note-shavern.
/ˈnəʊtˌʃeɪvə/, U.S. /ˈnoʊtˌʃeɪvər/ U.S. slang (now chiefly historical).
A person who discounts promissory notes at an exorbitant rate; a usurer. Cf. discount v. 3a.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > financial dealings > types of money-dealing > [noun] > use of bills of exchange > one dealing in bills of exchange > discounter
discounter1707
shaver1813
note-shaver1816
discount house1832
discount broker1863
bill-discounter1866
1816 Massachusetts Spy 4 Sept. 4/3 We have..too many note-shavers; too many gentlemen.
1851 N. Hawthorne House of Seven Gables xviii. 290 The wrinkled note-shaver will have taken his railroad trip in vain.
1880 ‘Ouida’ Moths I. 194 His father'd always been thought one of the biggest note-shavers in New York City.
1905 D. G. Phillips Plum Tree 11 But my clients were poor, and poor pay, and slow pay. Nobody was doing well but the note-shavers.
1947 Mississippi Valley Hist. Rev. 34 72 When court action was necessary the judges generally upheld the claims of the note ‘shaver’.
1999 New Yorker 8 Mar. 28/2 Goldman was then known as a ‘note shaver’: he bought I.O.U.s from local merchants and sold them to investors.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1816