haddock, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

haddock n.

[the once popular belief that assigned the dark marks on the shoulders of a haddock to the impression left by St Peter’s finger and thumb, when he took the tribute-money out of the fish’s mouth at Capernaum. Note 16C proverbial phr. bring haddock to paddock, to spend or lose everything]

1. a purse; thus haddock stuff’d with beans, a purse full of guineas.

1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 245: haddock a purse; a haddack [sic] stuff’d with beans, is a jocular term for a purse full of guineas!
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1834		(con. 1737–9) W.H. Ainsworth Rookwood (1857) 231: A haddock, stuffed with nothing.
1836		A. Thornton Don Juan in London II 403: A thimble is a watch; a haddock is a purse.
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 34: Haddock, a purse.
1907		D. Stewart Vultures of the City in Illus. Police News 12 Jan. 12/3: ‘I’ll bet a monkey to a haddock (a purse of money) that I’ll not leave our young pigeon a feather to fly with’.
1929		Essex Newsman 11 May 3/2: Haddock (a purse of money).

2. (US) money.

1865

Harper’s Mag. XXX 606: Money...brads...dust...horse-nails...haddock [HDAS].