Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a boxer, a prize-fighter; in fig. use applied to a large person (see cit. 2005).

1744		H. Walpole 26 Nov. in Letters I (1891) 332: He let into the pit great numbers of Bear-garden bruisers (that is the term), to knock down everybody that hissed .
1753		Foote Englishman in Paris in Works (1799) I 4: Dick Daylight and Bob Breadbasket, the bruisers.
1759		J. Townley High Life Below Stairs I ii: Take care what you say; his Grace is a Bruiser.
1763		Scots Mag. 6 June 39/1: Broughton, of bruisers once the dread.
1772		Bridges Burlesque Homer (3rd edn) 2: And in a manner quite uncivil, / Sent fifty bruisers to the devil.
1789		G. Parker Life’s Painter 139: With whom came muzzy Tom, / And sneaking Snip, the boozer, / Bag-picking, blear-ey’d Ciss, / And squinting Jack, the bruiser.
1797		Bridges Burlesque Homer (4th edn) I 118: He beat the mighty bruiser, Slack.
1800		Sporting Mag. May XVI 90/1: A Nobleman, well known on the town as a fighter and bruiser, has been black-balled at the Jockey Club.
1811		J. Poole Hamlet Travestie III v: His Majesty hath made a match for you, Sir, To spar with young Laertes—a prime bruiser.
1812		Spirit of Irish Wit 99: [A]n eminent bruiser [...] incontinetly addicted to whisky.
1824		Annals of Sporting 1 May 361/2: Many well-known in sporting circles were observed — the Bruiser-General, Long Bill, Dusty Jack, Dandy Coalman, &c.
1824		National Advocate (N.Y.) 19 Apr. 2/3: The court regretted sincerely the necessity of locking him up, but Tom was such a bruiser; he was so much attached to sky-larking, and dealt out his blows with such force and severity.
1832		Egan Bk of Sports 73: Many a cross buttock have I given the black bruiser [i.e. the devil] for your sake! [Ibid.] 121: A secret joy the bruiser knows / In giving and receiving blows.
1848		Thackeray Vanity Fair I 131: At college he pulled stroke-oar in the Christchurch boat, and had thrashed all the best bruisers of the ‘town’.
1854		Goulburn Herald (NSW) 29 July 4/3: [W]e beheld a thick-set fellow, of bull-dog aspect, [...] formerlv a convict, [...] and by profession a bruiser.
1854		‘Cuthbert Bede’ Adventures of Mr Verdant Green (1982) II 152: ‘Bruiser’ was plainly written in his personal appearance, from his hard-featured, low-browed, battered, hang-dog face, to his thickset frame.
1867		G.W.H. Griffin Hamlet the Dainty Act III: To spar with young Laertes, a rummy bruiser.
1870		W.E.A. Axon Boggart of Orton Cloough 3: Theaw’s bin a great bruiser i’ th’ toime, Roger.
1883		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 17 Nov. 10/2: A glove contest [...] between Marcellus Baker, of Boston, and Billy Andrews, a local ‘bruiser’.
1883		J. Greenwood Odd People in Odd Places 58: Two villanous-looking ‘bruisers’ [...] of the very lowest of the ‘rough’ type – broken-nosed, besotted, pimple-visaged, and unwholesome-looking fellows, whose foul and blasphemous language seemed to pollute the pestilent air of the place.
1887		Bulletin (Sydney) 15 Oct. 6/4: No more must be said about the disreputable row which caused boxer Lees’ flight to England. [.] The bruiser’s warm tinted declaration will be a mild corrective to the ‘loyal’ gush of our travelling C.M.G.’s.
1890		Bird o’ Freedom 22 Jan. 2: Each death-drawn trace on the bruiser’s face / Jack, sighing, looked upon.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 28 Oct. 5/6: They call me the ‘Bruiser’ [...] I could knock out John L. Sullivan.
1894		A. Morrison Tales of Mean Streets (1983) 93: The old bruiser rubbed vigorously at his arms.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 12: Bruiser, a low pugilist.
1901		Eve. Teleg. (Angus, Scot.) 3 June 3/4: A Famous bruiser As Klondyke Miner.
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 20 Jan. 6/1: ‘Spider’ Kelly will fight Ted Dargan the aboriginal bruiser.
1907		L. Esson ‘The Sacred Place’ in Lone Hand May 48: They had no truck with [...] the unlucky bucks, broken bruisers, and ‘guns’ out of a job.
1910		Sun. Times (Perth) 20 Mar. 2nd sect. 12/2: It would be a pretty game jockey who would deliberately pull one of Tommy's [i.e. Burns] horses when the bruiser’s money was on it.
1913–14		Van Loan ‘For the Pictures’ in Taking the Count 330: The thick-skulled, unimaginative, old-style type of bruiser.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 306: The Portobello bruiser was being counted out.
1926		N. Lucas London and its Criminals 62: They usually keep some kind of ‘bruiser’ on the premises in case of trouble.
1936		‘Banjo’ Paterson Shearer’s Colt 30: He [...] had fought a professional bruiser with bare knuckles.
1938		H. Asbury Sucker’s Progress 362: He walked into Rynders’ Empire Club in Park Row and asked for Dutch Charley, but was told that the bruiser had gone to the races.
1941		G. Kersh They Die with Their Boots Clean 29: Bullock is a bruiser. He is one of those boxers of whom nobody ever heard.
1964		J.A. Lee Shiner Slattery 151: What separates a successful bruiser from a brawler, a Shiner from a company promoter?
1999		G. Seal Lingo 45: A fixed fight was known as a barney and a crooked fighter was reviled as a bruiser.
2005		J. Stahl I, Fatty 34: Will didn’t say anything about a bruiser like you being part of the deal.

