1839. Buckstone, Brother Tom (Dick’s ed., p. 15). One calls him an old hunks, another a selfish brute.
1840. Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop, ch. vii., p. 35. That you become the sole inheritor of the wealth of this rich old hunks.
1846. Melville, Moby Dick, 75 (ed. 1892). Bildad, I am sorry to say, had the reputation of being an incorrigible old hunks.
1857. A. Trollope, Three Clerks, ch. iii. I am sure he is a cross old hunks, though Mamma says he’s not.
1893. Theodore Martin, Roman Elegies, ii. (Goethe Society Trans., 1891–2, p. 72). Joys that he stints not his gold like the close hunxes of Rome.
Hunky, adj. (American).—Good; jolly; a general superlative. Also Hunkidorum.
d. 1867. Browne, ‘Artemus Ward,’ The Shakers (Railway ed.), p. 43. ‘Hunky boy! Go it my gay and festive cuss!’
1873. Justin McCarthy, Fair Saxon, ch. xxxviii. The guard dies, but never surrenders! Fine, isn’t it? But the hunky-boy that said that surrendered all the same.
1888. Texas Siftings, 20 Oct. Robert is all hunky, but he had a mighty close call the week before last.
Hunt, verb. (old).—To decoy a pigeon (q.v.) to the tables. Hence hunting = card-sharping. Flat-catching (q.v.).