piker
[pahy-ker]
- a person who does anything in a contemptibly small or cheap way.
- a stingy, tight-fisted person; tightwad.
- a person who gambles, speculates, etc., in a small, cautious way.
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Origin of piker
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comDictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
deserterdropoutgoldbrickwimpslackershirkergoof-offtightwadScroogeskinflintgoldbrickerpikerExamples from the Web for piker
Historical Examples
Siebold, who really was no piker, was slipping on his gloves and having them laced up.
Radio Boys LoyaltyWayne Whipple
No wonder you don't want to stop for any of this piker stuff.
It Pays to SmileNina Wilcox Putnam
"That was a piker's trick—listening in on me, Dick," he remonstrated half-impatiently.
Pirates' HopeFrancis Lynde
"I called for a sport and drew a piker," Jim Searles retorted.
Cappy Ricks RetiresPeter B. Kyne
He thinks he's been a piker and that you and I are his first-assistant pikers.
Cappy Ricks RetiresPeter B. Kyne
piker
- Australian a wild bullock
- Australian and NZ a useless person; failure
- US, Australian and NZ a lazy person; shirker
- a mean person
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Word Origin
C19: perhaps related to pike ³
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for piker
n.
"miserly person," 1872, formerly "poor migrant to California" (1860), earlier pike (1854), perhaps originally "vagrant who wanders the pike (n.1)" (which is the notion in Sussex dialectal piker "vagrant, tramp, gypsy," 1838), but Barnhart, OED and others suggest the American English word ultimately is a reference to people from Pike County, Missouri.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper