damper, n.² — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

damper n.²

[SE damper, that which calms or suppresses, i.e. it suppresses the villain’s hopes of an easy robbery]

1. a till, a cash drawer.

1848		implied in draw a damper
1873		Sl. Dict.
1886		W. Newton Secrets of Tramp Life Revealed 15: He watches to see if there is plenty of silver in the ‘damper’ or drawer.
1892		W. Norr Stories of Chinatown 50: I went to the damper to see if she had taken the roll, but there wasn’t a cent gone.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 22: Damper, a shop-till; ‘to draw a damper,’ to rob a till.
1902		F.P. Dunne Mr Dooley’s Opinions 80: ’T was th’ habit iv our joynt iv commerce f’r to be up with th’ cock an’ down to th’ damper befure th’ cashier come.
1914		Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Sl. 28: damper [...] Used by prowlers and daylight ‘heels.’ A combination cash drawer or register.
1926		N. Klein ‘Hobo Lingo’ in AS I:12 650: Damper—a cash register.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 60: Damper. – A cash register or money drawer, presumably so called since it checks petty thieving much as a damper checks a fire or draft.
1944		D. Runyon Runyon à la Carte 175: Wanted for robbing the damper of thirty-six dollars.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 65: damper work the burglary of cash registers.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 56/1: Damper. 1. A cash register; a money-drawer.
1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 796: damper – A cash register or money drawer.

2. a glass used to contain a given measure (unspecified) of beer.

1892

S. Wales Dly News 11 May 7/2: Cardiff [...] burgesses may quaff their ale from the ‘damper’ or ‘sleever’.

3. (US Und.) a bank; thus damper pad, a bank book.

1934		J.L. Kuethe ‘Prison Parlance’ in AS IX: 1 26: damper. A bank [...] damper pad. A bank book.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 65: damper pad A bank book.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 56/1: Damper. [...] 3. A bank.
1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 314: Damper [...] a place holding savings, bank, safe deposit box, etc.

4. (US) a small safe, a cashbox.

1944		D. Runyon Runyon à la Carte 104: The Sky has to [...] get the night clerk to open his damper so The Sky can get the rest of his bank roll.
1969		see sense 2.

5. (US) in fig. use of sense 1, somewhere money goes.

1951

W. Pegler 14 Aug. [synd. col.] The government racket has collected millions [...] the Roosevelt-Truman administrations have squandered every dime, dropping bonds into the damper which are then sold to the public [W&F].

6. (US/Can. prison) solitary confinement, punishment cells [it damps down the spirits or emotions].

1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 56/1: Damper. [...] 2. (Rare) A jail or prison.
1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 10: Damper also Digger The segregation unit or hole.

In compounds

damper-getter (n.) (also damp-getter, damper-sneak)

a till robber.

1904		Number 1500 Life In Sing Sing 255: Damper-Getter. Thief who robs money-drawers.
1910		J. Sullivan ‘Criminal Sl.’ in Amer. Law Rev. LII (1918) 890: Thieves who tap store tills are called ‘damp getters’.
1924		G. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 402: Damper-getter – robber of cash drawer.
1926		M. Brand Black Jack n.p.: As a peterman he was a loud ha-ha; as a damper-getter he was just an amateur;.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 65: damper getter Burglary of a cash drawer; a thief who burglaries [sic] money drawers [...] damper work the burglary of cash registers.

damper-sneak (n.)

(US und.) one who enters an office under false pretences, then robs a safe that has been left open during business hours.

1872		E. Crapsey Nether Side of NY 16: Damper-sneaks are a little company not more than one hundred in number. By ‘damper,’ a thief means a safe, for the reason that it is supposed to put a damper upon his hopes.
1881		J.D. McCabe New York by Sunlight and Gaslight 512: The damper-sneak is also a bond robber, but confines his depredations to brokers’ offices [...] watches his opportuniy to get at the safe [and] snatches whatever he can lay his hands on and leaves.

In phrases

draw a damper (v.)

to rob a till; thus damper-drawing, shoplifting.

1848		Chaplain’s 25th Report of the Preston House of Correction n.p.: Draw a damper [...] take a money-drawer’.
1857		J. Archbold Magistrate’s Assistant (3rd edn) 444: To rob a till [...] draw a damper.
1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn) 127: DAMPER, a shop till; to draw a damper, i.e., rob a till.
1870		Hotten Sl. Dict. [as cit. 1860].
1889		Clarkson & Richardson Police! 321: Shoplifting ... Damper-drawing.

put the damper on (v.)

(UK Und.) a form of street robbery whereby the criminal assaults his victim from behind, choking him or placing his hands over his mouth; his accomplices, usu. a man and woman, then rifle the victim’s pockets.

1851

Liverpool Mercury 14 Jan. 38/2: ‘Buckley [...] has been ‘putting the damper on’ for many years, being a tall strong man’.

damper n.2

In compounds

In phrases

damper n.²