piker

Etymology

From pike + -er. In some senses, it has been linked etymologically to the word pikey as well as to Pike County in eastern Missouri https://web.archive.org/web/20051111194645/http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/p/p0300200.html. In the latter instance the term originally denoted poor immigrants to California.

noun

1. (military, historical) A soldier armed with a pike, a pikeman.
   Upstairs in a waiting room there were pikers whose tunics echoed Baudricourt′s gold lion shield painted up and down the rafters. 1974, Thomas Keneally, Blood Red, Sister Rose, page 82
   By 1600, the ratio of pikers to gunmen was roughly 3:2. By mid-century the ratio was only 1:2, and by 1670 there was just one piker to every three gunmen in the French Army. 2008, Cathal J. Nolan, Wars of the Age of Louis XIV, 1650-1715: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization, page 363
2. One who bets or gambles only with small amounts of money.
   “[…] Them rich fellers, they don't make no bad breaks with their money. They watch it all th' time b'cause they know blame well there ain't hardly room fer their feet fer th' pikers an' tin-horns an' thimble-riggers what are layin' fer 'em. […]” 1899, Stephen Crane, chapter 1, in Twelve O'Clock
   Bud swelled his chest and laid his hand on Jeff′s shoulder. “Just to show you I′m not a piker,” he cried recklessly, “I′ll bet you twenty-five dollars I can beat your Skeeter with my Smoky horse that I rode in here. Is it a go?” 1921, B. M. Bower, Cow Country, published 2004, page 79
   “Now, boys,” said Marie walking up and down the bar, once or twice lifting her skirt to her knees and laughing. “The last bid′s $5,000. Say, ain′t you pikers a-goin′ to bid higher than that for this?" And another flick of her skirts. “Here′s a nice plump chicken awaiting for a home.” 1999, Lael Morgan, Good Time Girls of the Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush, page 96
3. A stingy person; a cheapskate.
   “And if you′ve got to be a piker,” said Dolly, “don′t be ashamed to be a piker. We′re not spending a hundred dollars because we can afford it, but because you dreamt a dream.” 1916, Richard Harding Davis, The Man Who Could Not Lose, published 2008, page 22
   The golden nuggets in the stream at Sutter′s Mill in California made Croesus look like a piker, and Australia, the Klondike, and South Africa were yet to come. 2000, Peter L. Bernstein, The Power of Gold: The History of an Obsession, page 218
   Whatever else this cupcake might be up to, she was no piker. For everything the Q′s ordered, she added on more of the same. 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 604
4. An amateur.
5. (Australia) A bullock living in the wild. (Also used attributively.)
   ‘There's always a few old piker bullocks find their way into this country. But mostly cattle don't come this far.’ 2002, Alex Miller, Journey to the Stone Country, Allen & Unwin, published 2003, page 269
6. (Australia, New Zealand, slang) One who refuses to go out with friends, or leaves a party early; a spoilsport or "chicken".
   Mate, don't be a piker! Come to Angie′s birthday party tonight!
7. (Australia, New Zealand, slang) One who pikes (quits or backs out of a promise).
8. (US, dated) A male freshman at Cornell University.
9. A tramp; a vagrant.