Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a thug, esp. one who offers verbal, but perhaps not physical, aggression [19C use is US].

1483		W. Caxton Golden Legend 273/4: Whiche sometyme had ben a barker, bytter, and blynde, ayenst the letters [F&H].
1581		J. Fox Answer Against Osorius in Richmond Fathers of Eng. Church (1812) 328: Neither Jerome Osorius nor any braulyng barker can, from henceforth disquiet or molest him .
1617		D. Collins Defence of Lord Bishop of Ely Dedic. 8: Your pen [...] will both breed much peace to the Land in generall, and [...] confusion to the aduersaries and barkers against Soueraignty.

2. a shop tout, esp. the tout who stands outside a second-hand clothes shop attempting to lure customers within [20C+ use is mainly US].

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Barker, a Salesman’s Servant that walks before the Shop, and cries, Cloaks, Coats, or Gowns, what d’ye lack, Sir.
1719		A. Smith Lives of Most Notorious Highway-men, etc. (1926) 202: [as cit. c.1698].
1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: barker, a Salesman’s Servant that walks before the Shop, and cries, Cloaks, Coats, or Gowns, what d’ye buy, Sir? The Cove has bilk’d the Barker; i.e. The Rogue has cheated the Salesman’s Man, &c.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict.
1750–1882		B.M. Carew Life and Adventures.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Barker, the shopman of a dealer in second hand clothes, particularly about Monmouth-street, who walks before his shop, and deafens every passenger with his cries of clothes coats, or gowns, what d’ye want gemmen, what d’ye buy?
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
1818		W. Perry London Guide 98: barkers are of Moorfields origin, where they press you to buy household-goods and furniture; as they do clothes in Rosemary Lane, Seven Dials, [...] and Houndsditch.
1821		‘An Amateur’ Real Life in London I 563: This is what we generally call a Barker. I believe the title originated with the Brokers in Moorfields, where men of this description parade in the fronts of their employers’ houses, incessantly pressing the passengers to walk in and buy household furniture, as they do clothes in Rosemary Lane, Seven Dials.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 4: Barker, a salesman servant, a prowler to pick up countrymen in the street.
1841		‘F.L.G’ Swell’s Night Guide K2: Barker, Jewish assistant.
1843		R.S. Surtees Handley Cross (1854) 118: ‘Vashin’ veskit, werry sheep; half nothin’ in fact,’ just as these barkers always chaff.
c.1850		Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict. n.p.: Barker, a salesman’s hireling, whose business is to delude and take in the unwary.
1857		N.Y. Morning Express 6 Nov. 4/4: Henry Myers, a ‘barker’ for a Jew clothing store in Chatham street [etc.].
1864		G.A. Sala Quite Alone III 88: I’d rather be a barker to a shoe-shop.
1884		A. Griffiths Chronicles of Newgate 468: An uncle [...] gave him a situation as a ‘barker’ or salesman.
1888		Texas Siftings 13 Oct. n.p.: I am a barker by profession. The pedestrian agility required to pace up and down before the ‘Half-dime Museum of Anatomy and Natural History,’ soliciting passers-by to enter is of itself enormous; but where it gets in its base hit is when it increases the appetite [F&H].
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 6: Barker, one employed at doors of shops and shows to entice people inside.
1909		I.L. Nascher Wretches of Povertyville 42: The ‘Barker’ and the ‘Bouncer,’ the one strong of voice to lure the wretches in, the other strong of arm to throw them out.
1915		O.O. McIntyre New York Day by Day 8 July [synd. col.] Big ice cream cones held out by ‘barkers’.
1924		G. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 397: Barker. Auctioneer. A bally-hoo man. Spieler.
1929		E. Caldwell Bastard (1963) 13: Perhaps his father was a stake-driver, maybe a barker; perhaps a hick sheriff.
1940		C. Rawson Headless Lady (1987) 28: [In circus jargon] barkers are never called that, but talkers, openers, or grinders.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1968		T. Wolfe Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1969) 356: They need a barker outside on the sidewalk to spiel in the customers.
1982		J. Ehrlichman Witness to Power 170: In another age F. Donald Nixon might have been a patent-medicine salesman or a carnival barker.
1994		R.P. McNamara Times Square Hustler 24: Almost all the stores employ ‘barkers’ or ‘steerers’.
2020		(con. 1991-94) W. Boyle City of Margins 96: It’s too early [...] for the carnival barkers, for the crude weirdos, for the boys with boomboxes.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 188: [H]e greeted the cocky stranger in his barker’s purr.

