slang (now dial.). [Of obscure origin; there is no obvious connection with prec.]
A. sb. A sporting amateur with the knowledge or skill of a professional.
1812. Sporting Mag., XXXIX. 9. Every professional amateur … is denominated a Varment.
1823. Byron, Juan, XI. xvii. Poor Tom was once a kiddy upon town, A thorough varmint, and a real swell, Full flash, all fancy.
B. adj. 1. (See quot. 1823.) Also Comb.
1823. Egan, Grose’s Dict. Vulg. T., Varment, natty, dashing. He is quite varment, he is quite the go. He sports a varment hat, coat, etc., he is dressed like a gentleman Jehu.
1828. Lytton, Pelham, II. xiv. 135. We sat down … and looked round inquiringly at the smug and varment citizens with which the room was filled.
1859. Warburton, Hunting Songs, 92. A varment looking gemman on a woiry tit.
2. Knowing, clever, cunning.
1829. Brockett, N. C. Gloss., 317. Varment … is also a sort of cant word for knowing; as a varment chap, a knowing one.
1831. Trelawny, Adv. Younger Son, I. 179. Nevertheless there is a varment and knowing look about her [a ship] which I like.
1834. Medwin, Angler in Wales, II. 162. None but a very varmint dog … will face one of these water-weazels a second time.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer (1891), 340. He … ran into the stockyard and caught the varmint, ambling black mare.
1891. P. H. Emerson, East Coast Yarns, 92. I met old Jimmy Lodes, the varmintest horse-dealer about these parts.
Hence Varmentcy; Varmentish a.
1812. Sporting Mag., XXXIX. 9. This polite art is designated Varmentcy. Ibid., 10. The origin of Varmentcy, as of almost all the noble Sciences, is obscure. Ibid. (1819), (N.S.), V. 54. Nothing under four horses would look ‘varmentish.’
