Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US black) the mythical seducer, who specializes in married women or those with boyfriends; thus Jody n.

1939		Irvin Lowry [song title] Joe the Grinder.
1943		D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam Star-News 2 Jan. 15: The soldiers here all seem to know / Some guy back home whose name is Joe / They speak of him in terms of hate / My word, the tales they do relate.
1943		D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam Star-News 13 Mar. 13: Little Joe De Gryndeaux is that unspeakable little rascal the soldiers left behind when Uncle waved them abroad.
1944		D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 123: Boot the Squares who miz riff witha 4-F Hype, and proceed to play Joe DeGryndeaux to watch how they lay down the leather an’ tacks act.
1967		M. Braly On the Yard (2002) 74: The inmates hailed him as Joe the Grinder, giving him the same wry name they gave to the man who made it into their wife’s bed while they were locked [...] in jail.
1972		Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology and Police Science 283: A common concern is that ‘Joe the Grinder’, (a real or imagined paramour,) will enter their homes freely now that they are away.
1977		J.L. Dillard Lex. Black Eng. 23: An excellent example of the half-familiarity of the white population with Black sexual terms is provided by the name Jody, if Bruce Jackson’s derivation from Joe de Grinder is accurate.
1983		R. Klein Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.].
1989		Eble Campus Sl. Sept.