Green’s Dictionary of Slang

sneaker n.3

[SE sneak, to move quietly ]

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

Standard Dict.
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.
[US]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.
[UK]H.S. Harrison Queed 89: Klinker picked up a ‘sneaker’ from the floor and hurled it.
[US]Black Mask Aug. III 24: One flash of my torch locates the stairs and sneakered feet beat quietly up them.
[US]Hecht & MacArthur Front Page Act II: He is coatless and is shod with death-house sneakers.
[US]‘Goat’ Laven Rough Stuff 90: They always wear rubber heels and soles to their shoes, or sneakers (rubber shoes).
[US]I. Shulman Amboy Dukes 43: He wished he were wearing sneakers.
[Aus](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.
[US]E. Hunter Blackboard Jungle 263: You wearing sneakers?
[US]L. Bruce How to Talk Dirty 9: Each boy had to buy sneakers.
[US](con. 1960s) R. Price Wanderers 48: Perry wore ankle-high, dagger-toed peau de soie shoes [...] ‘Whyncha put on sneakers?’.
[UK]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.
[US]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.
[US]W. Shaw Westsiders 49: On the flyers to the disco parties would be a little notice: ‘No sneakers’.
[UK]R. Antoni Carnival 237: We pulled on our T-shirts, grabbing our sneakers as we went.
[UK]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].

[US]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.
[US]Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

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

[US]R. Campbell Alice in La-La Land (1999) 131: Someone let loose a sneaker [...] ‘Who the fuck’s the pig did that?’ Twelvetrees said.

In compounds

sneaker car (n.)

(US) an unmarked vehicle used for surveillance.

A. Rule Stranger Beside Me 51: She had heard of unmarked cars, even ‘sneaker’ cars, but this didn't look like any police vehicle she'd ever seen [Ibid] 151: [F]rom the moment Ted's plane landed [...] he was tailed. He seemed, at first, to ignore the sneaker cars that followed him.