Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. sly, artful.

1925		(con. WWI) Fraser & Gibbons Soldier and Sailor Words 47: Carney: Artful. Sly.
1946		W.L. Gresham Nightmare Alley (1947) 88: You’re real carny, and no mistake.
1950		C. Harris Three-Ha’Pence to the Angel 68: No, yer never do say nothing, but yer always say it in a carney way, don’t yer? You and your sarcasm, your carney way – yer think yourself clever, don’t yer?
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 98: A heavy-set Greek with a ‘carny’ face came in the door.
1980		Barltrop & Wolveridge Muvver Tongue 95: ‘A carney sod’ is a coarse and untrustworthy fellow.

2. (US) pertaining to the carnival or carnival workers.

c.1930		(ref. to 1898) N. Kimball Amer. Madam (1981) 259: The wrong crowd hung out there – lags and pete men, paper kiters, carny grifters.
1951		D.P. Mannix Sword-Swallower 105: Steve doesn’t want to be just a carny act all his life.
1962		C. Clausen I Love You Honey, But the Season’s Over 140: I’m going to learn carnie talk next.
1972		(con. 1930s) N. Algren ‘The Last Carousel’ in Texas Stories (1995) 155: Had they already set up a plan to catch me that night on the carny grounds?
1983		S. King Christine 277: A carny three-swings-for-a-quarter derelict.
1999		E. Bunker Mr Blue 114: Mix the rhyme with carney talk ‘Beazottle steazopper iazon the heazammer,’ and the statement is plain as day in the thief underworld.
2007		W. Ellis Crooked Little Vein 23: I hate the way this sounds. It makes me sound like a carny fortune-teller.