1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique iii. ix. 440 The furniture and tooles wherewith a grafter shoulde be furnished..are [etc.].

1661 R. Boyle Two Ess. Unsuccessfulness Exper. ii, in Certain Physiol. Ess. 82 I am inform'd by the trials of more than one of the most skilful and experienc'd Grafters of these parts, that a man shall seldom fail of having Cherries born by his Graft.

1600 W. Shakespeare Henry V iii. v. 9 Shall a few spranes of vs..Outgrow their grafters.

a1770 T. Chatterton Compl. Wks. (1971) I. 437 Monarchs! Of mole-hills, oyster beds, a rock; These are the grafters of your royal stock.

a1884 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Suppl. 410/2 Grafter, a fine-toothed, pointed, narrow-bladed, hand-saw, used in sawing off limbs and stocks for the insertion of grafts.

1877 E. Peacock Gloss. Words Manley & Corringham, Lincs. Grafter, a long iron spade used for digging hard ground, especially by workmen engaged in making drains and banks.

1899 ‘J. Flynt’ Tramping with Tramps 394 Grafter, a pickpocket.

1900 Daily Express 22 June 5/3 American thieves, hotel robbers, ‘bunco steerers’, ‘grafters’, ‘con’ men, and ‘crooks’ of every degree.

1901 ‘H. McHugh’ John Henry 49 No more swell Sandwich Salons for me, where the grafters want to butt in all the while.

1916 S. Leacock Ess. & Lit. Stud. 205 All the world loves a grafter—at least a genial and ingenious grafter—a Robin Hood who plunders an abbot to feed a beggar, an Alfred Jingle, a Scapin, a Raffles.

1926 E. Wallace Yellow Snake ix. 76 You're not exactly wrapping up your words now... You've called me a grafter and a crook.

1967 J. Morgan Involved 82 She's a straight bird..not a grafter.

1896 Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch 20 Apr. 3/8 Most of the ‘grafters’ have left the town, and not many of them will remain here.

1904 F. Lynde Grafters xxiv. 298 You were to crush the grafters in this railroad struggle—show them up.

1904 Daily Chron. 28 Mar. 3/5 Kuropatkin shares with Prince Khilkoff, the Minister of Railways, the distinction of being one of the few high officials who are not called grafters.

1908 Daily Chron. 16 Nov. 1/7 Many of his ‘grafter’ friends will be tried for attempted murder.

1914 G. Atherton Perch of Devil i. 58 And although she has her pestilential politicians, her grafters.., yet ability and talent make good as always.

1920 R. L. Alsaker Maintaining Health 356 Children who are waited upon much become selfish. They soon become grafters, expecting and taking everything and giving nothing.

1935 A. J. Cronin Stars look Down iii. vi. 526 They've always been a set of grafters down there; local government has been one long sweet laugh.

1958 S. Ellin Eighth Circle (1959) ii. viii. 95 And what happens to somebody who..isn't a born grafter? They make him one, that's what!

1900 H. Lawson On Track 41 ‘What are we to do now?’ enquired Andy, who was the hardest grafter, but altogether helpless, hopeless, and useless in a crisis like this.

1906 E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands vi. 62 Several of the piece-workers, confirmed grafters, toiled with swift fingers.

1913 W. K. Harris Outback in Austral. 24 Shared and shared alike, the loafer with the grafter.

1927 Glasgow Herald 19 Mar. 9 The visiting eight are heavy and expert in the tight, and to meet them we have a pack which contains at least three players who are by no means ‘grafters’.

1959 Times 24 Jan. 3/7 He is a grafter rather than a fluent striker, with little back-lift, plenty of concentration, and a willingness to use his feet.