Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a petty criminal, rated as the lowest order of thieves.

a.1790		H.T. Potter New Dict. Cant (1795) n.p.: funkers idle and disorderly fellows of the lowest order of thieves.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1821		Flash Dict.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

2. (also funkstick) one who is a coward, a weakling or a shirker [funkstick orig. foxhunting j., one who shows cowardice in the face of jumping a ‘stick', i.e. a fence].

1853		R.S. Surtees Mr Sponge’s Sporting Tour 312: Oh! old Bugles! old Pad-the-Hoof! old Mr. Funker!
1858		R.S. Surtees Ask Mamma 468: The greatest funkers, too, are oftentimes the boldest under the influence of false courage.
1865		R.S. Surtees Facey Romford’s Hounds 254: The pullers begin to get the bits in their mouths, and the funkers to look out for their leaders.
1886		M.E. Kennard Girl in the Brown Habit I 85: My surprise was intense at the number of shirkers. Had I not seen it with my own eyes, I could not have believed so many ‘funksticks’ existed in one field.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1891		Graphic 7 Feb. 12/1: They allude to him sneeringly as ‘a shirker’ and a ‘funkstick!’.
1901		Manchester Times 15 June 8/1: A nervous man [...] has any number of drunk-fuddled ‘funksticks’ ready to echo his alarm.
1903		Eve. Teleg. (Dundee) 2 Jan. 4/2: On this New Year’s morn do not be a funker; Face the Kingdom’s shore, and take the cold, cold planker.
1912		D.H. Lawrence letter 3 July in Coll. Letters (1962) I 134: God curse them, funkers. God blast them, wish-wash.
1937		Western Morn. News 6 Dec. 2/7: It is a friendly country [...] where everyone can hunt as it pleases without being criticized as a ‘funk-stick’ or duffer.

3. a prostitute who quits the streets when the weather is bad.

1890–1904

Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.