desperater

“But I never thought I’d be arrested on such a charge as that.” / “Somethin’ a little desperater than that, hey?” Berdan interrogated with unexpected quickness.

1910, J[ohn] R[ichard] Stafford, chapter VI, in When Cattle Kingdom Fell, New York, N.Y.: B. W. Dodge & Company, →OCLC, page 89

‘Madam,’ I says pretty severe, ‘don’t trifle with me. I’m a desperate man, and my friend here is even desperater than what I am. Remember you are alone, and at our mercy and—’

1915 January, Irvin S[hrewsbury] Cobb, “The Valley of Plenty”, in The Red Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: The Red Book Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 444, column 1

You see, it’s a mighty responsible position I’ve got—the United States government pays me 12 1-2 cents for every trip I make with this bunch of mail, and I guess they know I’m not the kind of person to be trifled with. There’s desperate characters about sometimes, but I’m desperater than any of them, especially when I’m a leetle scared.

1917 August 16, Paul E[llsworth] Triem, “Under the Black Canopy”, in The Washington Farmer, volume XL, number 33, Spokane, Wash., →ISSN, →OCLC, chapter II (The Wrestling Match), page 18, column 2

He was moody and that moodiness carried over into his music, and even though we all knew that fame was a whore, Harry thought she was a lover, that was his style, elegance in poverty, man, he was desperater than Lady, too bad he didn’t have the talent.

1988, Michael Doane, “Lela Maar Sings Harry Lord: ‘A Long Fall into Shallow Waters’ (3:48), 1934”, in The Surprise of Burning, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, page 41

Then I stopped. Just stopped. This feeling came over me, like a thrown bucket of water. I wasn’t tired, I wasn’t any desperater than I’d been the minute before. I just stopped.

2005, J[oseph] G[eorge] Hayes, “Terry-Love: One Good Thing”, in Now Batting for Boston: More Stories by J. G. Hayes (Gay Men’s Fiction), Binghamton, N.Y.: Southern Tier Editions, Harrington Park Press, →ISBN, page 151