captain sharp
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
A cheating bully, or one in a set of gamblers, whose office is to bully any pigeon, who, suspecting roguery, refuses to pay what he has lost. CANT.
Era: ca. 1811 (Georgian)
Where it’s used:
Origin
British & Irish English
Sources & notes
Historical definition reproduced from Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1811 edition, public domain; Project Gutenberg #5402, retrieved 2026-07-31). Reflects the attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “captain sharp” mean?
A cheating bully, or one in a set of gamblers, whose office is to bully any pigeon, who, suspecting roguery, refuses to pay what he has lost. CANT.
Is “captain sharp” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.