FOOLS", then gecks would = knaves, which is the opposite of the OED's
meaning.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

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