subs. (vagrants’).—A device, idea, performance, or occupation. Americans use it in the same sense as RACKET (q.v.), e.g., the ‘real estate racket’ or ‘CAPER.’ [From the figurative sense of CAPER, signifying a fantastic proceeding, freak, or prank.] Also used in the sense of ‘the go,’ ‘the fad,’ i.e., the latest fashionable fancy.
1867. London Herald, 23 March, p. 221. ‘He’ll get five years penal for this little CAPER,’ said the policeman.
1870. C. HINDLEY, The Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 220. Charley would reply … ‘I have just done such and such an amount to-day with these people,’ at the same time showing the invoice of the goods he had just purchased at the house where he got change for his fifty sovereigns. The conversation, as a rule, ended in Charley’s giving them an order too. Of course, this little ‘CAPER’ would only ‘wash’ once.
1884. GREENWOOD, The True History of a Little Ragamuffin, xiv. ‘Are you goin’ a-tottin’, Smiffield?’ ‘No.’… ‘Then what CAPER are you up to?’
TO CUT A CAPER UPON NOTHING, or TO CUT CAPER SAUCE, phr. (old).—To be hanged. For synonyms, see LADDER.
1708. MOTTEUX, Rabelais, IV. xvi. Two of the honestest Gentlemen in Catchpole-land had been made to CUT A CAPER ON NOTHING.
1834. W. H. AINSWORTH, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v.
| And my father, as I’ve heard say, | |
| Fake away, | |
| Was a merchant of CAPERS gay, | |
| Who CUT HIS LAST FLING with great applause. |
