Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to steal.

1902		St Paul Globe (MN) 3 June 5/6: Dutch Charlie [...] got on his uppers an’ grifted a benny an’ was sent to the ‘hand house’.
1951		D. Dressler Parole Chief 83: Among shoplifters there is a saying, ‘Don’t grift on the way out.’.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.

2. to work as a confidence trickster or petty thief; thus grifting n., confidence trickery, swindling.

1915		G. Bronson-Howard God’s Man 263: Grifting ain’t what it used to be.
1928		J. Callahan Man’s Grim Justice 36: She was determined to ‘grift’ with me. [...] ‘No grifting in this house [...] the house must be kept clean.’.
1933		C. Himes ‘Prison Mass’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 163: Or perhaps he would try ‘grifting’ again.
1937		(con. 1905–25) E.H. Sutherland Professional Thief (1956) 27: Many mobs are organized merely to grift a convention for a few days or a resort for a season.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1952		C. Hamilton Men of the Und. 322: Grift, To steal.
1960		L. Block ‘Badger Game’ in One Night Stands (2008) 23: Working the short con in railway stations, grifting hard for ten bucks here and twenty bucks there.
1974		(con. 1940s) E. Thompson Tattoo (1977) 59: Jack had sold a hundred and twenty-three bags with over two bucks grifted for himself.
1982		L.A. Times 8 Mar. n.p.: Sam is not like the sleazy dunnigans who work toilets, or the dips who grift with squealers.
1999		J. Ridley Love Is a Racket 80: I worked, conned, grifted. However you want to call it.

3. to trick, to hoax.

1937		‘Boxcar Bertha’ Sister of the Road (1975) 103: The conversation quickly switched to the next spot they would grift.
1953		S. Fuller Pickup On South Street [film script] That muffin you grifted — she’s ok. Stuck her chin way out for you.
2014		A.L. Colón ‘Dinner Rush’ in ThugLit Mar. [ebook] ‘Very powerful people that don't like getting grifted’.

4. (US campus) to scrounge off other people.

1997–2000		College Sl. Research Project (Cal. State Poly. Uni., Pomona) 🌐 Grift (verb) To freeload.
2005		J. Stahl I, Fatty 47: I wanted to impress him – not give him a reason to grift me.