Earlier Citation for "Card Shark"

[Fred Shapiro]

On Sat, 22 Feb 2003, Michael Quinion wrote:

> It is sometimes said that the modern form "card shark" is a folk
> etymology from "card sharp". RHHDAS has 1942 for the first appearance
> of "card shark" and 1884 for "card sharp", though OED2 has 1859 for
> "card sharper", which would seem to be the older form. I've found
> these antedatings for "card shark":
>
> 1912 House, Edward Mandell "Philip Dru: Administrator" chapter 57

Here's an earlier example, from American Periodical Series:

1903 _National Police Gazette_ 20 June 6  In his eager, alert mind there
still dwells every secret known to the card shark.

Fred Shapiro


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
  Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------