Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. anyone considered particularly clever or even educated; also in ironic use.

1707		N. Ward London Terraefilius III 23: The Sanctifyd Heaven Driver [...] sent the Old Brandy-fac’d Matron, and yonder Lady, Professor of the Flogging-Science, to Bridewell.
1774		in Hildeburn Century of Printing II 182: Catalogue of New and Old Books, to be sold by Auction, by Robert Pell, Bookseller, and Professor Book-Auctioneering [DA].
1799		Sporting Mag. Apr. XIV 4/2: The stile of reprobation in which the professors of the queue [i.e. billiard cue] speak of his concealment of his play.
1809		B.H. Malkin (trans.) Adventures of Gil Blas (1822) II 112: She had finished her studies under certain professors of gallantry.
1825		Pierce Egan’s Life in London 6 Mar. 45/2: [a skilled boxer] Josh Hudson, Harry Holt, Peter Warren, and a long list of professors and amateurs rallied round their favourite Pet.
1838		R.S. Surtees Jorrocks Jaunts (1874) 87: Groups of booted professors, ready for the rapidest march of intellect.
1842		Bell’s Penny Dispatch 8 May 2/4: [H]is tactics were wrong, and unsuited to contend with the professors of modern pugilism.
1850		(con. 1843) Melville White-Jacket (1990) 348: The Professor was the title bestowed upon the erudite gentleman who conducted this seminary, and by that title alone was he known throughout the ship.
1850		Man of Pleasure’s Illus. Pocket-book n.p.: Sparring, under the management of scientific professors, almost every evening.
1861		R.F. Burton City of the Saints 197: Being a ‘professor,’ that is, a serious person.
1874		W.E. Henley MS Ballad n.p.: Which they calls me the Professor, But I’m only Hogan’s Novice, Bloody artful with the mufflers, And a mark on fancy clumping [F&H].
1880		Bulletin (Sydney) 29 May 6/2: ‘ Professor’ Flynn, a well-known English exponent of the noble art, arrived in Melbourne by the Orient to join his friend Jem Mace in tuition.
1887		in Overland Monthly (CA) July 62: ‘Come erlong, Professor, fetch out yer cider jug [...]’ said Jim to an adipose negro barber.
1888		Wanganui Herald 18 Feb. 2/9: [of a boxer] Professor West, of New Zealand, was ‘laid aside’ in Sydney [...] in a round and a half.
1892		in Punch 3 Dec. 256: The Professor (on a little platform, with a pair of Pupils). Now then, all you as are lovers o’ the Noble and Manly Art o’ Self-Defence.
1893		Independent (Footscray, Vic.) 7 Jan. 2/8: I’m bettin’ on a dead-sure thing. Lift the cup, perfesser.
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 18 May 6/2: I, after frequent spars with the ‘professor,’ paid him three guineas to be taught the inner secrets of the game.
1906		S. Ford Shorty McCabe 90: Boxin’ instructor? Not on your accident policy. [...] PROFESSOR M’CABE’S STUDIO OF PHYSICAL CULTURE. That’s the way the door plate reads.
1908		[Donald Shaw] (con. 1860s) London in the Sixties 54: In those unenlightened days prizefighters [...] never forgot their place, and the illiterate abortions in rabbit-skin collars that intrude into every public resort at the present day and dub themselves ‘professors’ were creations happily unknown.
1911		E. Dyson ‘At a Boxing Bout’ Benno and Some of the Push 116: O’Brien ’ll out ’im this round [...] Scorcher’ll go t’bunk, you take it frim the prefessor.
1915		S. Ford Shorty McCabe on the Job 92: I went to the best tango professor I could find and took an hour lesson.
1925		O.O. McIntyre New York Day by Day 24 Aug. [synd. col.] A tatooing parlor opened its gaudy offices in Columbus Circle and remained open just a week. The professor says the neighborhood was too exclusive.
1932		V.F. Nelson Prison Days and Nights 31: Correct as hell, professor.
1937		‘Boxcar Bertha’ Sister of the Road (1975) 36: ‘We three are college girls [...] Will you please let us ride three for five?’ The conductor looked her over and grinned. ‘All right, professor, sure!’.
1946		(con. 1910s) J. Thompson Heed the Thunder (1994) 15: One of his ventures was with a sharper, a glittering self-titled professor.
1953		L. Uris Battle Cry (1964) 51: Don’t give me a snow job, professor.
1960		J. Brosnan Long Season 38: [addressing a baseball memoirist] ‘Is everything all right, Professor?’ he greeted me, beating me to my own typical Brosnan salutation.
1970		‘Red’ Rudensky Gonif 38: When I had been studying in the library, the guards would jokingly call me The Professor.
1998		(con. 1986) G. Pelecanos Sweet Forever 23: ‘You dropped your g there, Clarence. Just thought I’d point it out.’ ‘Thanks, Professor.’.
1998		Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) 24 Apr. 🌐 As a veteran he was known in prison as ‘professor’. [...] ‘As a professor I had an office and my word was law’.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 146/1: professor n. (within some gangs) the member chosen to sit all day in his cell and read.
2012		W. Keyser ‘Carny Lingo’ in http://goodmagic.com 🌐 Professor — Title often assumed by any showman who wished to appear to be an ‘expert’.

