1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Lurcher, a lurcher of the law, a
bum bailiff, or his setter.
1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 12. ‘But where
are the lurchers?’ ‘Who?’ asked Wood. ‘The traps!’ responded a
bystander.
Lurden, subs. (old).—A rogue. Hence lurdenry = roguery.
1513. Gawin Douglas, Eneados, viii. Prol. l. q. Leis, lurdanry, and
lash.
1540. Lindsay, Satyre Thrie Estaitis [E. E. T. S.], l. 2474. Thou
links evin lyke ane lurden.
1562–3. Jack Juggler [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), ii. 135]. Avoid,
thou lousy lurden and precious stinking slave.
c. 1587. Greene, Follie and Loue [Grosart (1881–6), iv. 206].
Instead of some braue gentleman, I strike some filthie lurden.
1606. Wily Beguiled [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), ix. 288]. If I had
been such a great, long, large, lob-cocked, loselled lurdan, as
Master Churms is ... I should never have got Peg as long as I had
lived.
Lurk, subs. (vagrants’).—See quots.
1829. A Laconic Narrative of the Life and Death of James Wilson.
That awful monster, William Burke, Like Reynard sneaking on the
lurk, Coyducked his prey into his den And then the woeful work
began.
1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., i. 403. Many kinds of thieving as well
as begging are termed lurking—the dead lurk, for instance, is the
expressive slang phrase for the art of entering dwelling-houses
during divine service. The term lurk, however, is mostly applied to
the several modes of plundering by representations of sham
distress.
1889. Answers, 27 July, 137, 1. Begging of all kinds is divided
into lurks, or branches.
Verb. (vagrants’).—To beg with false letters.
1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., i. 462. We’ll lurk on your trade.
Lurker, subs. (vagrants’).—1. A begging imposter; a silver beggar
(q.v.). See Demaunder for glymmar. Also Lurksman.
1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. & Lon. Poor, i. 233. In every large
town sham official documents, with crests, seals, and signatures,
can be got for half-a-crown. Armed with these, the patterer becomes
lurker,—that is, an imposter.