subs. (old cant).—1.  A man; specifically a countryman; a booby. Also (American thieves’) HICKJOP and HICKSAM. For synonyms, see JOSKIN.

1

  c. 1696.  B. E., A New Dictionary of the Canting Crew, s.v. HICK, any Person of whom any Prey can be made, or Booty taken from; also a silly Country Fellow.

2

  1714.  A. SMITH, An History of the Lives of Highway-Men, etc., ii., 39. Among whom was a Country Farmer … which was not miss’d at all by the Country-HICK.

3

  1725.  A New Canting Dictionary, Song 3. ‘The Thief-catcher’s Prophesy.’ The Eighth is a Bulk, that can bulk any HICK.

4

  1754.  The Scoundrel’s Dictionary, ‘The black Prosession,’ p. 31.

        The fourteenth, a Gamester, if he sees the HICK sweet,
He presently drops down a Cog in the Street.

5

  1785.  GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

6