Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to cheat, to trick; thus sucker in v., to ensnare, to entrap.

1930		J. Lait Put on the Spot 92: The suckerizing of a great municipality by a handful of hoodlums.
1939		R. Chandler ‘Pearls Are a Nuisance’ in Spanish Blood (1946) 128: Suckered!
1939		R. Chandler ‘I’ll Be Waiting’ in Red Wind (1946) 138: It was a little deal I got suckered on.
1948		Chicago Trib. 27 Mar. I 1/4: Apparently we are again going to be suckered into approval of a glorified world WPA [DA].
1957		H. Ellison ‘We Take Care of Our Dead’ in Deadly Streets (1983) 52: You suckered Checker into a stand w-with a cop.
1963		B. Hecht Gaily, Gaily 57: He had been fleeced of the money by a gang of confidence men known as ‘wire tappers’. He had been suckered into betting on ‘sure thing’ horse races.
1972		N. Algren ‘The Last Carousel’ in Texas Stories (1995) 140: Crawling under flaps for the chance of being sheared, suckered, conned, hooked, fleeced, and flimflammed one more time.
1976		D. Ireland Glass Canoe (1982) 69: Like the man in the ads where the girl looks up admiringly, suckering him on.
1983		A-Team Storybook 5: I ain’t gonna be suckered into flying no airplane.
1995		M. Dibdin Dark Spectre (1996) 7: He knew there had to be a catch, and he was determined not to be suckered by the older boys.
1996		P. Howard The Joy (2015) [ebook] Disbelief. Complete deflation. We’ve been suckered.
1999		T. Parker South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut [film script] There are times when you get suckered in By drugs and alcohol And sex with women, m’kay?
2000		Indep. on Sun. Real Life 9 Jan. 11: You can be suckered into conversations you don’t want to have because you try to reason with the other person.
2006		C. Hiaasen Nature Girl 163: You got suckered. Get over it.

2. to be deceived, to ‘fall for’.

1960		E. Hoagland Circle Home 73: He didn’t sucker for this joker, didn’t scare. He punched regardless.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 80: I don’t sucker for the ‘Georgia’.