Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a heavy drinker.

1820		Jack Randall’s Diary 18: Who has e’er been at Randall’s, when twilight has lent Inexpressible charms to this lush-crib, and sent All those who were Swipers, yet hated the day, To witness the spot where their feet lov’d to stray?
1836		F.S. Mahony Reliques Father Prout (1859) 179: ‘Consule scholas Jesuitarum’, exclaims the Lord Chancellor Bacon, who was neither a quack nor a swiper, but ‘spoke the words of sobriety and truth’ .
1876		Sheffield Indep. 23 Dec. 15/2: ‘Let us carry him way to his tent, then,’ whispered Jack, to this half-sensible member of the fraternity of swipers.
1897		T.J. Henry Claude Garton 55: ‘Lasting, who you must admit is a notorious swiper, has led you to be a little too fond of liquor’.