Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a grasping person.

1725		Thesaurus ænigmaticus 132: A Statesman, Lawyer, and a Yorkshire Bite, / A Dutch Mynheer, a Scot, a Parasite.
1732		T. Chaloner Chaloner’s Misc. 87: His Receipt which he gave to a Yorkshire Man for Money receiv’d in Part of Payment Received then Three Shillings as my Right / In part of Payment from a Yorkshire Bite, / The Residue, I’m very much affraid, [sic] / Doom’s-Day will come before the whole is paid.
1775		Three Excellent. [sic] New Songs I. The Yorkshire Bite. II. The Poor Man's Advice III. The London Flower [song titles].
1784		J. O’Keeffe Fontainebleau in Dramatic Works (1798) II 268: Harkyee, you Yorkshire bite, you shan’t rob me of my child.
1801		Sporting Mag. Dec. XIX 114/1: I will not denominate your Coursing Correspondent a Yorkshire bite, as he only snaps, but will not lay hold.
1820		Monthly Rev. Mar. 331: A Yorkshireman is generally said to be equal in shrewdness and cunning to any other man: and his keenness has become proverbial, in the expression ‘A Yorkshire bite’.
1830		Gent’s Mag. Aug. 150/2: We generally apply the term Yankee to all Americans; but its specific meaning beyond the Atlantic is a native of New England, and is synonymous with a Yorkshire bite in England.
1848		Bell’s Life in Sydney 15 July 3/1: [He] stepped forward and presented the remarkably interesting [...] appearance of a Yorkshire Bite.
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1892		Manchester Courier 2 Jan. 10/5: A Yorkshire Bite [...] That night the Yorkshireman had crab for supper and the fishmonger had to write 1s. 6d. off his books as a ‘bad debt’.
1897		Hull Dly Mail 26 July 4/4: The ‘Yorkshire bite’ as we see him [...] economy written upon his hard and somewhat unsympathetic face, and thrift is stamped upon the back of his coat.

2. over-reaching, greediness; thus an item considered to epitomise that quality.

1795		Gent.’s Mag. Aug. 629/1: I flatter myself that this will turn out to be a Yorkshire bite, and that the biter will be bit.
1818		Lit. Gaz. Jan. n.p.: The Yorkshire Magazine does justice to our prognosticastions, and is not a Yorkshire bite.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 11: Selling an unsound horse [...] is a Yorkshire bite.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 123/2: Squib was always considered a smart ‘wire,’ and very generous to boot. There was, then, very little of the ‘Yorkshire bite’ about Squib.
1871		Liverpool Mercury 8 Feb. 5/6: [headline] A ‘Yorkshire Bite’ in Liverpool. Extraordinary Allegation.
1879		Sheffield Dly Teleg. 28 Nov. 4/7: Manufacturers [...] by taking a ‘Yorkshire bite’ [...] endeavour to gain riches.

a gift that means nothing to the donor and is useless to the recipient.

1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1935		B. Ruck A Story-teller Tells the Truth 103: The strange thing about this story was that it was received as ‘a Yorkshire compliment’ both by O.O. and my mother-in-law.

(UK Und.) the hangman’s noose.

c.1850

Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict.

money that is in prospect but not yet handed over; thus when I come into my Yorkshire estates, when I finally have some money.

1826		Pierce Egan’s Life in London 5 Nov. : When hostlers carry 125l. in loose cash [...] we shall not be surprised at hearing of the stable boy defrauding the scullion of her ‘estate in Yorkshire’.
1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn) 249: ‘I will do it when I come into my Yorkshire estates,’ — meaning, if I ever have the money or the means.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

a fat wether or castrated ram.

1772		Bridges Burlesque Homer (3rd edn) 478: A pastrycook / That made good pigeon pye of rook, / Cut venison from Yorkshire hogs* / And made rare mutton-pies of dogs. *In Yorkshire they call fat wethers hogs.
1797		Bridges Burlesque Homer (4th edn) II 319: [as cit. 1772].

a situation where every member of the company pays for themselves.

1829		‘Dick Humelbergius Secundus’ Apician Morsels 143: Now, it does not appear on record [...] whether the jury clubbed, that is, whether they made a ‘Yorkshire reckoning,’ or that they were treated by Mars to a dinner.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 11: Yorkshire Reckoning - Reckoning in which everyone pays his own share.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

to cheat.

1700		Step to the Bath quoted in Ashton Social Life in the Reign of Q. Anne v ii 168: I ask’d what Countrey-man my Landlord was? answer was made, Full north; and Faith ’twas very Evident, for he had put the Yorkshire most damnably upon us [F&H].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: to come Yorkshire over any one, to cheat him.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1838–9		Dickens Nicholas Nickleby (1982) 546: ‘Wa’at I say, I stick by.’ ‘And that’s a fine thing to do, and manly too [...] though it’s not exactly what we understand by “coming Yorkshire over us” in London.’.
1841		Manchester Times 31 July 4/6: The guard had resolved to come Yorkshire over his querulous, loquacious passenger.
1852		Lancaster Gaz. 2 Oct. 5/1: he is too old a hand to be taken in [...] and it would be useless to try to come Yorkshire over him.
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1874		Manchester Courier 29 Apr. 5/4: His chief danger in opposition is likely to be [...] an irrepressible tendancy to ‘come Yorkshire’ over the other side.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 11: Yorkshire (To), or ‘Come Yorkshire over one’ - To cheat or cozen. Proverbial of that part.