Also † welcher. [Cf. WELSH v.] A bookmaker at a race-meeting, who takes money for a bet, and absconds or refuses to pay if he loses.
1860. Ld. W. Lennox, Pict. Sporting Life, I. 119. A gang of miscreants called Welchers, who make bets with the unwary, which they never dream of paying if they lose.
1868. E. Yates, Rocks Ahead, III. v. I know him, a defaulting ringman, a mere common welsher.
1912. Times, 24 April, 3/4. Counsel said … the real definite charge was that the plaintiff was a welsher.
transf. 1863. Miss Braddon, Aurora Floyd, xvii. He was … a ‘welsher’ in the matter of marbles and hardbake before his fifth birthday.
1904. Sladen, Playing the Game, II. iii. The Japanese traders who dealt with them were, many of them, welshers who looked to repudiations for their profits.