2. any form of thug who prefers to express himself with his fists.

1765		H. Brooke Fool of Quality I 140: Their Adversary, had, like Harry, been a Bruiser, from two Years old and upward.
1771		R. King New London Spy 25: A couple of bullies [...] began a dialogue in the character of bruisers. ‘D—n your eyes (says one) [etc].
1822		Westmorland Gaz. (Cumbria) 16 Nov. 2/3: Female Bruiser. Elizabeth Smith [...] one of the most celebrated pugilists in London, was [...] charged with assaulting and knocking down some watchmen.
1840		T. Haliburton Clockmaker III 114: Regular built bruisers too; claw your eyes right out, like a Carolina gouger.
1850		‘Ned Buntline’ G’hals of N.Y. 65: The unlucky tars, half dead and stupefied with the poisoned liquor they had drank, as well as the punishment they had received at the hands of the bruisers.
1855		T. Taylor Still Waters Run Deep II i: mrs. s: If a man gave you a blow, what would you do? mildmay: Hit him again. mrs. s: Yes, if he were a Bruiser, but if he were a gentleman...
1873		J. O’Connor Wanderings of a Vagabond 285: You’d make a d—n nice job of it, going up against McGovern and his bruisers. Why, they’ll bust you all up in five minutes.
1885		North Amer. Rev. Nov. 434: Among the crowd were four New-York cock-fighters, two Chicago murderers, three Baltimore bruisers, one Philadelphia prize-fighter, four San Francisco hoodlums, three Virginia beats, two Union Pacific roughs.
1889		Sunderland Dly Echo 7 Aug. 4/2: [headline] A Female Bruiser. At the Borough Police Court [...] Isa Campbell charged Susan Watson with assault.
1891		J.A. Riis How the Other Half Lives 218: The common ‘bruiser’ of a more phlegmatic clime.
1894		A. Morrison Tales of Mean Streets (1983) 147: The fallen joker found himself awkwardly confronted by the shop bruiser.
1907		R. Service ‘Grin’ in Songs of a Sourdough 28: If you’re up against a bruiser and you’re getting knocked about – Grin.
1908		D. Stewart Wild Tribes of London in Illus. Police News 11 Jan. 12/4: ‘Listen, my ancient bruiser’.
1919		H.C. Witwer Smile A Minute 371: Like most fatheads, Lefty figured a woman falls into the arms of a bruiser which will beat up the present incumbent.
1924		S. Scott Human Side of Crook and Convict Life 146: A typical old ‘bruiser’ who was in prison with me, and was released about the same time.
1939		J.T. Farrell Tommy Gallagher’s Crusade 71: Only ten fellows had come along to break up the meeting: Al O’Reilly [...] and five bruisers whom Tommy didn’t know.
1948		C. Day Lewis Otterbury Incident 34: Ted had gone a bit pale [...] with that great bruiser glaring down at him.
1948		Dan Burley ‘Back Door Stuff’ 27 Nov. [synd. col.] Big bruisers who should be turning over streetcars and wrassling polar bears.
1953		R. Chandler Long Good-Bye 48: I’m in a business where people come to me with troubles [...] but always troubles they don’t want to take to the cops. How long would they come if any bruiser with a police shield could hold me upside down and drain my guts?
1966		M. Rumaker Exit 3 and Other Stories 41: This big bruiser got funny.
1978		A. Burgess 1985 (1980) 173: Bev [...] encountered two bruisers in official overalls.
1984		P. Barker Blow Your House Down 113: She was one of the only two wicked people I’ve known, and I’ve known some bruisers.
1996		(con. 1964-65) B. Thorpe Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 130: Like all big bruisers, he was heavy and slow.
1997		D. Farson Never a Normal Man 311: Outrageous tarts, dark-skinned bruisers, drunks, tramps and me.
2000		Indep. on Sun. Culture 23 Jan. 12: He is the kind of good-natured bruiser with whom his subject [...] would have cheerfully attempted to start a fist-fight.
2004		(con. 1960s-70s) T. Taylor Top Fellas 59/2: Too many five-star bruisers [...] classed themselves as sharpies.
2006		E. St Aubyn Mothers Milk 91: The bruiser’s mother came over. ‘I’m sorry about that,’ she said. ‘Eliot is so competitive.’.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 74: Four sisters, bruisers with very hard, sharp faces.
2013		T. Robinson Hard Bounce [ebook] ‘If you just wanted a bruiser, you could throw a stick in Kenmore Square and it’d bounce off a dozen thick necks’.
2015		G. Disher Heat [ebook] [M]ost people would see him for a suave bruiser, not a businessman: the hands, the corded tendons, the chill.
2017		L. McInerney Blood Miracles 38: Aren’t they both ebony-topped bruisers disposed towards sullenness.
2023		F. Bill Back to the Dirt 19: [T]he bouncer, Mel, a meaty bruiser with Schwarzenegger arms and a beer belly,.

