[f. BOUNCE v. + -ER1.]
1. One who bounces (sense 4 of the vb.).
1762. Foote, Lyar, III. (1776), 56. Nor is the character of my son to be blasted with the breath of a bouncer.
1776. in Priv. Lett. 1st Ld. Malmesbury, I. 351. The Nabob, the greatest Bouncer of all those Bouncers, comes out of gaol.
1876. World, No. 115. 20. The old maid … does not stand the slightest chance unless she be of the gushing bouncer class.
2. a. A boaster, bully, swaggering liar. b. in Thieves’ slang (see quot. 1862).
1833. Marryat, P. Simple, xxxi. He’s a … kind fellow enough, but … Such a bouncer!
1862. Mayhew, Crim. Prisons, 46. Bouncers and besters who cheat by laying wagers.
3. A ‘bouncing’ or ‘thumping’ lie.
1805. G. Colman, J. Bull, II. iii. (L.). You know, the first time you came into my shop, what a bouncer you told me, when you were a boy.
4. A large specimen of its kind; a ‘thumper.’
1842. De Quincey, Mod. Greece, Wks. 1863, XIII. 306 (Webster). The stone must be a bouncer.
1872. Taunt, Map Thames, 15. See, I’ve got a roach, and a bouncer.
Colloq. She was a bouncer.
