Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(UK Und.) low, inferior, second-rate.

1835		Worcester Herald 26 Dec. 4/3: Shofell swag, bad goods for sale.
1846		Swell’s Night Guide 61: The shiser thinks to bounce us by flashing a shofel quid.
1856		H. Mayhew Great World of London I 6: ‘Showfull,’ base money, which is likewise the Teutonic shoful (bad stuff—trash).
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor III 351/1: ‘Showfull,’ in slang means counterfeit, and the ‘showfull’ cabs are an infringement on Hansom’s patent.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 65/2: I’m blarsted if she hain’t gone and given our good ‘sugar’ away for this ‘showful stuff’ an’ tobacco an’ all. [Ibid.] 76/2: It was not our intention to mix in with this ‘showful’ set, and we were trying to pass them.
c.1868		‘Cabmen and Their New Flags’ in C. Hindley Curiosities of Street Lit. (1871) 153: And all the shofle shofles they will be rejected.
1882		A.S. Palmer Folk Etymology 356/1: Showfull or Shoful. A cant term which originated amongst the Jews, and is the Heb. Shafal (or shaphal), low, base, vile, the word which David applied to himself when he danced before the ark [F&H].