Definition of "sharper"
sharper
adjective
comparative form of sharp: more sharp
noun
plural sharpers
(dated) a swindler; a cheat; a professional gambler who makes his living by cheating.
Quotations
I could plainly diſcover from whence one Family derives a long Chin; why a ſecond hath abounded with Knaves for two Generations, and Fools for two more; why a third happened to be crack-brained, and a fourth to be Sharpers.
1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “A Further Account of Glubbdubdrib. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], part III (A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdribb, Luggnagg, and Japan), page 108
Our young gentlemen who go to Rome will do well to be upon their guard against a set of sharpers, (some of them of our own country,) who deal in pictures and antiques, and very often impose upon the uninformed stranger, by selling him trash, as the productions of the most celebrated artists.
1766, T[obias] Smollett, “Letter XXIX”, in Travels through France and Italy. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] R[oberts] Baldwin, […]
He was a man whom scarcely any amount of fortune could have benefited permanently, and who was made to be ruined, to cheat small tradesmen, to be the victim of astuter sharpers …
1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 44, in The History of Pendennis. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850
The Derby Day sun glittered gaily on cads, / On maidens with gamboge hair, / On sharpers and pickpockets, swindlers and pads— / (For I, with my harp, was there).
1882, W. S. Gilbert, "Emily, John, James, and I: A Derby Legend" in The "Bab" Ballads, Philadelphia: David McKay, publishing date not given, p. 275