Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a man; occas. a woman.

c.1592		Marlowe Jew of Malta II iii: Barabas: Let me see, sirrah; are you not an old shaver? slave: Alas sir, I am a very youth.
1602		Rowlands Greene’s Ghost Haunting Coniecatchers E4: Such iollie shauers, that are deepe slashers of others mens hides, haue I knowne (more is the pitie) to sit vp all night, some at Cardes and Dice, some quaffing and swilling at the Tauerne, and others among their trulles.
1608		Dekker Lanthorne and Candle-Light Ch. 4: The wares which they fished for beeing in the hand of the five shavers.
1638		Ford Fancies Act III: Behold these two; this Madam and this shaver.
1654		Mercurius Fumigosus 20 11–18 Oct. 174: A mad Shaver in Thames Street making the last night a Nest to catch Fools, pitching it at St. Magnes Corner, caught the Constable and six of his Watchman.
1672		M. Atkins Cataplus 18: He was as lusty an old shaver / As any in this rout I have here.
1713		J. Gay Wife of Bath I i: Look ye, Shaver, we will sometime or other enjoy our own Choice.
1739		R. Bull Grobianus 129: The cunning Shavers, for a Time, give o’er, Which none but Boobies ever do before.
1756		W. Toldervy Hist. of the Two Orphans IV 2531: The girl’s father, they sen, is a quire shaver!
c.1790		‘The Wee Wee Bag of Potatoes’ Luke Caffrey’s Gost 6: As I was walking down the mall, I met with Dick the sheaver, / He was telling all the girls of his Wee Wee Bag of Portatoes.
1790		‘Bumper Allnight. Esquire’ Honest Fellow 21: Brave Fred’rick the king of the Prussians, / Has humm’d the old shaver at last.
1802		R. Anderson ‘Barbary Bell’ Cumberland Ballads (1805) 4: Dicky the shaver pat flour i’ my hair; / Our seyde lads are aw for fun.
c.1804		‘McClure’s Ramble’ in A. Carpenter Verse in Eng. in 18C Ireland (1998) 503: I’m the bold shaver that near to Rathfryland reside.
1817		M. Edgeworth Love and Law I ii: I’ll engage I’ll compass Catty, tho’ she’s a cunning shaver.
1821		R. Waln Hermit in America on Visit to Phila. 2nd series 27: He’s a cunning shaver.
1823		Sydney Gaz. 30 Oct. 4/1: That latin-man Skivvola, a very cunning old shaver.
1836		T. Haliburton Clockmaker I 23: This Quaker, a pretty knowin’ old shaver, had a case down to Rhode Island.
1842		S. Lover Handy Andy 308: He’s an old shaver.
1846		Bell’s Life in Sydney 7 Feb. 2/3: The ex-barber is of verity a sharp shaver.
1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 90: ‘A young or old shaver,’ a boy or man.
1877		H. Hartigan Stray Leaves (1st ser.) 189: We had some droll shavers come as Volunteers to us.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict. [as cit. 1859].
1926		(con. 1918) L. Nason Chevrons 195: Didn’t he have ’em by the nose? Direct disobedience an’ the other shavey for a witness.
1930		(con. 1900s–10s) Dos Passos 42nd Parallel in USA (1966) 60: From the time I was a little shayver not much bigger’n you.
1943		M. Harrison Reported Safe Arrival 13: He smiled at the youth. ‘That’s ri’, Shaver.’.
1999		Indep. Rev. 10 July 20: Any young shaver wishing to copy this fashion statement should remember to keep the gusset at the back.

2. a young or adolescent boy, esp. as young shaver; occas. a young girl.