2. (US) a pianist in a bar, cabaret or brothel; by ext. any musician [stereotyped identification of piano-playing with ‘long-hair music’].

1841		Punch in Altick Punch (1997) 4: [poster announcing the new magazine] The gentleman who plays the mouth-organ assisted by the professors of the drum and cymbals.
1843		Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 14 Jan. n.p.: [headline] Professors of the Banjo.
1859		Bartlett Dict. Americanisms (2nd edn) 343: Professor [...] The application of the word to dancing-masters, conjurers, banjo-players, etc., has been called an Americanism.
1872		‘Mark Twain’ Innocents at Home 397: He fingered them with incredible rapidity – in fact, he pushed them from place to place as fast as a musical professor’s fingers travel over the keys of a piano.
1899		W.J. Kountz Billy Baxter’s Letters 73: The Professor wore no coat, but he certainly knew his way around the ivories.
1900		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 3 Mar. 3/4: Prof. Stanley, a pianist of considerable reputation [...] is always willing to provide music for the entertainment.
1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 68: ’Member me from last season, Purfessor?
1907		Lone Hand (Sydney) Aug. 415/2: ‘Patronise ther bear, ladies ’n’ gents [...] A little sixpence fer Perfesser Lees ’n’ his performin’ bear’.
1916		O.O. McIntyre New York Day By Day 16 Sept. [synd. col.] Three years ago I predicted that the movie craze had reached the top pinnacle of its popularity and that in five years more it would be extinct [...] Soft music, professor. Business of eating words.
1922		B. Hecht A Thousand and One Afternoons [ebook] He was a reg’lar music professor before he come down. The leader of a swell orchestra.
1923		Eve. Post (NZ) 8 Sept. 19/6: Said the Nigger Soft Shoe Dancer:- Dance me, perfesser.
1939		Ramsey & Smith Jazzmen 24: My prof. was a Mexican.
1940		(ref. to 1870s–80s) H. Asbury Gangs of Chicago (2002) 113: The Apollo Theater [...] was notorious during the 1870’s and 1880’s for its masquerade balls sponsored by the brothel musicians, or ‘professors’.
1945		A. Kober Parm Me 43: Then, turning to a youth whose fringe of a moustache was draped over a kazoo, he said, ‘Sound your A, Peffesseh’.
1955		Shapiro & Hentoff Hear Me Talking to Ya 53: The sporting houses needed professors.
1971		Winick & Kinsie Lively Commerce 40: The ‘professor’ is the house musician in a brothel.
1992		(con. 1890s) Randolph & Legman Ozark Folksongs and Folklore II 659: [A] ‘whorehouse song’ [...] with piano accompaniment by either a Negro or white pianist, always known as ‘the Professor,’ i.e., of Music.
2001		(con. late 19C) C. Jeffords Shady Ladies of the Old West 🌐 The piano player, usually known as the ‘perfesser,’ was almost but not quite the equal of the bartender.

3. (UK Und.) a sophisticated criminal, preferring confidence trickery to violence.

1852		Kendal Mercury 24 Jan. 6/1: Several inland towns [...] have been honoured by a visit from two ‘crack professors of the dodge’ in question.
1885		M. Davitt Leaves from a Prison Diary I 21: Many ‘professors’ will, reckon from two to four experiences of convict life.
1900		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 24 Feb. 3/1: [H]e saw one of the professors [of thimblerigging] rake in not less than fifty or sixty dollars in about half an hour.

4. a bartender [from sense 2].

1920		Ade Hand-made Fables 266: Those amateur Stews who were still on Probation usually addressed him as ‘Professor’.
2012		(ref. to late 19C) ‘Mr Boston’ Official Bartender’s Guide [ebook] By the time Cotton wrote the first edition of this book, the greatgranddaddy of American cocktails, “Professor” Jerry Thomas was long gone — and with him many of the techniques that set his service apart from lesser-mortal barmen.