1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.
1851–6. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, iii., 122. He was a little down at heel.
Heeled, adj. (American).—Armed. [From the steel spur used in cock-fighting.]
Heeler, subs. (American).—1. Followers or henchmen of a politician or a party.
1888. Denver Republican, 29 Feb. The heelers and strikers, bummers and stuffers, otherwise known as practical [[298]]politicians, who do the work at the Democratic polls, and manipulate the primaries and local conventions.
1888. New York Herald, 4 Nov. A band succeeded them and preceded a lot of ward heelers and floaters.
2. (American).—A bar, or other loafer; anyone on the look-out for shady work.
3. (American thieves’)—An accomplice in the pocket-book racket (q.v.). [The Heeler draws attention, by touching the victim’s heels, to a pocket-book containing counterfeit money which has been let drop by a companion, with a view to inducing the victim to part with genuine coin for a division of the find.]
4. (Winchester College).—A plunge, feet foremost, into water. Fr., une chandelle.
Heel-taps, subs. (common).—1. Liquor in the bottom of a glass. Bumpers round and no heel taps = Fill full, and drain dry! See Daylight. Fr., la musique.