piker

American  

[pahy-ker] / ˈpaɪ kər /

noun

Informal.

1. a person who does anything in a contemptibly small or cheap way.

2. a stingy, tight-fisted person; tightwad.

   Synonyms:

   skinflint, penny pincher, cheapskate

3. a person who gambles, speculates, etc., in a small, cautious way.

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piker British  

/ ˈpaɪkə /

noun

1. a wild bullock

2. a useless person; failure

3. a lazy person; shirker

4. a mean person

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Etymology

Origin of piker

1275–1325; Middle English: petty thief, equivalent to pik ( en ) to pick ¹ + -er ¹; compare dial. (N England, Scots, Hiberno-English ) pike to pick ¹

Example Sentences

I’m on only my 5,644th report, so I’m a mere piker.

From Washington Post • Dec. 17, 2021

Michael Bloomberg, another SPC, with his own media empire, makes Schultz look like a piker by comparison.

From The Guardian • Feb. 16, 2019

The Rapture is a piker in this film; of its reported $16 million budget, roughly $15 million appears to have gone to Cage on a dare that he maintain a straight face.

From Chicago Tribune • Oct. 2, 2014

The dispiriting thing is that Jack Abramoff, in the wake of the financial lobbying of the last few years, looks like a piker.

From Salon • May 6, 2010

Oh da—er—I mean high heaven hates a piker.

From The Land of Strong Men by Chisholm, A. M. (Arthur Murray)