Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (UK Und.) thieving.

1830		W.T. Moncrieff Heart of London II i: shut.: What the deuce brought you here? covey.: Oh, a little screen faking, that’s all.
1841		‘Bon Gaultier’ ‘The Faker’s New Toast’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 127: Come all you jolly covies, vot faking do admire.
1851		G. Borrow Lavengro II 30: Do you think my own child would have been transported [...] if there had been any harm in faking?

2. (UK Und.) cheating (e. g. at a card game).

1859		Matsell Vocabulum 30: faiking Cutting out the wards of a key.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 111/2: Keeip thau ‘lyghts’ open, wilt thau? an’ iv thau ‘pypes’ any bloody ‘faikin’’ at wurk ‘sling’ mi t’ ‘office’.

3. (UK prison) counterfeiting illness.

1885

M. Davitt Leaves from a Prison Diary I 145: Another and more frequent means of ‘fetching the farm’ is termed ‘faiking’ (malingering).

4. making, constructing.

1893

P.H. Emerson Signor Lippo 91: My old man was a romany and got his dudder by chinay-faking and mush-faking.