Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. betrayal to the police.

1838

Dickens Oliver Twist (1966) 238: I say [...] what a time this would be for a sell! I’ve got Phil Barker here: so drunk, that a boy might take him.

2. a hoax, a trick, a deception.

1848		‘Epistle from Joe Muggins’s Dog’ in Era (London) 27 Aug. 3/3: The whole thing is a sell, and what is more, it betrays uncommon ignorance.
1849		Bell’s Life in Sydney 22 Sept. 3/3: The fearful response of ‘no account,’ [...] revealed to Mr. Hunter the ‘orrid sell’.
1854		‘Cuthbert Bede’ Adventures of Mr Verdant Green (1982) II 145: A ’oax — a sell [...] You see, sir, I think some of the gents have been makin’ a little game of you, sir.
1859		Wkly Varieties (Boston, MA) 3 Sept. 8/1: Who fell a victim to a ‘sell’/ About his neighbours a lie did tell.
1861		Fun 28 Sept. 22/2: What’s that? They’ve gone! Atrocious sell, / My watch, my money, gone as well.
1863		Mt Alexander Mail (Vic.) 31 Mar. 2/5: [T]he pleasure which human nature takes in what in slang language is termed ‘a good sell’.
1869		C.G. Leland ‘Breitmann in Battle’ Hans Breitmann’s Party 8: Dey say he leaf some broperty—berhaps ’twas all a sell— / If I could lay mein hands on it I likes it mighty well.
1871		L.H. Bagg Four Years at Yale 45: Fraud, a humbug, an imposition, a sell.
1879		G.R. Sims Dagonet Ballads 106: Did ever ye hear such a sell? It was him in her dress and her bonnet.
1880		E.J. Milliken ‘Cad’s Calendar’ Punch Almanack n.p.: MAY! The month o’ flowers. Spooney sell!
1880		Bulletin (Sydney) 19 June 3/2: Darrell [...] vowing to the last ‘that he knew all along it was a sell’.
1885		M. Davitt Leaves from a Prison Diary I 45: People in a ‘public’ being more conducive to an easy ‘sell’ than under calmer business circumstances.
1892		Albert Chevalier ‘Wot Cher!’ 🎵 ‘Ma’am,’ says he, ‘I ’ave some news to tell, Your rich Uncle Tom of Camberwell, Popped off recent, which it ain’t a sell, Leaving you ’is little Donkey Shay’.
1899–1900		H. Lawson ‘The Buck-Jumper’ in Roderick (1972) 389: Quiet as an old cow [...] I believe it’s a sell.
1900		Ade More Fables in Sl. (1960) 147: It was considered a Great Sell in Those Parts.
1905		Wodehouse ‘Guardian’ in Politeness of Princes [ebook] He had been taken in by a primaeval ‘sell’ which the junior day-room invariably sprang on the new-comer.
1907		H. Lawson ‘A Dan Yell’ in Roderick (1967–9) II 227: But — Dan O’Connor — (Lord knows best / The thing might be a sell).
1910		Wash. Post 3 July 3/4: And if a man [...] makes up his mind that such and such an exhibit is a sell, there’s no way of convincing him that he’s wrong.
1914		Truth (Melbourne) 10 Jan. 11/5: Wasn’t it a sell?
1926		Wood & Goddard Dict. Amer. Sl.
1992		Randolph & Legman Ozark Folksongs and Folklore II 708: It is a ‘sell’ or swindle version of the long and highly erotic ‘Adventures (or Troubles) of a Young (or French) Stenographer’ [etc.].
1999		(ref. to late 19C) G. Seal Lingo 147: a sell was a swindle.

3. a lying joke.

1856		G.G. Foster N.Y. by Gas-Light (1990) 175: Gossip, scandal, ‘sells’ and laughter are the piquant sauces of the homely dinner.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 7 Jul. 15/2: ‘Haves,’ ‘sells,’ ‘do’s’ – who knows any new ones? These are old.

4. a disappointment.

1850		F.E. Smedley Frank Fairlegh (1878) 413: Our fine letter’s been no go – turned out a regular sell.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1879		H. Hartigan Stray Leaves (2nd ser.) 232: This was a disappointment— vulgarly ‘a sell’ for the Sikhs.
1881-2		T.B. Reed Fifth Form at St Dominic’s (1890) 190: ‘It will be a regular sell if he comes to grief; the Fifth will be intolerable’.
1884		H. James Little Tour in France 96: The celebrated city of Angers is denominated a ‘sell’ [...] ‘Black Anvers,’ in short, is a victim of modern improvements.
1899		Boy’s Own Paper 22 Apr. 472: It will be a sell if she’s not at home.
1901		Bulletin (Sydney) 2 Nov. 3/2: But Paddy got ’it with a cannon-ball, / [...] While I got spliced to the Brady gal; / But she turned out a blinded sell, / For she’s always a-wishin’ that I was ’e / Till I wishes ’em both in – well –.
1908		Vanguard Library 31 Mar. 4: Gum! What a beastly sell.
1910		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘A Derby Bet’ Sporting Times 28 May 1/4: ‘What a sell when I wake!’ ‘It’s no dream!’.
1914		T.A. Dorgan Indoor Sports 11 Apr. [synd. cartoon] She was the biggest sell —She does a sand dance on a slack wire in a show.

5. (Aus.) a show-off; an unreliable person.

1999

(ref. to late 19C) G. Seal Lingo 147: a sell was [...] also used more broadly to mean a poseur (a poser, a big-noter or pseud also used in British colloquial speech) or an unreliable person.

6. (US) a swindler.

1898		W.T. Goodge ‘Australia’s Pride’ Bulletin 3 Sept. 32: Euchre Bill and Ginger Jim / Had found he was a sell!
1900		T.J. Carey Hebrew Yarns and Dialect Humor 81/1: The slang of our day is a puzzle, / Invented by — ah, who can tell? / A drink is a ‘smile,’ or a ‘guzzle,’ / A swindler is merely a ‘sell.’.
1902		Truth (Brisbane) 23 Feb. 3/5: This ’ere chinner / Are a miserabul sell.

7. (US) an opportunity to sell something.

1971		D. Goines Dopefiend (1991) 94: I got a sell for some record albums.
2020		G. Krauze What They Was 44: [of drugs] Three of the mandem who were waiting for sells.