Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. usu. in pl., the arm, esp. when extended in a boxing match.

1887

Lic. Vict. Gazette 2 Dec. 358/3: Ned met each rush of his enemy with straight props [OED].

2. usu. in pl., a crutch.

1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn).
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

3. a blow, esp. an upper-cut.

1846		Swell’s Night Guide 51: The nummy pet gammoned scrapping, stalled a prop in the mug, propped in return, and floored Fuzzle, who gammoned a downer [...] and frisked him rumbo.
1848		Bell’s Life in Sydney 18 Mar. 1/4: Another tremendous left-handed prop on the nasal organ.
1851		Bell’s Life in Sydney 4 Oct. 1/4: Donnelly [...] received a prop on the left eye.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1866		Wild Boys of London I 192/1: Don’t yer be giving that lady any of yer jaw, or else yer might get a prop afore yer knows where yer are.
1873		Sl. Dict. 261: Prop a blow. As, “a prop on the nose,” ? more street slang than pugilistic.
1887		Licensed Victuallers’ Gazette 2 Dec. 358/3: Ned met each rush of his enemy with straight props [F&H].
1936		T. O’Reilly Tiger of the Legion 22: I went for him, fists up and head down [...] A prop under the jaw put it up for me again .

4. usu. in pl., the hand, esp. as a fist.

1869		Temple Bar Mag. XXVI. 74: You take off your coat and put up your ‘props’ to him, and get him to strip also .
1880		C.L. Martin A Sketch of Sam Bass (1956) 145: I’d jerk out my pistol and slip up to him [...] Throw up your props, Cap!
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 4 Apr. 6/4: Mr. M’Dermott has a son […] of whom it is said that ‘he can use his props a bit’ when required, and this young man, having heard of the compliments that passed between his parent and the able-bodied cross-examiner, determined that he would act in loco parentis.
1894		G. Boothby On the Wallaby 236: Remarking that, if I were a man, I’d ‘put me props up,’ when, though she was a lonely unprotected female in a public conveyance, she’d teach me who was who!
1908		H. Lawson ‘An Unexpected Kick’ in Roderick (1972) 711: Old Bones had been a bit handy with his props in his time.
1910		Bulletin (Sydney) 3 Nov. 39/2: ‘My Gawd! yer arstin’ fur it! Put up yer props, quick ’n’ lively – let’s see ’ow yer shape,’ requested that gladiatorial gentleman with acrimony.
1919		Examiner (Launceston, Tas.) 31 July 3/7: You’ll see a lot of missin’ props.
1934		(con. 1880s) E. Cunningham Triggernometry (1957) 239: ‘Throw up your props!’ he commanded.

5. (Aus./US, also prop sticks) usu. in pl., the legs, esp. a woman’s legs, if attractive.

1835		‘Petticoat Lane’ in Fanny Hill’s Bang-Up Reciter in Spedding & Watt (eds) Bawdy Songbooks (2011) III 324: My wife’s place is white, / With black entrance in sight, / And two lilly-white props as you enter.
1891		Sportsman 20 Apr. 3/2: There are those amongst his detractors who assert that with such props he will never successfully negociate the Epsom gradients .
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 15 Sept. 11/4: During the present clerical invasion of Sydney it has been noticed that most black-stocking-cased legs are skinny or unshapely. The Bishop of Tasmania boasts the best pair of props in the Synod, but as a set-off there is his Dean, known locally as the ‘racehorse’ from the slenderness of his understandings.
1909		N.Y. Tribune 25 Apr. 5/3: He dragged his feeble props into my shack.
1914		Sport (Adelaide) 25 Sept. 5/2: Why does R R wear such short dresses? [...] to show off her prop sticks?
1915		Sport (Adelaide) 9 June 5/4: Lovely figures to be wearing the latest fashion. Note D P for long props .
1944		D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 12: Those gams, ole man, are like the props on a goola.
1945		R.L. Bellem ‘Coffin for a Coward’ in Hollywood Detective Dec. 🌐 By this time Bonham was out on his props. I could see he wasn’t accustomed to jousting with John Barleycorn.
1947		M.H. Boulware Jive and Sl. n.p.: Fine props ... Pretty legs.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 38: Before I could get the wax out of my ‘props’.
1979		‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 30: She stood on ’ho point [...] big exquisite props spread wide.
1983		J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 171: ‘[T]his ring on his [i.e. a pigeon’s] prop [...] He’s a racer’.

6. (UK tramp) trousers.

1932

F. Jennings Tramping with Tramps 119: He pointed to the rents in my partner’s ‘props’.