piker

Meaning

1. A soldier armed with a pike, a pikeman.
2. One who bets or gambles only with small amounts of money.
3. A stingy person; a cheapskate.
4. An amateur.
5. A bullock living in the wild. (Also used attributively.)
6. (slang) One who refuses to go out with friends, or leaves a party early; a spoilsport or "chicken".
7. (slang) One who pikes (quits or backs out of a promise).
8. A male freshman at Cornell University.
9. A tramp; a vagrant.

Synonyms

cheapie

muckworm

deemer

miser

tightwad

skinflint

coward

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈpaɪkə(ɹ)/

Etymology

From pike + -er. In some senses, it has been linked etymologically to the word pikey as well as to Pike County in eastern Missouri https://web.archive.org/web/20051111194645/http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/p/p0300200.html. In the latter instance the term originally denoted poor immigrants to California.