Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US, also whisker-chops) an old man; thus his whiskers, the head of the household; also as term of address.

1814		T. Dibdin Ninth Statue I v: Don’t call him names, ould Whisker-chops.
1815		D. Roberts Military Adventures of Johnny Newcome I 24: I say, you whiskers.
1866		Wild Boys of London I 224/2: ‘Well, young ’un!’ ‘Well, whiskers!’ rejoined Jack.
1894		C.W. Gardner Doctor and the Devil 26: ‘Hey, whiskers,’ said she to Dr. Parkhurst.
1895		E. Townsend Chimmie Fadden Explains 10: Say, you otter see his Whiskers! He was tellin Mr. Burton t’ be good to Miss Fannie.
1900		A.H. Lewis ‘Politics’ in Sandburrs 93: If I’m goin’ to catch up wit’ his Whiskers [...] I’ve got to stay clost to his game, see!
1909		R.A. Wason Happy Hawkins 14: Two Greasers an’ a half blood Injun was playin’ poker with an old bunch o’ whiskers.
1911		E. Dyson ‘At a Boxing Bout’ in Benno and Some of the Push 120: ‘If yer wantin’ t’ pick up good money dirt cheap, Whiskers,’ he said, ‘back Brophy.’.
1922		M.E. Smith Adventures of a Boomer Op. 73: An old pair of whiskers stuck its head thru the door [...,] He looked like a picture of Noah.
1931		D. Runyon ‘Broadway Financier’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 212: This crowd is made up of many whiskers and old dolls.
1941		A. Gurney Bluey & Curley 23 May [synd. cartoon strip] Ask old whiskers if he knows where we can get a beer.
1982		Private Eye Issues 523–49 13/2: Even some muttering about similarities with the last days of old whisker-chops Macmillan.
1992		R.G. Barrett White Shoes 88: ‘You’re on private property, shithead’ [...] Les turned to the beard. ‘You too, whiskers’ [...] Whiskers didn’t need to be told twice.

2. (US) the chin.

1928		P. Gallico ‘The Yellow Twin’ in Goodstone Pulps (1970) 36/1: He brought his right up [...] and popped Mike on the whiskers.
1942		W. Winchell 23 June [synd. col.] Camilli is the same chap who poked Medwick on the whiskers a while back.

3. (US Und.) the US government, Army, or any other institution [the bewhiskered Uncle Sam n.¹ ].

1934		Charleston (WV) Daily Mail 31 July 6/8: ‘Ice tong doctors’ sell ‘decks’ of drugs to ‘junkers’ when the ‘whiskers’ and ‘uncles’ (terms for federal agents) aren’t looking.
1936		(ref. to 1915+) Mencken Amer. Lang. (4th edn) 579: In the same way the drug peddlers who began to flourish after the passage of the Harrison Act in 1915 were ready with neologisms to reinforce the terminology of drug addiction in the general cant of the underworld [...] the Federal agents who tried to put down the traffic became whiskers, gazers or uncles.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1959		Murtagh & Harris Who Live In Shadow (1960) 17: He is one man sure to attract all the gazers, all the whiskers and uncles, all the narcotics agents.
1968		K. Brasselle Cannibals 82: She planted half a dozen joints of marijuana in Chili’s dresser and called the whiskers.
1970		‘Red’ Rudensky Gonif 89: ‘They say Uncle Sam don’t give up. Can you run fast, Red?’ I shrugged. ‘Whiskers can’t hold me when he’s got me on his lap.’ I replied.

4. (US) pubic hair.

1942

H. Miller Roofs of Paris (1983) 15: I dig John Thursday into her whiskers [...] He slips through her bush and butts her rectum.

5. (US Und.) of a woman, a lesbian; of a man, a homosexual.

1950

Goldin et al. DAUL 236/2: Whiskers, a. (As applied to women) Loose morally; (as applied to men) sexually perverted.

6. (US) courage.

1988

D. Woodrell Muscle for the Wing 65: You ain’t got the whiskers and we both know it.