"shoestring" (attr) ="spending little; cheap; petty" 1759 antedates 1890-

[Joel S. Berson]

She assumes the Authority of the Step mother.--She wears more Airs of
Reserve, and Distance, and Superiority than your Father.ⅆShe is
not the most discreet Woman, She told the Behavior of the people, at
the Tavern they were at in the Country about the Tea, before all the
Monatiquot officers, shoe string fellows that never use Tea and would
use it as [awkwardly?] as the Landlady did. That was quite imprudent
[and] impopular. It was designed to divert and please, but it had a
contrary Effect. It made them all jealous and suspicious that they
were remarked and laughed at as much to the next Company.

p. 114
1759 summer
antedates OED3 sense 4.b "spending little; cheap; petty" 1890-

Diary and Autobiography of John Adams
Ed.  L. H. Butterfield
1961
The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press

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