Green’s Dictionary of Slang

gold-digger n.1

1. (US) a prostitute.

[US]H.N. Cary Sl. of Venery.
[US]Broadway Brevities Dec 14/1: The police have in the past dozen years made virtually an end of street soliciting [but] it’s just a matter of knowing the old town well to discover the present habitat of the gold-diggers.
[Aus]Arrow (Sydney) 19 Feb. 6/1: [headline] Unlicensed Hotels Are Hot-Beds Of Iniquity / Women Gold-Diggers Fleece Indiscreet Males.

2. (orig. US) a young woman, orig. typically from the chorus line, who swaps sexual favours for the monetary and material gifts of a (usu.) older lover [faltered after WWII but has been revived in US black use].

[US]J. Lait ‘Felice o’ the Follies’ in Beef, Iron and Wine (1917) 83: Now don’t get me wrong. I’m no gold-digger.
[US]O.O. McIntyre New York Day by Day 28 Sept. [synd. col.] In the same cafe I heard the tale of an adroit gold digger’s coup de grace.
[US]P.G. Cressey Taxi-Dance Hall 100: The first thing in being a successful ‘gold-digger’ is to choose the right fellow.
[UK]S. Lister Mistral Hotel (1951) 220: The drunken Indian princeling [...] carelessly handed a sheaf of milles to a blond gold-digger.
James Banister ‘Gold Digger’ 🎵 My baby must be a gold digger, she got all my pockets clean.
[UK]A. Sillitoe Sat. Night and Sun. Morning 134: His opinion of Nottingham women had changed slightly. Of course they were gold-diggers.
[UK](con. 1920s) J. Sparks Burglar to the Nobility 67: They were not exactly gold-diggers [...] they did not go out of their way to [...] separate a client from his windfall or inheritance.
[US]R.E. Alter Carny Kill (1993) 53: Golddigger strikes lush pocket.
[US]E. Torres After Hours 137: Who wants a fucking gold digger around?
[UK]Observer Screen 31 Oct. 20: Rich men who marry gold-diggers should cough up gold when required.
[US]Kanye West ‘Gold Digger’ 🎵 I ain’t sayin’ she’s a gold-digger, but she ain’t messin’ with no broke niggers.
[Aus]L. Redhead Thrill City [ebook] Angling to be the next Mrs Thurlow? [...] Rod attracts his fair share of gold-diggers.
[US]‘Dutch’ ? (Pronounced Que) [ebook] The gold-diggers were deep as well, knowing some of the biggest ballers came to fight their dogs.
J. Spades ‘Flexin’’ 🎵 Money so thick can’t fit in my pocket / Ring so big can’t fit in my pocket / Till all these gold diggers trying to get in my pocket.
[Aus]G. Gilmore Class Act [ebook] ‘Nice girl, or a bit of a gold-digger, depending on who you talk to’.
[US]D. Winslow ‘Crime 101’ in Broken 84: ‘Are you calling me a gold digger?’ she says, eyes flaring.

3. attrib. use of sense 2.

[US]Mad mag. May 57: Gold-digger diamonds may be forever, but a lousy marriage feels a lot longer!

4. anyone, of either gender, who seeks money through advantageous relationships.

[US]J. Lait Broadway Melody 77: We may all think we ain’t gold diggers. An’ it’s true. But that printin’ on them nice big bills sure is in a language all its own.
[US]‘Boxcar Bertha’ Sister of the Road (1975) 276: ‘You have money. Put our Hobo Colleges and my other schemes in your will.’ ‘And so you’ve turned gold-digger, have you?’ he smiled.
[US]F. Brown Dead Ringer 14: You think I’m a gold-digger, don’t you?
[US]B. Appel Tough Guy [ebook] She didn’t stay awake night figuring how to be a golddigger.
[Aus]F.J. Hardy Yarns of Billy Borker 18: They’re made up about murderers, thieves, businessmen, gold-diggers, rich men’s wives with tight sweaters and no children.
[UK]A. Payne ‘The Dessert Song’ Minder [TV script] 48: Right little gold-digger.
[UK]J. Sullivan ‘The Second Time Around’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] You think I’m gonna celebrate my only brother getting hiked up to a gold digger?
[UK]Indep. Rev. 3 Nov. 16: She married her 78-year-old money-bags – only to be branded a gold-digger.
[UK]Fallacy ‘StopClock’ 🎵 Some chicks want to call men dogs, when they fuck gold-diggers and they don’t get robbed.
[UK]J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 279: A desperate woman... can’t see a gold digger even when that gold digger is bucking astride her and she has been brought up to repel all gold diggers.