spieler

See also:Spieler

English

WOTD – 3 September 2015

Alternative forms

• shpieler,speiler

Etymology

FromGermanSpieler(“player, gambler”)or fromspiel.

Pronunciation

• (UK)IPA^(key):/ˈspiːlə/

• Audio(Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

spieler(pluralspielers)

1. (slang,now chieflyAustralia,New Zealand)Aswindler,agambler.
   • 1891,Banjo Paterson,An Evening in Dandaloo:

     That a crowd of Sydney stealers,
     Jockeys, pugilists andspielers
     Brought some horses, real heelers,
     Came and put us through.

   • 1985,Peter Carey,Illywhacker,Faber and Faber, published2003,page228:

     ‘Aspieler,’ Leah gently loosened the painful crab hold of the boy's hand. ‘[…]A trickster. A quandong. A ripperty man. A con-man.’

2. A gamblingclub.
3. A person who speaksfluentlyandglibly;abarker.
   • 1908September –1909September,Jack London,chapter 31, inMartin Eden,New York, N.Y.:The Macmillan Company,published September 1909,→OCLC:

     "Bosco! He eats 'em alive! Eats 'em alive!" Brissenden exclaimed, imitating thespielerof a locally famous snake-eater.

   • 1961,Vincent F. Seyfried,The Long Island Rail Road: A Comprehensive History,Part I:

     Two thousand men, women and children turned out for this giant excursion and danced and drank the day away while professionalspielersextolled the virtues of the new metropolis and inveigled the unwary into investment.

4. (Canada,US,broadcasting,informal)Aradioortelevisionannouncer.

Related terms

• spiel

Further reading

• “spieler”,inGreen’s Dictionary of Slang,Jonathon Green,2016–present
• Eric Partridge(2005) “spieler”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors,The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English,volume2 (J–Z),London, New York, N.Y.:Routledge,→ISBN,page1833.

Anagrams

• lepries,repiles,replies