Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a soft-soled, canvas–topped shoe, often in pl.

1873		J. Greenwood In Strange Company n.p.: Sneaks... are shoes with canvas tops and india-rubber soles [F&H].
1880		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 4 Dec. 10/1: The guards wear shoes made of cloth, which render their footsteps noiseless. The convicts call these shoes ‘sneaks’.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 8: Sneaks - India-rubber shoes, worn by gaol matrons and warders at night.
1893		J. Hawthorne Confessions of Convict 276: The night officer wears a species of india-rubber shoes or goloshes called ‘sneaks.’ From being a name for the shoes worn it has gradually become an epithet of the night-guard himself.
1901		Monroe & Northup ‘College Words and Phrases’ in DN II:iii 148: sneak, n. Shoe with rubber sole and cloth top.
1912		D. Lowrie My Life in Prison 49: The night watch wears ‘sneaks’.
1924		G. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 402: Creepers. Rubber-soled shoes. Also called sneaks.
1935		J. Fishman Sex in Prison 156: I could hear even the sound of the guards’ ‘sneaks’ as he walked by.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1952		J. Jones From Here to Eternity (1998) 95: She sat on the bed and watched him exchange his shoes and socks for the old canvas fishing sneaks.
1964		B. Jackson Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 101: I pulled off my sneaks to avoid the squeaks / and mounted the darkened stairs.
1978		R. De Christoforo Grease 105: Jersey, jock, sneaks, and socks.
1984		D. Jenkins Life Its Ownself (1985) 188: I brought a clean pair of sneaks.
1993		E. Richards Cocaine True 14: They’ll steal anything he got. They take the sneaks off your feet and resell them.
2005		G. Pelecanos Drama City 191: I was wearing sneaks had Velcro on ’em instead of laces.
2017		Philadelphia inquirer (PA) 31 Dec. D07/4: ‘Howe many pairs of sneaks you want?’.

2. (US) a slipper.

1931

P. Singer ‘The Electric Warden’ Prison Stories Mar. 🌐 He appraised the former butler’s patent-leather shoes [...] but they would pinch his callouses. ‘I’ll try the sneaks!’ he decided. ‘Them slippers won’t make much of a rumble.’.