1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, ii. 1. Ay, ay, gamesters, mocke a plain soft wench of the suburbs, do. [[111]]
1620. Percy, Folio MSS., p. 404. Be not att ffirst to nice nor coye when gamsters you are courtinge.
2. (old).—A ruffler; a gallant; a wencher; a man fit and ready for anything; also a player.
1639–61. Rump, i., 253, ‘A Medley.’ Room for a gamester that flies at all he sees.
1676. Etheredge, Man of Mode, v., 1. Live it also like a frank gamester, on the square.
Gamey, adj. (colloquial).—1. High-smelling; offensive to the nose; half-rotten.
2. (colloquial).—Frisky; plucky.
1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xi. There’s something gamey in it, young ladies, ain’t there.
1869. S. Bowles, Our New West, p. 275. Horses are fresh and fat and gamey.
Gaminess, subs. (colloquial).—The malodorousness proceeding from decay and—by implication—filthiness.