3. one who performs strongly (although not necessarily aggressively).

1823		N.-Y. Eve. Post 11 Feb. 2/1: [headline, of a heavy drinker] A stout grog bruiser.
1859		Bell’s Life in Tasmania 12 July 3/3: [T]he horsemanship of some of our ‘gay cavaliers’ deserves a word or two of mention; more especially the pluck and skill of Messrs. Clarke and Allison, who showed themselves regular ‘bruisers’.
1874		‘Old Calabar’ Won in a Canter I 174: [of horses] They were not bruisers over a country, but were difficult to beat along the roads.
1882		Tuapeka Times (Otago) 16 Sept. 4: Our junior friend ought to be pretty strong for a trussle; but look out C[ounsello]r. M! George gets the name of being a ‘bruiser’.
1896		Meridional (Abbeville, LA) 7 Mar. 2/1: I’m a bruiser, / A blooming snoozer, / A rare amuser. / And my colors they are black-and-tan.
1987		P. Johnson History of Jews 544: [David Ben Gurion] had been a professional party activist all his life and he remained, to the last, an aggressive political bruiser.

4. in attrib. uses of senses 1 & 3.

1901

Eve. Teleg. (Angus, Scot.) 3 June 5/3: Baile Barrie at the Police Court [...] was impressed by the style of hairdressing adopted buy the accused. It was what is known as the ‘bruiser crop’ — the hair cut very short all over except at the forehead, over which hung a heavy fringe.

5. a prostitute or pimp.

1856		Life in Boston & N.Y. (Boston, MA) 22 Nov. n.p.: Marm G-lm-n, who has so long been a fancy woman [...] in company with another old bruiser .
1885		M. Davitt Leaves from a Prison Diary I 16: The cowardly bully who is known by the term ‘bruiser’ in prison slang, and who is usually the hanger-on of some unfortunate creature who supports him out of the rewards of her shame.

6. (US) a black eye.

1965–70

in DARE.

7. an obese or overweight person.

2011

Independent 5 Oct. 7/1: On the matter of his precise weight, this fearsomeomely outspoken bruiser is unwontedly coy. But it cannot be less than 20 stone.