Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a thief.

1603		R. Knolles Turkish Hist. n.p.: They fell all into the hands of the cruel mountain people, living for the most part by theft,... by these shavers the Turks were stript of all they had [F&H].
1604		Dekker Newes from Graues-end (1925) 78: Thou wouldst neuer haue gone to any Barbers in London whilst thou had liude, but haue bin trimd only there, for they are the true shauers, and they haue the right Neapolitan polling.

2. a roisterer.

1664		C. Cotton Virgil Travestie (1765) Bk I 37: My Mother’s a mad shaver, No man alive knows where to have her.
1734		C. Johnson Hist. of Highwaymen &c 308: He got acquainted with five noted Amazons in Drury Lane, who were called the Women-shavers, and whose Actions were then much talk’d of about Town; till being apprehended for a Riot.

3. a cheat, a grasping tradesman.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: [...] a Cunning Shaver, a subtil, smart, Fellow.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1785		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: shaver a sharp fellow, one that trims close, i.e. cheats ingeniously.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, The Ring, The Chase, etc. 157: Shaver ? one who cuts close. ‘Holloa, you shaver;’ addressed to a sharp-looking fellow. ‘He’s a shaver;’ said of one who charges high for his goods.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum 79: shaver A cheat.
1862		Croydon Wkly Standard 18 July 2/6: Some of our readers have heard of the saying ‘shaving the ladies’ and much doubtless they have suffered [...] at the hands of commercial travellers who practise it, but retribution sometimes falls upon the evil-doers, and a ‘lady’ has shaved a shaver.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 72: Shaver, a sharp or cunning fellow.
1903		Bulletin (Sydney) 20 Aug. 12/1: In righting the oppressor’s wrong / His methods are unique. / O! Terror of the fat and strong; / O! Shaver of the Weak.

4. (also money shaver) someone who discounts a promissory note at a very high rate of interest.

1807		N.Y. Gazette & General Advertiser 11 May 2/5: In consequence of this circumstance, it is said that the shavers have come to a determination in future, to charge four, instead of three per cent. per month, for money advanced.
1812		‘Hector Bull-us’ Diverting Hist. of John Bull and Brother Jonathan 111: He had put it [the cash] in the hands of a shaver, as they called him, [...] who had placed it out at two per cent a month.
1830		in N.E. Eliason Tarheel Talk (1956) 293: Geo., I hear, is a money shaver – a calling which, must sooner or later [...] be blasted.
1834		Ely’s Hawk & Buzzard (NY) 15 Mar. 3/1: Others have been skinned complete by those shavers [i.e. Wall St banks] who would swear the legs off a cat if any furrier was to offer two shillings for its hide.
1846		Spirit of Democracy (Woodsfield, OH) 10 Oct. 2/6: Bebb is a money money shaver.
1859		Harper’s Mag. June 137/1: Feels Arnul was a great shaver of small notes [DA].
1862		Wheeling Dly Intelligencer (WV) 31 Dec. 1/5: he protests being neither a ‘money shaver, money lender, merchant or lawyer’.
1871		Daily Tel. 6 Oct. n.p.: ‘Official Corruption in America.’ Tax-gatherers, brokers, shavers, &c.,... pets of the Treasury [F&H].
1872		Schele De Vere Americanisms 305: A shaver [...] is a person who buys up another man’s note at a heavy discount or more than legal interest – a practice formerly not unknown to banks even, which were then called shaving banks.

5. a merchant or shopkeeper who charges high prices.

1823

‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc.

6. a bank that issues discounted notes.

1848

Bartlett Dict. Americanisms 295: Banks, when they resort to any means to obtain a large discount, are also called shavers, or shaving banks.

7. in basketball, a player who manipulates the final outcome to benefit gamblers.

1969		L. Schecter Jocks 97: College Kids [...] don’t all turn out to be basketball point-shavers, and so far nobody has been caught dumping a football game.
1981		W.D. Myers Hoops 59: ‘I was what they called a shaver. The gamblers figure out how much a team should win by. [...] . Then that’s the spread. Somebody want to bet some money on you they got to give up the points in the spread. If we were supposed to win by five, I’d see to it that we only won by three or four’ .

8. (UK black/gang) an edged weapon.

2015

410 ‘Kick Down Doors’ 🎵 Young boy dip dip with the shaver out, this man’ll get soaked.