Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. theatre) a joke, a catch-phrase.

1873		Sl. Dict. 338: Wheeze a joke, an anecdote, or dialogue, not strictly connected with a piece that is being played, but introduced by an actor, sometimes with the assistance and for the benefit of others. The dialogues which take place between the songs at nigger entertainments are also known as wheezes.
1887		‘’Arry on His Critics’ in Punch 17 Dec. 280/1: The mugs and the jugs never joke, / Never gag, never work in a wheeze.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 11: Wheeze - A joke, an anecdote, or dialogue introduced into a performance, as by a circus clown.
1890		Music Hall & Theatre Rev. 15 Nov. 12/1: As dancers they excel, but their ‘wheezes’ are unfortunately ‘a bit off’.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 94: Wheeze, a sort of anecdote introduccd by actors for the benefit of others.
1904		Ade ‘The Fable of the Poor Woman’ in True Bills 7: Whenever he told a ripe old Scandinavian Wheeze or an Irish Bull she would let out a Whoop.
1917		O.O. McIntyre New York Day by Day 10 Sept. [synd. col.] He pulled a wheze about Yonkers [...] that is till revived by the vaudeville actors.
1937		(con. WW1) E.C. Parsons Great Adventure 138: [T]o paraphrase an old wheeze, our life in the air was likely to be a short but not particularly merry one .

2. a piece of special information, a ‘tip’.

1890		Bird o’ Freedom 22 Jan. 1: More than ever — dare we hint — is the good old wheeze applicable — ‘If you want to know the time, ask a p’leeceman.’.
1900		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘The Babel Stakes’ Sporting Times 26 May 1/4: The wheeze on which I depended was not on the speed to be shown.
1915		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘Comedians All’ Sporting Times 17 Apr. 1/2: Didn’t Shakespeare himself say the world is a stage? / Well, it shows you how old is the wheeze.
1929		J. Lait Broadway Melody 4: Some wise-cracking commentator once released a wheeze to the effect that he didn’t care much who wrote a nation’s laws if he could write the nation’s songs.
1938		W. Winchell On Broadway 15 Mar. [synd. col.] Some wheezes were uttered in a tongue not savvied west of Newark, N.J.

3. a trick or dodge frequently used.

1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Feb. 7/4: And we remember on one occasion, when some miscreant cracked this sorry wheeze, a gentleman, whom Melancholy had Marked for Her Own, said it was ‘almost good enough for Punch.’.
1890		Sporting Times 1 Feb. 1/3: [He] retired to the Woods, to see if the Forty Bank Notes were Still Between the Leaves, and Cogitate upon the Success with which his B.C. 55 Wheeze had Worked.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 13 Mar. 11/3: A schemester who works every wheeze.
1908		A.N. Lyons Arthur’s 22: That ’ere was a champion wheeze while it lasted.
1915		Sport (Adelaide) 22 Jan. 5/6: Mick K, that wheeze didn't work with you in Sport last week. We know who you are, old boy.
1916		Firefly 9 Dec. 1: Now you begin to see the cunning wheeze, don’t you, my friends?
1922		Joyce Ulysses 73: Didn’t catch me napping that wheeze.
1934		Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves 70: You wouldn’t have thought of a wheeze like that in a million years.
1942		Whizzbang Comics 16: Wilf, I’ve got a wheeze!
1958		Willans & Searle Complete Molesworth (1985) 14: It is not such a wizard wheeze after all.
1969		A. Buckeridge Trust Jennings (1989) 131: We could try out our famous wheeze now.
1975		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell and the Three-card Trick (1977) 148: So I think, well, bit ovva wheeze, innit? Who’s to know?
1983		M. Read Scouting for Boys in Best Radio Plays (1984) 157: I say, here’s a wheeze! How would it be if we came to visit you tomorrow?
1984		Benjamin & Pearl Limericks Down Under 74: His favourite wheeze / Was to nibble his cheese.
1990		Beano Comic Library No. 190 59: What a wheeze, eh?
1999		K. Sampson Powder 155: It was nothing more than a clever-silly wheeze.
2000		Guardian G2 18 Jan. 14: It is a good wheeze.

4. a simpleton.

1918

‘Commander’ Clear the Decks! 174: He didn’t, you poor wheeze.

5. a theory, a concept.

1965

A. James America’s Homosexual Underground 118: Negroes are popular and well liked. They don’t have to stay in their places. That’s an old wheeze.