Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. something of little value; thus in cash terms, a penny.

c.1630		‘The Jovial Companions’ in Farmer Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) I 85: And they wou’d go Travel the North Country, / Without ever a stiver of Mony.
1641		Brothers of the Blade 8: Shee’le take us for a couple of poore Rogues to come both to her house without a stiver in our pockets.
1659		J. Shirley Honoria and Mammon I i: It wo’n’t be Ten hundred thousand pistols to a stiver.
c.1685		‘The Jovial Companions’ in Ebsworth Bagford Ballads (1878) I 51: [as cit. c.1630].
1700		Farquhar Constant Couple I i: I there had a Dutch whore for five stivers.
1721		Penkethman’s Jests 97: The former wou’d, at Night, frequently pick his Pocket to the last Stiver.
1759–67		Sterne Tristram Shandy (1949) 255: ’Tis not worth a single stiver.
1760		Foote The Minor 29: All sense of honour is gone, not a stiver stirring.
1772		Bridges Burlesque Homer (3rd edn) 319: And for a stiver / He quickly hir’d another driver.
1788		G.A. Stevens Adventures of a Speculist II 182: These foreigners could pick every stiver out of a Bubble’s pocket with such extreme politeness.
1798		T.G. Fessenden ‘Political Pepper-Pot’ Poems (1804) 75: Bog-trotters, noted for bravadoes; / And vagabonds not worth a stiver.
1801		Sporting Mag. Aug. XVIII 247/2: These foreigners can pluck every stiver out of a bubble’s pocket.
1815		(con. 18C) W. Scott Guy Mannering (1999) 191: Dirk Hatteraick never touched a stiver of his rents.
1830		R.B. Peake Haunted Inn I ii: I have not a stiver!
1835		N.Y. Transcript 27 Oct. 2/5: I’m [...] pockets to let, used up to the stump, not got a stiver.
1845		J. Lindridge Sixteen-String Jack 115: Catch yourself without a stiver in your purse—where would you find a friend then [...] you could rely on for a sovereign?
1850		Fast Man 7:1 n.p.: Moses, with a shrug, regretted that he had not the money. ‘Tings are so bad chust now, ma tear, I haven’t a steiver in the house’.
1859		G.A. Sala Twice Round the Clock 165: There is an insolent burgher of Bedfordbury, who says I owe him certain stivers.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 67/1: Let uz turn up t’ blarsted consarn, any way [...] we hain’t makkin’ a blarsted ‘steever’ wi’ t’ crib?
1866		in Sportsman 15 Dec. 2/1: Notes on News [...] ‘I always accounted my owners [...] for every stiver’.
1874		‘Old Calabar’ Won in a Canter II 28: ‘Just a thousand pounds [...] not a stiver more’.
1879		C.J. Kickham Knocknagow 307: The devil a stiver she’ll get.
1886		M.E. Braddon Mohawks III 155: This poor wretch from Exeter had not a stiver about him.
1889		Dead Bird (Sydney) 17 Aug. 5/1: Jones had not a stiver in his pocket.
1890		Music Hall & Theatre Rev. 25 Oct. 11/2: I haven’t got a ‘steever’.
c.1890		F.V. St Claire [perf. Vesta Tilley] In London 🎵 ‘Old yer ’orse, sir,’ cries a youngster, poorly fed and poorly clad / ‘Mind it for yer for a stiver’ .
1894		Truth (Sydney) Feb. 1/7: I orter ast the Missus and her Mother to ’ave some beer [...] and I ‘aven’t a bloomin’ stever.
1894		‘Price Warung’ Tales of the Early Days 143: It’s such chaps as you old codger — with any amount o’ heart, but not a stiver’s worth of bodily strength to feed th’ blood with.
1899		A. Binstead Houndsditch Day by Day 47: Oh that be d—d [...] I ain’t a goin’ to pay a stever over sixty.
1900		Marvel 21 Dec. 15: Avin no welf abowt me bar the stiver wich ide kollekted off a smoller boy.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 27 Nov. 4/8: [I] must, with every stiver spent, / Confess my thoughts are all intent / To earn a guinea.
1905		A. Binstead Mop Fair 91: The subsequent draining month’s ‘rest’ [...] while one is not winning a single steever.
1909		‘A “Push” Story’ in Bulletin (Sydney) 2 Sept. 17/1: ‘Find me in fags, if they didn’t drag out a double-’eaded stiver ’n’ git things to a bubble’.
1910		Marvel 22 Jan. 3: ‘Have you any money?’ I asked. ‘Not a stiver,’ he answered.
1910		Truth (Perth) 16 Apr. 6/3: Never got a blue bean for it, / Nor a half a stiever sure.
1911		J.W. Horsley Memoirs of a ‘Sky Pilot’ 253: ‘Stever,’ for a coin.
1924		Lawrence & Skinner Boy in Bush 291: I haven’t any cash. Not a stiver, Ma!
1932		F. Jennings Tramping with Tramps 135: She ought ter give us a stever.
1935		Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 10: Stiver: Penny.
1938		L. Ortzen Down Donkey Row 12: Steiver – Penny.
1953		J. Franklyn Cockney 290: A parallel problem would doubtless have arisen had the request been made for a steever.

2. in pl., money.

1837		Marryat Snarleyyow 155: So much money too, they say. I don’t know how many stivers and guilders she will have by-and-bye.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 7: Stiver - Piece of money.
1905		Bluefield Daily Tel. (WV) 11 Mar. 4/2: In addition [...] the following [names for money] are given: [...] Stivers.
1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks n.p.: Stevers, money.