Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a womanizer, a promiscuous man [sport v.; note Ned Ward, The London Spy (1699), referring to the prostitutes available at the Bedlam Hospital, ‘’Tis a new Whetstone’s Park [...] where a Sports-man, at any Hour in the Day, may meet with Game for his purpose’].

1700		N. Ward London Spy V 121: [Butchers] groping their Ware, with as much Caution to know whether they were sound and wholesome, as a Prudent Sports-man would a new She-Acquaintance of a loose Conversation.
1709		N. Ward Compleat and Humorous Account of Remarkable Clubs (1756) 27: The unfortunate Sportsmen and Ladies present.
1732		Johnson Caelia IV i: [I] have had several Gentlemen Iodge in my house, only for the Reputation of being thought Sportsmen – they were on the hunt after Widows.
1768		Gentleman’s Bottle-Companion 13: The wish of the sportsman shall first be recounted, / Like him, each fair lady loves well to be mounted.
1771		Foote Maid of Bath in Works (1799) II 239: Don’t think you can impose upon a cunning old sportsman like me.
c.1780		Correct List of the Sporting Ladies [broadsheet] You sportsmen, who are free and willing / To feel, you’re welcome for a shilling.
1782		‘The Sentiment Song’ in Farmer Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) II 225: Ye fowlers who eager at partridges aim, / Don’t mark the maim’d covey, but mind, better game; / ’Tis beauty’s the sport to repay sportsmen’s trouble, / And there may our pointers stand stiff in the stubble.
1787		Harris’s List of Covent-Garden Ladies 34: Sportsmen look on all kept ladies as fair game.
1833		Ely’s Hawk & Buzzard (NY) Oct. 5 n.p.: Who would not be a sportsman and mount a curricle, support a mistress aand spend their employers money, to Ape after our town bloods?
1888		‘’Arry at a Radical Reception’ in Punch 12 May 219/1: It ain’t every sportsman, dear boy, as can chuck on the war-paint and score.

2. a genteel term for a gambler [sport v.].

1740		W. Stephens Journal of Proceedings in Georgia I 606: The Sportsmen, as Yesterday, took a plentiful Cup in the Evening [DA].
1823		‘One Who Knows’ Inside Out; or, An Interior View of the N.-Y. State Prison n.p.: He understood them to be Sportsmen (the slang name for Gamblers).
1835		H.C. Todd Notes upon Canada and the USA 40: The word Sportsman here denotes, not a foxhunter, but a gambler by profession [DA].
1853		N.Y. Clipper 17 Sept. 4/5: Tom [...] told his proposing partner that [...] the fancy coat covered not a ‘sportsman,’ but a player .
1878		Congressional Record 27 Mar. 2093/1: The adroit and sleight-of-hand Stebbins, [...] could handle a ticket as a sportsman would a playing-card [DA].
1954		W.G. Smith South Street 149: [H]er new boyfriends took her to the smarter night clubs [...] These boyfriends were, for the most part, ‘sportsmen’—gamblers and petty racketeers.

3. a person; no sporting prowess is suggested.

1898		Binstead & Wells A Pink ’Un and a Pelican 93: This sportsman held a bedroom, but he was never known to return to it before half-past six or seven in the morning.
1901		E.W. Hornung Black Mask (1992) 205: And what’s more, I’m very much mistaken if I haven’t spotted the right sportsman.
1915		‘Ian Hay’ First Hundred Thousand (1918) 201: Ah, there is our sportsman, I fancy.
1925		N. Lucas Autobiog. of a Thief 174: These two sportsmen were captured and punished.
1929		(con. 1916) F. Manning Her Privates We (1986) 30: Our two sportsmen [...] they spent all Sunday recovering in the clink.

4. a general term of familiar address.

1905

A. Binstead Mop Fair 94: Hullo, Reggie, old sportsman.

5. an admirable human being [the English fantasy of ‘good sportsmanship’].

1908		H. Lawson ‘“Roll Up at Talbragar”’ in Roderick (1972) 745: Jack Denver was reckoned the most popular man in the district [...] a white boss and a straight sportsman.
1915		J. Buchan Thirty-Nine Steps (1930) 22: I reckon you’re a bit of a sportsman [...] and I want you to do me a service.
1923		Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves 127: You can always bank on Bertie [...] A sportsman to the fingertips.
1929		(con. 1916) F. Manning Her Privates We (1986) 219: You’re a bloody sportsman, Sergeant.
1936		J. Curtis Gilt Kid 241: I’ll be a sportsman, Sammy. I’ll offer you four.
1938		(ref. to 1920s) F.D. Sharpe Sharpe of the Flying Squad 183: ‘Are there any sportsmen here?’ he called out, glaring at the foul-mouthed Billy.