Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a card-sharp, a swindler.

1859		Matsell Vocabulum 16: burners Rogues who cheat country-men with false cards or dice.
1915		M.G. Hayden ‘Terms Of Disparagement’ in DN IV:iii 201: burner, a swindler.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 13: Burners, swindlers at dice or cards.
1937–84		Partridge DSUE (1984) 160/2: C.18.

2. venereal disease.

1811		Lex. Balatronicum n.p.: Burner. A clap. The blowen tipped the swell a burner; the girl gave the gentleman a clap.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

3. (US Und.) a confidence trickster who told the victim a story – often simply asking him to change a banknote – that resulted in the production of their wallet; the burner then snatched it and ran off.

1838		Eve. Star 11 Aug. 2/3: The person accosted [...] being conducted to an alley by two negro burners [who commenced] the jugglery always practiced on these occasions.
1841		Morning Courier and N.-Y. Enquirer 2/4: [A man] was set upon by three noted burners, who by dint of practicing the usual burning process, diddled [him] out of $50 of his money.
1856		G.G. Foster N.Y. by Gas-Light (1990) 87: It is an easy thing to pick up a loafer, a pick-pocket, a burner or a Bowery blackleg at even the most dashing bowling-saloon.

4. (US und.) a gaudy but valueless watch used to trick naive purchasers.

1850

Life in Boston & N.Y. (Boston, MA) 27 Apr. n.p.: ‘Golly that is a watch, though! how much did that cost you?’ ‘That’s only a burner, worth a dollar ot two’.

5. a sharp blow or punch.

1902

H. Baumann Londinismen (2nd edn).

6. (orig. US black) a pistol.

1926		Odum & Johnson Negro Workaday Songs 124: When you see me comin’ / Wid my new shine on, / ’Cause I got my col’-iron burner / Under my ol’ left arm.
a.1935		‘Can’t You Line It’ in Hurston Mules and Men (1970) 322: 🎵 Cap’n got a burner I’d like to have, / A 32:20 with a shiny barrel.
1993		Lerner et al. Dict. of Today’s Words.
2000		P. Beatty Tuff 6: Demetrius simply handed Winston the inner-city union card, a small black .22 Raven automatic pistol, which Winston coolly but immediately handed back. ‘What, your ass don’t need a burner?’.
2002		‘Touré’ Portable Promised Land (ms.) 155: We Words (My Favorite Things) [...] Burner. Heat. Nine.
2008		S. Ferranti Street Legends n.p.: Silk parked the Benz and eased out with his burner in hand.
2012		M. McBride Frank Sinatra in a Blender [ebook] he asked me what kind of a burner I carred and I told him a .45.
2014		CPS Thames & Chiltern Online 4 Mar. 🌐 Text messages were recovered from Reid's Blackberry phone. One read: ‘Got a couple of burners (guns) for sale.’ Another referred to "‘10 bore dotties’ - slang for shotgun cartridges.
2015		67 ‘Hashtag’ 🎵 I ain’t sayin’ he got drop burners.
2020		G. Krauze What They Was 36: Two brothers who were [...] gunmen [...] blatantly holding burners down the front of their jeans .
2021		T. Swerdlow Straight Dope [ebook] — What the fuck you doin’ bitch? Put that burner down.

7. an exceptional person.

1968		‘Hy Lit’ Hy Lit’s Unbelievable Dict. of Hip Words 7: burner – You’re doing well, pleasing, uptight and you are put together. You’re the big gun.
1971		H.E. Roberts Third Ear n.p.: burner n. 1. a person who is tops in his field.
1988		in D. & C. Schneider Sound Off! 108: Cardici, described by others in the Air Force as a ‘fast burner’.
1996		Eble Sl. and Sociability 80: Compounding is shown by [...] Burner ‘one who performs (burns) well’.

8. (US black) a thief.

1971		H.E. Roberts Third Ear n.p.: burner n. 2. an habitual thief.
2003		Simon & Burns ‘Collateral Damage’ Wire ser. 2 ep. 1 [TV script] You remember LeDante, burner from over the pool-hall.

9. (US juv.) fast sexual intercourse.

2001

OnLine Dict. of Playground Sl. 🌐 burner adj. rapid performance of the sexual act.

10. (US black/teen, also burn phone, burner phone) a cheap, disposable cellular telephone, usu. used for illegal purposes.

2003		A. Newitz ‘Bay Area Sl.’ on Berkeley University Amer. Studies 102 Course Website 🌐 Burners – A cellular telephone that is being used illegally.
2004		Simon & Pelecanos ‘Amsterdam’ Wire ser. 3 ep. 4 [TV script] ‘What the fuck is up with the phones. I been seeing kids throw them away’ all day [...] ‘They burners, Kima’.
2005		G. Pelecanos Drama City 178: Nigel slid the cell phone across his desk. ‘And get rid of this burner.’.
2017		S.M. Jones August Snow [ebook] Inside were six prepaid cell phones. Burners: good for two or three calls [...] then you drop the SIM card in the gutter and the phone in somebody else’s garbage.
2018		G. Disher Kill Shot [ebook] [H]e sent a text from a burner phone to Blackstock’s burner.
2019		D. Winslow Border [ebook] Eddie gets on a burn phone to Culiacán. ‘Our guy came through’.
2020		S.A. Crosby Blacktop Wasteland 53: ‘Go get a burner phone and call the shop tomorrow’.
2021		Breen & Conlon Hitmen 253: Pay-as-you-go or ‘burner’ phones.
2021		C. Hammer Opal Country 152: [T]he whole town is going to know he bought a burner.