3. a tout who lures victims into mock auctions or corrupt casinos.

1778		Female Jester 3: A Gentlewoman being addressed by a barker to an auctioneeer, ‘Pray, madam walk in’.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 6: Barkers. — Fellows placed at the door of Mock Auctions to invite soft people to get shaved; also bidders and pretended buyers planted within to trap the unwary.
1823		[C.M. Westmacott] Mammon in London 1 58: [I] hired myself as barker to a mock auction [...] a barker, sir, stands at the door of the shop and inveigles the passengers in, by cries of ‘Walk in, gentlemen, the sale’s going to begin; splendid assortment of glass and jewellery [...] to be positively given away’.
1836		A. Thornton Don Juan in London II 82: A Barker, Sir, stands at the door and inveigles the passengers into the shop, by his cries of ‘Walk in, gentlemen, the sale’s on’.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open 97: Barker [...] a prowler to pick up country men in the streets.
1866		London Misc. 5 May 201: He said he had been in the habit of frequenting mock auctions [...] They had a barker to entice people in [F&H].

4. a pistol, occas. a cannon.

c.1790		‘Luke Caffrey’s Ghost’ in Chap Book Songs 5: Our barkers, so rusty were sure.
1815		(con. 18C) W. Scott Guy Mannering (1999) 179: ‘Had he no arms?’ asked the Justice. ‘Ay, ay, they are never without barkers and slashers.’.
1829		Vidocq Memoirs (trans. W. McGinn) II 180: These ‘toothless barkers’ will never do [...] I will get these changed for others more likely to aid our purpose.
1838		Dickens Oliver Twist (1966) 210: ‘Barkers for me, Barney,’ said Toby Crackit. ‘Here they are,’ replied Barney, producing a pair of pistols.
1841		‘The Saucy Hell-Cat and the Indiaman’ in Lloyd’s Companion 19 Sept. 2/4: [of cannon] ‘Does she [i.e. a ship] show any barkers?’.
1845		J. Lindridge Sixteen-String Jack 73: Being so unequally matched, I disdained to use my barkers.
1856		Bell’s Life in Sydney 28 June 3/2: Tho prisoner was however committed to take his trial at the Quarter Sessions for thr theft, as well as for presenting the ‘barker’ at the constables.
1863		T. Taylor Ticket-Of-Leave Man IV ii: Lend me your barker.
1874		J. Greenwood Wilds of London (1881) 16: A song about another highwayman [...] ‘mounted on his mare with his barkers at his belt’.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 1: Barking iron or Barker - A pistol.
1889		B. Mitford Fire Trumpet II 133: I didn’t trot out the barker at first.
1892		H. Nisbet Bushranger’s Sweetheart 227: ‘There’s my whistle and my barkers to you.’ [...] He handed his revolver and whistle to Jessie.
1900		Marvel 22 May 9: ‘See this little barker, lads?’ Kerrick drew out his revolver.
1911		Gem 2 Dec. 10: Put that barker away, you fool.
1928		C. McKay Home to Harlem 287: Ise got a A number one little barker I’ll give it to you.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 23/2: Barker. 1. (South and West) A pistol; a revolver.
1950		P. Hoskins No Hiding Place! 190/2: Fine Barker. Good revolver.
1965		(con. 1940s) B. Behan Confessions 33: If you are going to stop here [...] hand me over the barker.
1970		L. Sanders Anderson Tapes 115: You knew you’d have to carry a barker on this job?
1977		D. Powis Signs of Crime 173: Barker Pistol, especially a small pistol.

