Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a dodge, a swindle, some form of fraudulent money-making scheme.

1829		‘Pickpocket’s Chaunt’ (translation of ‘En roulant de vergne en vergne’) in Vidocq IV 262: With the mots their ogles throwing, And old Cotton humming his pray; And the foglehunters doing, [...] Their morning fake in the prigging lay.
1845		J. Lindridge Sixteen-String Jack 206: For I am the gal for a fake and a cly, / And I lush til the dew is falling.
c.1850		‘Bates’ Farm’ in Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues I (1890) 141/2: I’m up to every little fake, / But in me there’s no harm.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 352/2: My pal cut with the gold ring the first day, and I never had another go at that fake since.
1871		London Figaro 21 Oct. n.p.: Yet theyve been known for many a fake To coolly set a trap [F&H].
1881		Dundee Courier (Scot.) 18 Feb. 7/4: I know every ‘fake’ in the monkery, and can put you up to them all.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 28 Feb. 12/1: ‘No hurry, old toucher,’ said the applicant affable; ‘only I want to be in this fake. You can just put me through the hank-panky part, and I’ll be anything you like. A sergeant or captain – it’s all the same to me.’.
1890		Sporting Times 15 Mar. 2/1: Presently they’ll be trying the good old rent and laundress-bill fake that we all remember so well.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 27: Fake, a general term meaning deceit of any kind, as rob, poison, cheat [ibid.] 50: Morning Fake, thieving in the morning.
1901		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ In Bad Company 100: The beggar’s been squared or ‘copped’ for some bloomin’ fake [...] He’s goin’ to turn dog on us, after all.
1907		D. Stewart Vultures of the City in Illus. Police News 12 Jan. 12/4: ‘Jerry Blathers has got pinched over his last fake, but he’s got the office that the beak will loose him on bail’.
1910		D. Stewart Devil of Dartmoor in Illus. Police News 15 Oct. 12/1: ‘I’m wanted, wus luck, for doing some white stuff (passing bad money) and a confidence fake into the bargain’ .
1922		Cleveland Foundation Survey of Criminal Justice in Cleveland II 137: [T]he Advertising Club promotes the prosecution of ‘fake’ advertisements .
1940		D. Maurer Big Con 296: The fake. 1. A short-con game practiced by news-butchers on trains. The prospective customer buys a cheap book for two dollars because he thinks he sees a five-dollar bill protruding from it. 2. Also fakus or mr. fakus. Any cheating mechanism used in short-con games, especially on gambling devices and flat-joints.

2. any form of action, often a trick, varying as to context.

1844		New Sprees of London 25: [A]s to the singing, that is nothing out of the common style; but their judge-and-jury fake is out and out.
1851		Morn. Post (London) 1 Nov. 2/2: ‘Jad meets us at the Whitechapel gate?’ ‘That’s the fake.’ ‘At one o’clock, if I’m fly’.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 131/2: Joe [...] was doing the double ‘fake’ by balancing Harriet on one knee and Jenny Dempster on the other.
1879		‘’Arry on Crutches’ in Punch 3 May 201/1: It’s genius, that’s wot it is, spots new fakes in deportment and dress.
1885		‘’Arry on ’onesty’ in Punch 31 Jan. 60/1: If I worked the theatrical fake—which I don’t [...] wus luck.
1892		‘’Arry in Venice’ in Punch 27 May 88/1: Friend Imre’s a spanker, you bet, and quite fly to the popular fake.
1914		E. Pugh Cockney At Home 32: ‘What will you do with it, Job?’ I says to him. ‘Same ole fake,’ he says to me.
1937		D. Fuchs Low Company 242: It’s a fake! [...] Once and for all, it’s a trick. We should show people like him they should know.
1986		S. King It (1987) 840: Richie held out his hand. ‘No fake, Jake. Can I have some?’.

3. (US) an invented newspaper story or false rumour.

1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 223/2: After that we had a fine ‘fake’ – that was the fire of the Tower of London – it sold rattling.
1906		E. Pugh Spoilers 62: O, cut that fake.

4. in fig. use, any situation (the underlying image is of trickery or deception).

1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 2 May 11/4: Prisoner: ‘Yes; he got me tight and kidded me to leave the band and join this fake.’ [i.e. the Army] Major Kyer: ‘Fake!’ Prisoner: ‘Yes. Said all I would have to do was blow when I was told. And now look at it!’.
a.1909		press cutting in J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 55/1: It’s a bully fake for a dona when she has the fair good luck to snap hold a husband who will cut up to rights.

5. (US) a patent medicine.

1886

W. Newton Secrets of Tramp Life Revealed 13: Another article which he keeps by him [...] corn [as on a toe] ‘Fake’.

6. (US) a confidence trickster.

1888		N.Y. Mercury Both ladies then came to the conclusion that the fortune-teller was a fake, and they decided to notify the police [DA].
1965		B. Jackson Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 141: Jack, a con man, a cannon [pickpocket] or a fake of any kind.

7. (US, also fake merchant) an impostor or insincere person.

1888		N.Y. Mercury n.p.: Both ladies then came to the conclusion that the fortune-teller was a fake, and they decided to notify the police [F&H].
1882		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 3 June 3/1: There was a prevailing impression that the performance was in German [...] but the German population deny it. [...] What unknown tongue is it these ‘fakes’ speak, and why.
1934		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 386: He could see himself whittling the big fake down to his own size.
1944		J. Stafford Boston Adventure 281: She isn’t southern at all [...] she’s just a terrible fake [DA].
1997		(con. 1930s) D. Farson Never a Normal Man 332: Henry was a liar, describing himself in an early story as ‘a fake merchant’.

8. (US) a piece of equipment.

1896

F. Hutcheson Barkeep Stories 67: ‘Wot’s de matter wid you [...] gettin’ wan o’ dem little photygraphin’ fakes [...] an’ takin’ one o’ dem see-t’roo-you pictures’.

9. (US) cheap, esp. worthless, merchandise sold by street vendors.

1897

J. London ‘The Road’ in Hendricks & Shepherd Jack London Reports (1970) 311–21: We all remember the Frenchman who made flea powder out of pulverized brick — this is the nature of the ‘fake’.

10. theatrical make-up.

1899

Crissie 111: Seeing in her usual nightly ‘fake,’ her face was undoubtedly handsome.

11. (US drugs, also fake-a-loo, fake aloo) any form of substitute for a hypodermic syringe.

1938		D. Maurer ‘Argot of the Und. Narcotic Addict’ Pt 2 in AS XIII:3 184/1: fake or fake-a-loo. The medicine dropper, probably so-called because so often it is used as a substitute for the regulation glass tube in constructing a home-made hypodermic.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 80: fake aloo A hypodermic syringe made from a medicine dropper.
1959		J.E. Schmidt Narcotics Lingo and Lore.

12. (N.Z. prison) .

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 67/1: fake n. an officer new to a prison, usually one recently completed his training.

13. (Polari) an erect penis.

2019

P. Baker Fabulosa 292/1: fake 1 noun: an erection.