Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a passer of counterfeit money.

1859		Buffalo Dly Republic (NY) 22 Oct. 3/2: Thieves, stuffers and bogus and counterfeit money ‘shovers’.
1867		Cambria Freeman (Edensburg, PA) 17 Oct. 3/3: Two shovers of counterfeit money confined their operations solely to beer saloons, and probably shoved $150 in the various saloons.
1871		London Figaro 20 Feb. n.p.: He established a saloon in New York which became the headquarters of all the counterfeiters and shovers of the queer in the country [F&H].
1872		G.P. Burnham Memoirs of the US Secret Service 97: These ‘shovers of the queer’ put forth myriads of counterfeit notes.
1880		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 10 Jan. 3/3: Webster was alone interested in the manufacture of the bad coins, Murphy and ‘Pointer’ being employed in the capacity of ‘shovers’.
1886		A. Pinkerton Thirty Years a Detective 445: It is no longer the common ‘shover of the queer,’ as he is called in police circles, who is the worst and most dangerous pirate upon the monetary seas.
1895		S.F. Call 23 Sept. 3/2: Immense Sums of Bogus Money [...] The confession of W.A. Lane, the self-confessed shover of the queer, now in jail.
1899		J. Flynt Tramping with Tramps 397: SHOVER: a man who passes counterfeit money.
1901		J. Flynt World of Graft 27: The remaining third of Chicago’s professional thieves are good, bad, and indifferent ‘sneaks,’ ‘porch-climbers,’ ‘slough-workers,’ ‘peter-men,’ ‘prop-getters,’ ‘shovers of the queer’.
1909		I.L. Nascher Wretches of Povertyville 210: Most of the ‘shovers of the queer,’ or passers of counterfeit money, are residents of Povertyville.
1921		P. & T. Casey Gay-cat 304: Shover—a man who passes bogus bills; a counterfeiter’s pal.
1924		G. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 141: The boodle-carrier hovers around the shover until the latter has passed the bill; then he gives him another.
1928		J. O’Connor Broadway Racketeers 64: Can you imagine him ever having the nerve to call himself a queer shover?
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 169: Shover. – One who passes or ‘shoves’ counterfeit money.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 194/1: Shover. 1. A passer of counterfeit money. 2. (Less common) A passer of worthless checks.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 817: shover – One who passes or ‘shoves’ counterfeit money.