"Piker"

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Tue, Jan 03, 2006 at 02:09:13PM -0800, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> This familiar disparaging epithet is sometimes said to derive from "Piker," a poor Western immigrant from Pike Co., Mo. (home of Sweet Betsy).
>
>   Well, maybe.  The earliest ex. I've seen comes from Matsell's _Vocabulum_ in 1859, presumably reflecting NYC usage.  DA & OED offer a couple of 1870s exx. having the obsolete meaning of "tramp."
>
>   Can anyone come up with some early (pre-1900) citations that might shed light on the etymology of "piker" ?  The word is common in print after 1898.
>

For what it's worth, the OED's current treatment, soon to be
published, has the English 'tramp' sense from the 1830s; puts
the 'poor resident of Pike Co. Missouri' sense (for which we
have 1859 evidence) as an etymologically distinct item, and
derives the 'small-timer' sense (first attested in Matsell)
from the verb _pike_ 'to gamble small amounts' (from the
same period).

Jesse Sheidlower
OED