Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US, also old haymaker) the sun.

1862		A. Bensell diary in Barth All Quiet on the Yamhill (1959) 29 Mar. 9: The ground was covered with snow which soon disappeared before ‘Old Haymaker’.
1886		Wichita Daily Eagle (Kansas) 27 Jan. 2/1: This morning old haymaker shed his genial rays over this beautiful city.
1908		W.G. Davenport Butte and Montana 75: We must pounce upon our fellows [...] while the haymaker is unobserved in the heavens [HDAS].
1921		Conklin & Root Ways of The Circus 17: I found that it bothered even the oldtimers to stay awake, although most of them did until light in the morning, but there was a saying among the show people that ‘nobody can keep awake after the old haymaker comes up’.

2. (US, also hay-kicker) a farmer, a rustic; thus a term of abuse.

1847		in J. Leyda Melville Log (1951) 115: ‘Pull, pull, you lubberly hay-makers!’ cries the boat-header [...] ‘Pull, pull, I say; break your lazy backs!’ Presently the whale is within ‘darting distance’.
1902		Ade Girl Proposition 156: The antique Hay-Maker who had been sending the Money greeted her with Open Arms.
1912		Sun (NY) 10 Mar. 57/5: I, an old haymaker, as landsmen are called.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 114: hay kicker A farmer.