card sharp (1874), card shark (1884)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

If I read the archives correctly, "card sharp" has been dated to 1888 and
"card shark" to 1891 (both cites found by Douglas Wilson in Feb. 2003).
Newspaperarchive turns up these antedatings:


1874 _Oakland Evening Tribune_ 28 Aug. 2/2 Almost daily, passengers on the
overland route are robbed by "card sharps."

1884 _Perry Pilot_ (Iowa) 2 Apr. 8/3 Perhaps it is that the most
picturesque and attractive men to be found in New York streets, are bunko
men, card sharks, adventurers and dissipated club men, who live without
visible means of
support.


--Ben Zimmer