1630		‘The Kind-Hearted Creature’ in Farmer Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) I 90: This bonny Lass had caught a clap it seemes / by some young shaver.
1635		T. Cranley (prisoner) Amanda or the Reformed Whore 37: Thou art [...] not coy [...] To try the courage of so young a shaver.
1654		Webster Appius and Virginia II i: Wast you (my nimble shaver) that would whet your sword ’gainst your Commanders throat, you sirrah?
c.1685		‘The London Lasses Folly’ in Farmer Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) II 99: Now I will ramble up and down / to find out this young shaver.
1699		Farquhar Love and a Bottle III i: Who wou’d imagine now that this young shaver cou’d dream of a Woman so soon?
1748		Smollett Roderick Random (1979) 38: He drew a pistol, and fired it at the unfortunate shaver, who fell flat on the ground without speaking one word.
1786		Burns ‘A Dream’ in Poetical Works (1871) 43: Few better were or braver; / And yet, wi’ funny, queer Sir John, / He was an unco shaver For monie a day.
1807		Irving & Paulding Salmagundi (1860) 163: He was a perfect scare-crow to the small-fry of the day, and inherited the hatred of all these unlucky little shavers: for never could we assemble about his door of an evening to play, and make a little hubbub, but out he sallied from his nest like a spider, flourished his formidable horse-whip, and dispersed the whole crew in the twinkling of a lamp.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1833		M. Scott Tom Cringle’s Log (1862) 197: A smart dandified shaver, with gay mother-of-pearl buttons on his jacket.
1838		Dickens Oliver Twist (1966) 396: Do you mean to say anything, you young shaver?
1838		T. Haliburton Clockmaker (1843) II 132: Thinks I, young shavers, if you had more of that in your heads, and less under your arms, you would have the use of your hands to play with your thumbs when you had nothin’ to do.
1840		R. Barham ‘Aunt Fanny’ Ingoldsby Legends (1842) 142: A little contemptible ‘Shaver’ like that!
1841		Hants. Teleg. 26 July 2/2: Silence, young shaver, or you walks out.
1848		Bartlett Dict. Americanisms 295: A shaver is a boy, a lad, one just beginning to shave; or else, on the lucus a non lucendo principle, one who does not shave, but would if he could! [...] The term is often humorously applied here, as in England, to boys who ape the behavior of men.
1850		F.E. Smedley Frank Fairlegh (1878) 161: Ever read fairy tales, Fairlegh? I did when I was a little shaver.
1854		Delhi Sketch Bk 1 Aug. 91/1: [cartoon caption] Our Eccentric Colonel Wishes to Address the Son of the Nawab of Horriblybad by the Endearing Title of ‘Young Shaver’ [...] (Exit Scion of Royalty in a Rage).
1856		C. Reade It Is Never Too Late to Mend II 252: Here you young shaver bring the candle out here.
1863		C. Reade Hard Cash III 77: Come, be quick young shaver.
1869		J. Greenwood Seven Curses of London 91: Well, take my word for it, I never go out in the morning, and the young ‘un sez ‘good bye,’ but what I think ‘good bye-yes! p’raps it’s good bye for a longer spell than you’re dreaming about, you poor little shaver.’.
1871		Hamilton Spectator (Vic.) 7 Jan. 1/7: All the male portion of humanity may now be recognised, from boyhood to old age, under the title ‘coves,’ ‘buffers,’ ‘shavers,’ ‘fogies,’ and ‘flukes;’ buffers and fogies are particularly appropriate to grey hairs.
1877		J. Greenwood Dick Temple II 279: It’s the young shavers I’m alluding to.
1886		S. Watson Wops the Waif 5/2: Well, young shaver, what do you want?
1890		Dead Bird (Sydney) 31 May 2/2: The Prodigal, then a witty little shaver, objected.
1891		Boys Of The Empire 24 Aug. 360: Was that young shaver your nevvy?
1900		Boy’s Own Paper 15 Dec. 166: When I was a young shaver of fifteen.
1901		Truth (Brisbane) 12 May 7/3: Not a poor week backed young shaver, / But a cove of manly grade.
1902		A. Morrison Hole in the Wall (1947) 24: But Lord! what a pluck for a shaver!
1912		H. Lawson ‘Grandfather’s Courtship’ in Roderick (1972) 878: It’s about time those young shavers turned up.
1927		(con. 1900s) S. Lewis Elmer Gantry 90: So this is the little lad I used to know as a shaver!
1928		A.W. Upfield House of Cain 121: The good old days when ‘men was men, and byes was byes, me pimply-faced young shaver—h’rumph!’.
1934		E. Raymond Child of Norman’s End (1967) 74: It wouldn’t be good for a young shaver like you.
1937		J. Tully Bruiser 147: I can see her yet – she was a cute little shaver.
1940		O. Strange Sudden Takes the Trail 34: That li’l shaver’ll be needin’ playthin’s presently.
1948		C. Day Lewis Otterbury Incident 65: And this ’ere young shaver [...] this is Cyril.
1957		H. Simmons Corner Boy 159: He’s a serious boy, always has been, even when he was a little shaver.
1971		W. Burk Thief 212: I never could tell you nothing even when you were a little shaver.
2012		D. O’Donnell Locked Ward (2013) 327: I’ve come down in the world terribly since I was a shaver.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 170: Jezzard Dogg, a cheerful young shaver.

3. (US) an errand boy.

1992

(ref. to late 1860s) D. Pinckney High Cotton (1993) 33: He worked as a ‘shaver,’ an errand boy, after the Civil War.