1885. Daily Telegraph, August 18, p. 3, col. 2. This class of thieves,
when they agree on a partnership or joint, as the slang phrase is, work
one for the other as they best can.
To work the joint, verb. phr. (thieves’).—To swindle by means of a
‘faked’ lottery table.
Joker, subs. (common).—1. A general term of banter; a ‘nice un’; as
Cove, Codger, Tulip.
1665. Pepys, Diary, Feb. 15. At noon, with Creed to the
Trinity-house where a very good dinner among the old jokers.
1833. Marryat, P. Simple, ii. ‘That’s what you’ll learn to do, my
joker, before you’ve been two cruises to sea’.
1882. Daily News, Oct. 4, p. 2, col. 4. Her screams brought her
husband downstairs, when the prisoner said, ‘My joker, I want you.’
1892. Anstey, Voces Populi, p. 121. No ’urry, old man—this joker
’aint arf finished with me yet.
2. (American).—An extra card used in certain games. It is blank or
bears some special device. It is always a trump and generally the
highest. Often called jolly joker.
1894. St. James’s Gazette, 19 July [quoted in Saturday Review, July
26]. ‘The game of poker is played with a pack of fifty-three cards,
the fifty-third card being called the joker.’—Ibid., ‘It is true
that American manufacturers of playing cards are wont to include a
blank card at the top of the pack; and it is, alas! true that some
thrifty person suggested that the card should not be wasted. This
was the origin of the joker.’
1885. J. B. Greenough, Queen of Hearts, iii. The White Knight,
called the joker, otherwise the Best Bower.