1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker; p. 207. Give her ginger, boys.
Adj. (common).—Red-haired; foxy (q.v.); judas-haired (q.v.). Also ginger-pated, ginger-hackled, and gingery.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Red-haired; a term borrowed from the cock-pit, where red cocks are called gingers.
1839. H. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard, ch. xii. Somebody may be on the watch—perhaps that old ginger-hackled Jew.
1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xix., p. 160. The very learned gentleman who has cooled the natural heat of his gingery complexion in pools and fountains of law, until he has become great in knotty arguments for term-time.
1878. M. E. Braddon, Cloven Foot, ch. iv. The landlady was a lean-looking widow, with a false front of gingery curls.
Gingerbread, subs. (old).—1. Money: e.g., ‘He has the gingerbread’ = he is rich.
1690. B. E. Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood. Your old dad had the gingerbread.