subs. (common).—1. A parasite; a SPONGER (q.v.). Also BUMSUCKER (q.v.). Spec. (American political) = a blackmailer. Also SUCK, verb = to sponge upon: whence TO SUCK DRY = to exhaust: cf. proverbial saying, ‘Children SUCK the mother when young, and the father when old.’
1841. E. G. PAIGE (‘Dow, Jr.’), Short Patent Sermons, xciv. Of the scaly tribe I may mention those SUCKERS belonging to the body loaferish, that never rise to the surface of respectability, but are always groveling in the mud of corruption, whose sole study appears to be to see how much they can get without the least physical exertion.
2. (trade).—A SUCKING pig. Also (old) = any youngling: e.g., a RABBIT-SUCKER = a young rabbit, etc.
1591. J. LYLY, Endymion, v. 2. I prefer an olde cony before a RABBET-SUCKER, and an ancient henne before a young chicken peeper.
1598. SHAKESPEARE, 1 Henry IV., ii. 4. Fal. Depose me? if thou dost it half so gravely, so majestically, both in word and matter, hang me up by the heels for a RABBIT-SUCKER, or a poulterer’s hare.
1599. HENRY PORTER, The Two Angry Women of Abingdon, iv. 1. Mall. Close as a RABBIT-SUCKER from an old coney.
1882. Standard, 3 Sept. For SUCKERS the demand was not very brisk.
3. (American).—A native of Illinois (which = the SUCKER STATE: see STATE).
1848. DURIVAGE, Stray Subjects, p. 79. There is a swarm of ‘SUCKERS,’ ‘hoosiers,’ ‘buckeyes,’ ‘corn-crackers,’ and ‘wolverines’ eternally on the qui vive, in those parts.
1854. New York Tribune, 19 Oct. A band of music was sent thirty miles to wake up the sleepy SUCKERS, and draw them, by the magic of their music, to the Douglas gathering at Quincy, Illinois.
4. (venery).—The penis: see PRICK. Also SUCK-AND-SWALLOW = the female privity.
1730. Broadside Song, ‘Gee ho, Dobin’ [FARMER, Merry Songs and Ballads (1897), ii. 204].
| I work’d at her Pump till the SUCKER grew dry, | |
| And then I left pumping, a good Reason why. |
