knave in grain, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

knave in grain n.

also thief in grain

[SE knave + (shining) grain, cochineal; note Grose (1785): ‘a phrase borrowed from the dyehouse, where certain colours are said to be in grain, to denote their superiority, as being dyed with cochineal, called grain’; note SE in grain, downright, pure and simple]

a first-rate rogue; note cit. 1589 is a pun.

1589		Lyly Pappe with an Hatchet E2: Thou art the best died foole in graine that euer was.
1639		J. Taylor Crabtree Lectures 102: Thou art no better than a knave in graine; indeede thou art as coarse as thy Bran.
1641		J. Taylor Reply as true as Steele [cover] The Divell is hard bound and did hardly straine, / To shit a Libeller a knave in grain.
1658		R. Brathwait Honest Ghost 94: Look to your Brain-pans, Boyes – here comes a Traine of Roysting Rufflers that are knaves in the graine.
1673		M. Stevenson Poems 116: But He’s such a Knave in grain.
1696		Motteux (trans.) Gargantua and Pantagruel (1927) II Bk V 679: [footnote] We say a knave in the grain.
1701		Answer to the Pleasure of a Single Life 27: He’s Knave in Grain; a Blockhead and an Ass.
1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: Knave in Grain, one of the First Rate.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. 1725].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1789		Scots Mag. 1 Jan. 43/2: With titles how some men are blest! / Ev’n thou canast boast of twain; / A fool before in drugs confest, / A now a knave in grain!
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1839		Northern Liberator 16 Feb. 3/5: Be off! be off! you knave in grain!
1867		Sportsman 7/Feb. 2/1: Notes on News [...] There are some men who, though thieves in grain, combine a little wit with small amount of rascality.
1868		Huddersfield Chron. 1 Feb. 3/5: Three parts Bedlamite in essence, / And one part knave in grain.