or steever, stinner, &c., subs. (old).—1. A Dutch coin value 1d.; hence (2) a small standard of value, a STRAW, a FIG (q.v.); and (3) generic for money. Hence STIVER-CRAMPED = needy (GROSE).
1534. G. JOYE, Apologie to Tyndale, 22 [T. L. KINGTON-OLIPHANT, The New English, i. 472. The Dutch coin STEEVER appears].
1630. TAYLOR (‘The Water Poet’), Workes, ii. 3.
| Through thy protection they are monstrous thrivers, | |
| Not like the Dutchmen in base Doits and STIVERS. |
c. 1630. The Jovial Companions, Broadside Ballad [Bagford (British Museum), i. 88].
| He laid her on her Back, and paid her the shot, | |
| without ever a STIVER of Mony. |
1693. DAMPIER, Voyages, I. xx. For a Stranger they will not budge under a STIVER.
1700. FARQUHAR, The Constant Couple, i. 1. I there had a Dutch whore for five STIVERS.
1853. BULWER-LYTTON, My Novel, ix. 3. Entre nous, mon cher, I care not a STIVER for popularity.
d. 1891. J. R. LOWELL, Fitz-Adam’s Story.
| ‘There ’s fourteen foot and over,’ says the driver, | |
| ‘Worth twenty dollars ef it ’s worth a STIVER.’ |
1892. ZANGWILL, Children of the Ghetto, xxii. A SHTIBBUR (penny) for a blind man.
1902. LAWSON, Children of the Bush, 94. I ain’t got a lonely STEEVER on me.
