subs. (American thieves’).—1. A confederate; at cards one who makes false bids in order to encourage a genuine player. [See CAP, verb, sense 1.]
1871. DE VERE, Americanisms, p. 319. In the West a striker is not only a shoulder-hitter, as might be suspected, but a runner for gambling establishments, who must be as ready to strike down a complaining victim as to ensnare an unsuspecting stranger…. CAPPERS they are called, when the game is the famous Three-Card Monte.
1881. New York Slang Dictionary. Gamblers are called knights of the green cloth, and their lieutenants, who are sent out after greenhorns, are called decoys, CAPPERS, and steerers.
2. (auctioneers’).—A dummy bidder whose function is either to start the bidding or to run up the price of articles for sale.
