Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US) a soft-soled, noiseless slipper or shoe, a gym shoe; usu. in pl.; thus sneakered adj., wearing sneakers.

1895		Standard Dict.
1897		Eldridge & Watts Our Rival, the Rascal 95: He [i.e. a burglar] usually wears rubber shoes or ‘sneakers,’ as shoes with rubber soles are termed.
1900		Ade More Fables in Sl. (1960) 93: His Job on this Earth was to put on a pair of Pneumatic Sneakers every Morning and go out and investigate Other People’s Affairs.
1911		H.S. Harrison Queed 89: Klinker picked up a ‘sneaker’ from the floor and hurled it.
1925		Black Mask Aug. III 24: One flash of my torch locates the stairs and sneakered feet beat quietly up them.
1928		Hecht & MacArthur Front Page Act II: He is coatless and is shod with death-house sneakers.
1933		‘Goat’ Laven Rough Stuff 90: They always wear rubber heels and soles to their shoes, or sneakers (rubber shoes).
1947		I. Shulman Amboy Dukes 43: He wished he were wearing sneakers.
1951		(con. 1941) E. Lambert Twenty Thousand Thieves 88: Fitzroy [...] had added to his wardrobe a pair of ‘sneakers’ — suède boots with heavy crêpe rubber soles.
1955		E. Hunter Blackboard Jungle 263: You wearing sneakers?
1965		L. Bruce How to Talk Dirty 9: Each boy had to buy sneakers.
1974		(con. 1960s) R. Price Wanderers 48: Perry wore ankle-high, dagger-toed peau de soie shoes [...] ‘Whyncha put on sneakers?’.
1985		A. Payne ‘Minder on the Orient Express’ Minder [TV script] 30: A Man in jeans, sneakers and a track-suit top sprints down the pavement.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 26: All the slick dudes [...] wore the right kind of sneakers. Nothing but Chuck Taylor Converse All Stars would do.
2000		W. Shaw Westsiders 49: On the flyers to the disco parties would be a little notice: ‘No sneakers’.
2006		R. Antoni Carnival 237: We pulled on our T-shirts, grabbing our sneakers as we went.
2012		J. Fagan Panopticon (2013) 143: I shove my sneakers on and head downstairs.

2. (US Und.) a motorboat [presumably in the context of smuggling liquor].

1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 175: Sneaker.-A motor-boat used in liquor smuggling or in running aliens or other contraband across a border, especially a craft which is silent in operation and which is thus able to ‘sneak’ past the officers at night.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

3. (US) quiet or silent breaking of wind.

c.1943		S .J. Baker Aus. Vulgarisms [t/s] 13: sneaker: A fart without noise.
1987		R. Campbell Alice in La-La Land (1999) 131: Someone let loose a sneaker [...] ‘Who the fuck’s the pig did that?’ Twelvetrees said.