subs. (common).—1. An AUCTIONEER (q.v.); or knock-down blow; cf., DIG, BANG, and WIPE. Hence, sudden or unpleasant news; a decisive argument; an unanswerable retort; a decisive check. Sp., peso.
1819. T. MOORE, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 20.
| For in these FANCY times, ’tis your hits in the MUNS, | |
| And your CHOPPERS and FLOORERS that govern the funds. |
1839. A. SWINTON, Report of the Trial of Alexander Humphreys, p. 297. It is a downright FLOORER to the Crown.
1856. REV. E. BRADLEY (‘Cuthbert Bede’), The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green, an Oxford Freshman. The Putney Pet stared…. The enquiry for his ‘College’ was, in the language of his profession, a ‘regular FLOORER.’
1861. H. CHOLMONDELEY-PENNELL, Puck on Pegasus, p. 20.
| What a FLOORER to my hopes is this performance on the ropes! Miss | |
| Marianne suspensa scalis—(would ’twere sus. per col. instead!) |
1868. Cassell’s Magazine, 4 Jan., p. 213. ‘Ah, she hasn’t told you of the strokes I have had, one arter the other—clean FLOORERS, and left like a log of wood in my bed.’
2. (schools’).—A question, or a paper, too hard to master.
3. (bowling alley).—A ball that brings down all the pins.
4. (thieves’).—A thief who trips his man, and robs in picking him up; a RAMPER (q.v.).
1809. G. ANDREWES, Dictionary of the Slang and Cant Languages, s.v. FLOORERS—a species of fellows who throw people down in the street, &c. when their companions (under the pretence of assisting) rob them while lifting them up.
