Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a professional, an expert in a field; esp. as employed by a golf or tennis club.

1850		Fast Man 6:1 n.p.: We perceive, by a bill, that the Concert [...] is under the direction of Messrs. B. Mills. and C. Rice, both old-established favourites of the public [...] We shall have our ‘Fast’ eye on some of the Pro’s engaged at this establishment.
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1870		London & Provincial Entr’acte 15 Oct. 3/1: Around him sit [...] Just half-a-dozen ‘Pros’.
1879		‘’Arry at the Gaiety’ in Punch 5 July 309/1: All our Pros [i.e. actors] feel their nose out of joint since this Comerdee Frongsay lot come.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 24 Jan. 5/1: It’s known for pros. the show has quite / A mystical attraction; / They want to crowd in ev’ry night, / And love it to distraction. [...] / ‘First heavies’ often get a ‘no,’ / And big grow with impiety; / But ‘up’ the men who never go / Are those they call ‘variety.’.
1887		Byford & Joghmans [perf. George Byford] ‘The Broken Down Masher’ 🎵 I once was a King of the Mashers, you know / My praises were sung by every Pro.
1890		Music Hall & Theatre Rev. 5 July 7/2: [of actors] It’s rumbo for us the shisers don’t find the game all so gay, / Or the pro’s must be off on the frog and toad to some kingdom far away.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 8 July 2/3: At one of the London clubs where theatrical men most do congregate [...] two pros. sauntered in [etc.].
1899		E.W. Hornung Amateur Cracksman (1992) 41: Nothing riles me more than being asked about for my cricket as though I were a pro. myself.
1905		Sporting Times 25 Mar. 13/3: The music-hall pro’s little lad was being put through his facings by the schoolmaster.
1913		Eve. Times (Grand Forks, ND) 6 Jan. 4/5: Jimmy is a freckled sorrel-topped pastimer and a brother ofd ‘Doc’ Johnson, the Cleveland first-sacker. He became a regular ‘pro’ in 1908.
1917		Wodehouse ‘Extricating Young Gussie’ in Man with Two Left Feet 26: ‘Pros,’ he said, ‘music-hall artistes, you know.’.
1922		Wodehouse Clicking of Cuthbert 37: I doubt if the ‘pro.’ often does it in two.
1938		J.B. Booth Sporting Times 54: There was little of the greasepaint in his nature, and his poses [...] were not those of the wearisome ‘pro’.
1942		A. Christie Body in the Library (1959) 29: He’s the tennis and dancing pro.
1957		H. Simmons Corner Boy 93: I’m a pro now [...] I have my first fight next week.
1967		(con. 1920s) J. Thompson South of Heaven (1994) 87: You’re coming right along [...] Shooting like an old pro.
1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 176: Pro A sexually expert male.
1974		D. Ireland Burn 132: I’m a pro, Granpa. Lethal weapons. It’s big sport now [...] Sonny and me are no champs, but we make moneys.
1980		T. Lewis GBH 68: Henry was a pro. He knew what the score was.
1988		Ice-T ‘Drama’ 🎵 Called up my friend joe, a roof job pro.
1992		R.G. Barrett White Shoes 29: You don’t need pros with guns to go around sticking records into juke-boxes.
1994		G. Indiana Rent Boy 107: An inspired amateur [...] will show you shit a pro never fucking figured out.
1999		Guardian G2 15 Mar. 4: Barbara Windsor [...] has been a pro for almost 50 years.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 145/2: pro n. 2 a thief.
2004		E. Weiner Drop Dead, My Lovely (2005) 35: This office full of savvy pros.
2014		M. McBride ‘Sounding’ in ThugLit Mar. [ebook] Randy was a pro. The fact he took precautions instilled my confidence.
2018		G. Disher Kill Shot [ebook] ‘I’d say he’s a pro. Evasion tactics’.
2020		D. Winslow ‘Sunset’ in Broken 199: Duke is a pro at this.

2. (US) a prohibitionist.

1916

Corpus Christie Caller (TX) 9 Mar. 10: Liquor [...] makes liars and law-breakers of many who drink, many of whom [...] are loud-mouthed ‘pros’.

3. a prostitute, male or female [abbr. is of professional woman, not prostitute].

1937		J. Curtis You’re in the Racket, Too 104: I always think those rooms at Paddington make it seem so pro-y.
1941		B. Schulberg What Makes Sammy Run? (1992) 229: I know why [...] he treats all women like pros and all men like enemies.
1944		A. Morrison letter 6 May in Blake Morrison Things My Mother Never Told Me (2002) 143: We’re getting a lot of Sulpha-resistant gonorrhea – probably due to constant medication of the pros.
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 56: If you do see a sort on her own it’s an even chance she’s a pro or a lowheel.
1955		J.P. Donleavy Ginger Man (1958) 86: I’m going to lose my cherry once and for all to a pro.
1958		C. Lee diary 13 Nov. in Eight Bells & Top Masts (2001) 178: All goods vans [...] There’s a couple of pros in one of them [...] The deckhands just line up and take their turn.
1964		‘Charles Barrett’ Address: Kings Cross 25: ‘It’s a good night for the pros,’ Greg said. ‘There’s a ship in’.
1967		J. Orton Diaries (1986) 27 July 255: Kenneth said, in a cold manner, ‘I’ve never seen a more obvious pro on a number 19 bus before’.
1973		D. Goines Street Players 189: She was a top-notch broad / A pro and a fraud.
1984		P. Barker Blow Your House Down 105: Because she wasn’t a pro, you see. Not in her mind, she wasn’t.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 50: Once she was a racehorse, a pricey L.A. pro.
1991		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read Chopper From The Inside 53: Turkish George [was] sitting in the passenger side of a P76 car with the door open, talking to some fat-arsed pro.
2001		K. Sampson Outlaws (ms.) 76: She’s a pure pro and all too, this one.
2010		L. Redhead Thrill City [ebook] The pro on the radio — Desiree or whatever — came up with the idea.
2012		J. Díaz This Is How You Lose Her 160: She gets naked like a pro.
2013		T. Black Ringer [ebook] n.p.: Or I’ve had the arsehole rode off me by some big-time buftie-boy. A pro, likely.

4. (US) a condom [SE prophylactic].

1947		(con. 1944) J.H. Burns Gallery (1948) 273: Take a pro after your last exposure?
1975		J. Wambaugh Choirboys (1976) 292: Thanks, Junior [...] You handled that love scene like a real pro – a prophylactic!

5. (N.Z. prison) a prospective member of a prison gang, see prospect n. (2)

6. one’s profile, one’s appearance.

2005

C. Buzzell My War (2006) 37: I tried to keep a low pro while I walked around that campus.

7. see probie n.

8. see Prohi n.