5. an employee of a saloon or similar place of recreational entertainment who lures in passers-by from the street; despite popular use, the association with those working outside carnival sideshows is incorrect (see cite 2012).

1826		Pierce Egan’s Life in London 17 Sept. 687/2: He said that barkers were persons who [...] were employed to seduce people to purchase worthless property, and whenever they met a flat, they enticed him into some public house, and made him pay well for his credulity.
1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 3: BARKER, a man employed to cry at the doors of gaffs, shows, and puffing shops, to entice people inside.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1894		‘Sl. of the Circus Man’ in Boston Daily Globe 17 Dec. 35: The man with the persuasive voice who seeks to entice people into the ‘kid show’ is known as a ‘barker.’.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. see sense 2.
1907		C.E. Mulford Bar-20 xxv: The town was full of fakirs and before one of them stood a group of cow-punchers, apparently drinking in the words of a barker.
1919		F. Hurst ‘Even As You And I’ in Humoresque 263: Before the Palace of Freaks, a barker slanted up his megaphone.
1927		(con. 1920s) S. Lewis Elmer Gantry 418: I know it’s a poor prayer [...] Meaningless. Like a barker at the New Thought sideshow.
1938		G. Kersh Night and the City 5: The shooting gallery attendant remarked to one of the pin-table barkers, ‘Says ’e can get me on the films!’.
1947		B. Schulberg Harder They Fall (1971) 124: So what you’ll really be is a barker for a . . . circus freak.
1952		Lait & Mortimer USA Confidential 162: Klieg lights and stationary sound trucks in the street act as barkers to pull in the derelicts and trailer tourists.
1953		F. Brown Madball (2019) 29: [of a carnival show] ‘[T]he Mystery of Sex show he used to be barker fo’”.
1961		R. Serling ‘A Stop at Willoughby’ in More Stories from the Twilight Zone 94: They were barkers and pitchmen.
1976		M. Braly False Starts 72: I registered the unconscious contempt of the barkers for the Alvins and Clydes [...] fat silly sheep who thought it fun to be fleeced.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 14: But if they were savvy enough to confer with the bentnosed Barker, well...
2011		Observer Mag. 30 1 May. 25/1: Obama referred to him as a ‘carnival barker’.
2012		W. Keyser ‘Carny Lingo’ in http://goodmagic.com 🌐 Barker — ‘Barker’ was never an authentic carnival term. Carnies call the person gathering a tip for a show a ‘talker.
2014		R.J. Martin ‘Pimp Game ’76’ in ThugLit Jan. [ebook] I was [...] working as a barker. I stood in front of the Condor Nightclub screaming things like, ‘Movin’ and groovin’, slippin’ and slidin’ humping and grunting, bumpin’ and grindin’, hog style, dog style, in and out, roundabout, up and down and all around.

6. a naval cannon [poss. misunderstanding of the term].

1851

‘Bainbridge’s Tid-Re I’ Jack Tar’s Songster 17: Our gunner [...] touched off our Yankee barkers so neatly in time, that slap dab every shot struck her somewhere.

7. one who coughs.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 51/2: from ca.1880.

8. a costermonger’s assistant.

1866		J. Greenwood Little Ragamuffin 88: A barker [...] was a boy who went along with a barrowman, wheeling his barrow to market, minding it while his master was buying his goods [and] helping him bawl out what he had to sell.
1871		R. Rowe Episodes in an Obscure Life 358: Afterwards he engaged himself to a coster-monger as ‘barker;’ and the costermonger [...] was very glad to get so shrill-voiced, sharp-eyed, industrious, civil, a little barker.

9. (US) an auctioneer.

1904		Number 1500 Life In Sing Sing 246: Barker. An auctioneer.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).