card sharp

plural card sharps

1. alternativeAlternative form of cardsharp.

   Whenever we used to want to take a rise out o' Bill after, we only had to ax him if he'd seen any more card sharps, and he'd get as mad as a hatter.

   1865 November 18, Robert P. Whitworth, “Mary Summers: A Romance of the Australian Bush”, in The Australian Journal: A Weekly Record of Literature, Science, and the Arts, volume I, number 12, Melbourne, Vic.; Sydney, N.S.W.: Clarson, Massina, and Co., printers and publishers, […], published 1866, →OCLC, chapter XVIII (The New Hut), page 178, column 1

   1 more example

   In hilly country sheep will sometimes get lost in small bands. […] Should they prove unmanageable, refusing to travel, or running off from you, the adroit shepherd will practice against them a "string game" quite as effective as that the card sharp plays on the over-confident rustic. Catch the leader, or the whole party of rebels, and tie around one of the hind legs just above the hock joint, a piece of stout string— […]

   1875, A. A. Ritchie, “The Art of Sheep Raising for Wool, Mutton, and Money. […]”, in Transactions of the California State Agricultural Society during the Year 1874, Sacramento, Calif.: G. H. Springer, state printer, →OCLC, page 465