Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) facts, a useful piece of information; an act of direction (lit. or fig.).

1882		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 11 Mar. 3/4: [H]e has [...] started his daughter as the keeper of a palatial bagnio [...] while he ropes In the suckers in his revival tours [...] and gives them a ‘steer’ that lands the best of them plump Into her hands.
1895		E. Townsend Chimmie Fadden Explains 64: Dere was dat goil givin me one steer, and givin Miss Fannie anodder steer, and dey was bote crooked as a dog’s hind leg.
1901		‘Hugh McHugh’ John Henry 57: To give me a steer like that after I [...] helped him to six bowls of Anheuser milk!
1911		S. Ford Torchy 62: I used to know all about him when I was in the newspaper business; so this is a straight steer.
1922		S. Lewis Babbitt (1974) 140: This is the straight steer.
1930		D. Ahearn Confessions of a Gunman 209: I would get a broad to make him and give him a steer for me.
1941		J.K. Butler ‘Saint in Silver’ in Goulart (1967) 80: Maybe she’d tossed me a blind steer.
1952		(con. 1920s) ‘Harry Grey’ Hoods (1953) 50: ‘If we get a good steer we step out.’ ‘On a heist?’ ‘Yep.’.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 819: steer – An advice or direction.
1979		F. Norman Too Many Crooks Spoil the Caper 164: Since it had been Alec’s steer that’d landed me in the cart, he seemed like a good bloke as any to give me a fresh lead.

2. (US/UK Und.) someone who gives directions or information; also attrib.

1928		Rocky Mountain News (Denver) 13 Nov. in AS III:3 254/1: Steer man—Tipster.
1930		M. West Babe Gordon (1934) 29: They worked the streets [...] waiting for downtown explorers that needed a ‘steer’ to dope.
1938		D. Runyon ‘The Big Umbrella’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 550: I know him when he is nothing but a steer for a bust-out joint in West Forty-third.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 224: steer cut The share given to a steersman.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 209/1: Steer, n. [...] 4. See Steerer.

3. (US) an inaccurate piece of information.

1906		S. Ford Shorty McCabe 189: What kind of a steer is it that brings him to me? I ain’t got that straight yet.
1917		F. Packard Adventures of Jimmie Dale (1918) I ii: Yer givin’ me a steer, ain’t youse? [...] Are youse sure it was Stace croaked Metzer?