Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. anything done with the intention of improving or advertising one’s image or gaining an advantage over rivals, a gimmick or device for attracting attention.

1877		Benton Record (MT) 2 Mar. 3/1: Until the other day we were not aware that our friend, Mr Murry, could do ‘stunts’.
1896		W.C. Gore Student Sl. in Cohen (1997) 4: stunt n. Something especially worthy of mention. A noteworthy action.
1902		‘Billy Burgundy’ Toothsome Tales Told in Sl. 105: This was her regular stunt, and invariably brought the house down.
1914		S. Lewis Our Mr Wrenn (1936) 247: Mr. Guilfogle went out of his way to admit that the letters to the Southern trade had been ‘a first-rate stunt, son’.
1917		A.G. Empey Over the Top 109: He told me how his battery in the early days of the war had put over a stunt on Old Pepper, and had gotten away with it.
1917		A. Brazil Madcap of the School 246: ‘Top-hole! It [i.e. a ‘coon’ show] would be a regular stunt!’ agreed the committee.
1918		Butterfly and Firefly 23 Nov. 8: I’ve not done the camera-breaking stunt for donkeys’ years.
1929		W.R. Burnett Little Caesar (1932) 119: Rico, if you can’t work the Joe Peeper stunt, here’s a lever.
1930		E. Glyn Flirt and Flapper 133: : Flapper: What Lollie’s putting over is a great ‘stunt’.
1933		N. West ‘Miss Lonelyhearts’ in Coll. Works (1975) 246: The job is a circulation stunt and the whole staff considers it a joke.
1934		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 159: He’ll probably pull off some stunt like capturing all the rats in our trenches and sending them over to the Huns. [Ibid.] 308: He’d jumped from the second-storey window, [...] But he was proud of his stunt, escaping from the Law.
1947		N. Algren Neon Wilderness (1986) 125: Wha made you think you could get away with a crazy stunt like that, Rudy?
1953		J. Thompson Alcoholics (1993) 6: Look at the stunts he pulls.
1963		M. Braly Shake Him Till He Rattles (1964) 56: Of all the lame stunts.
1979		Fantastic Four Annual 28: You Nazis pulled the same stunt on Holland and Belgium!
1986		L. Heinemann Paco’s Story (1987) 80: I mean some godawful dumbshit nigger stunts.
1999		Guardian Guide 29 May–4 June 37: Cool’s most topical stunt is a completely silent send-up of Tony Blair.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 15: ‘That stunt you pulled [...] “Mr Nine Inches”’.

2. a scheme, a plan; widely used in WWI to describe a variety of military manoeuvres.

1899		W.J. Kountz Billy Baxter’s Letters 17: You see, Jim, that’s where I go off my dip. That wine affair is an awful stunt for a fellow who makes not over two thousand a year [...] and rooms in a flat that’s fifteen a month stronger than he can stand.
1906		‘Hugh McHugh’ Skidoo! 81: Bunch and Alice spent several weeks doing the society stunt at the fashionable seaside resorts.
1915		‘Ian Hay’ First Hundred Thousand (1918) 245: Each of us has his own particular ‘stunt’ in which he takes [...] personal and rather egotistical pride.
1916		‘Anzac’ On the Anzac Trail 8: [of a route march] On most days we did about ten miles, but twice a week or so we put in a fifteen to twenty mile stunt.
1919		W.H. Downing Digger Dialects 48: stunt [...] (5) an idea; (6) a scheme.
1921		N. Putnam West Broadway 109: Our daily stunt of desperately trying to beat the sunset to our hotel.
1928		M.C. Sharpe Chicago May (1929) 21: I stipulated, however, that we should pull off one stunt together, unharnessed.
1929		(con. 1916) F. Manning Her Privates We (1986) 176: That sounded like a regular stunt.
1932		(con. WWI) L. Mann Flesh in Armour 51: Konkey [...] returned from a Blighty he got in the last stunt.
1939		P. Cheyney Don’t Get Me Wrong (1956) 76: Do you think I was mug enough to fall for a stunt like that.
1941		V. Davis Phenomena in Crime 75: I know one stunt he pulled.
1951		M. Spillane One Lonely Night 81: She hadn’t known about Ethel’s little stunt.
1963		M. Spillane Return of the Hood 60: He’s nuts! Ernie’ll chew him up. He can’t pull a stunt like that.
1973		(con. 1930s) F. Huelin ‘Keep Moving’ 60: If it’s a stunt to get us in, the blue’s on.
1983		A-Team Storybook 33: That stunt you pulled in San Rio Blanco was a real class act.
1992		K. Lette Llama Parlour 202: Just like the stunt my old man pulled — coming back to mum after two years.

3. (US Und.) a criminal scheme.

1925		N. Lucas Autobiog. of a Thief 197: I was even ‘let in’ on some of the ‘stunts’ which my associates ‘put over.’.
1968		J. Alard He who Shoots Last 7: Big Frenchie wants a side kick ta go along on a stunt tamorra night.

4. an admirable individual.

1918

A. Brazil Patriotic Schoolgirl 28: ‘Miss Jones is a stunt, as jinky as you like. Wish we had her at our house’.