Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a tutor; thus crammer’s pup, a pupil of such a high-pressure tutor.

1814		M. Edgeworth Patronage (2004) 34: Put him into the hands of a clever grinder or crammer, and they would soon cram the necessary portion of Latin and Greek into him.
1845		J. Pycroft Collegian’s Guide 231: The second point in which a crammer excels is in fixing the attention, and reducing subjects to the comprehension of ill-formed and undisciplined minds.
1856		B.H. Hall College Words (rev. edn) 143: crammer. One who prepares another for an examination.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1872		Eve. Standard 16 Aug. n.p.: ‘The Competition Wallah.’ The crammer follows in the wake of competitive examinations as surely as does the shadow the body [F&H].
1887		‘A Plain Woman’ Poor Nellie I 106: I am going to that awful old fool of a crammer on Saturday.
1899		Kipling ‘The Moral Reformers’ in Complete Stalky & Co. (1987) 121: We take crammers’ rejections as well as good little boys like Stalky. [Ibid.] 125: Sefton and Campbell! Um! Campbell and Sefton! Ah! One of ’em’s a crammer’s pup.
1900		Sporting Times 10 Feb. 2/4: Colonel Lynch, who was well known as a Garrison Instructor, [...] is now a popular ‘Crammer’.
1914		Wodehouse Something Fresh 🌐 Ch. ii: He had spent two years at an expensive London crammer’s and failed to pass into the army.
1925		‘The Song of the Cadet’ in C.H. Ward-Jackson Airman’s Song Book (1945) 83: A bowler hat young man, / A crammer’s pup young man.
1962		R. Cook Crust on its Uppers 19: Sacked from crammer [...] with clap caught from the Greek maid.

2. the stomach [SE cram, to fill up].

1848		Ladies’ Repository (N.Y.) Oct. VIII:37 316/1: Crammer, the stomach.
1960, 1975		(ref. to 1850) Wentworth & Flexner DAS.

3. one who lies.

1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn).
1868		Sportsman 7 Jan. 2/1: Notes on News [...] America, that hot bed of ‘crammers’.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1898		Boy’s Own Paper 15 Oct. 38: The little crammer [...] I ought to have given him a downright thrashing!

4. a lie.

1820		‘Miss Patty Puff and her Two Sweethearts’ in The Primrose Hill Collection 4: Oh, he lov’d this pastry-cook too, and told her many a crammer.
1833		‘Othello’ in Swell!!! or, Slap-Up Chaunter 22: As soon as Othello came back, Iago told him a great crammer, sir [...] This thief said, that Cassio and her, / Made the beast with two backs in her chamber, O!
1841		‘She Sleeps With A Tall Grenadier’ in Gentleman’s Spicey Songster 24: ’Tis true, that such crammers are told, / But we don’t believe all we hear.
1847		Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld.) 15 May 3/1: [T]hey have expressed their determination to ‘bail crammer’ (act honestly) for the future; the meaning of which is, that they will neither steal anything [...] nor tell a lie.
1858		A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 103: Such crammers as I’ve heard people tell.
1866		J. Greenwood Little Ragamuffin 70: He was going to insinivate that you was tellin’ a crammer about the sacks.
1870		Sportsman (London) 31 Dec. 4/1: When one is bent on getting up a good ‘‘crammer’ it is well to cover it with an air of probability.
1883		J. Greenwood Odd People in Odd Places 244: That was the crammer I told him.
1884		Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday 10 May15/1: He called bosh [...] and said it was all a jolly crammer.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 15 Apr. 1/5: According to that pious weekly, the ‘Leisure Hour’, which never, or hardly ever, indulges in crammers [etc.].
1896		G.M. Fenn Sappers and Miners 129: If they’ve told you a crammer at some time, [...] you don’t feel disposed to believe them again.
1901		‘Miles Franklin’ My Brilliant Career 160: Now, Sybylla, none of your crammers.
1925		W. Pett Ridge Some Showers 11: Oh, you story! You wicked story! Oh, that is a crammer!

5. a hard worker.

1880		Worcs Chron. 6 Nov. 3/1: You may want to teach me grammer / But there are — believe me, sir — / If I’m bound to be a ‘crammer’, / Other things I much prefer.
1915		R. Bolwell ‘College Sl. Words And Phrases’ in DN IV:iii 232: crammer, n. One who studies hard for examinations.
1961		V.S. Naipaul House For Mr Biswas 446: You are a bigger crammer than me.