Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (UK Und.) a cut-purse.

1709

cited in Partridge DSUE (1984).

2. a philanderer, a womanizer.

1855		Life in Boston & N.Y. (Boston, MA) 14 Apr. n.p.: I wonder what Charles W—g and Joseph C—k were doing with those Dodge girls [...] you must be on the lookout, or those Irish clippers will be jealous of you.
1949		A.B. Hollingshead Elmtown’s Youth (1975) 316: The high school students refer to them as ‘clippers’ and ‘wolves’.

3. (US) a petty thief or confidence trickster; a prostitute who defrauds her customer.

[1917		Van Loan ‘A Morning Workout’ in Old Man Curry 204: We can trim the old reprobate [...] but we can’t keep him from finding out that the clippers are on him].
1942		C. Himes ‘Lunching at the Ritzmore’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 16: Drifters and hopheads and tbs’ and beggars and bums and bindle-stiffs and big sisters, clipped and clippers.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1997		‘Q’ Deadmeat 340: We walked past a female clipper talking to a punter in an alleyway. The punter pulled out some money and the clipper gave him a key.

4. (US Und.) a thug, a violent person.

1944		C.S. Montanye ‘Publicity for the Corpse’ in Thrilling Detective Dec. 🌐 These two boys [...] were notorious grifters, clippers and common felons [...] A couple of tough hoodlums who wouldn’t stop at anything.
1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS.

5. a professional store thief.

1965

cited in Partridge DSUE (1984).