card sharp

noun

ˈkärd-ˌshärp 

variants or cardsharp or especially formerly cardsharper

ˈkärd-ˌshär-pər 

plural card sharps or cardsharps also cardsharpers

: a person who makes money by cheating at card games : card shark

An Italian card sharp who used infra-red contact lenses to count cards marked with invisible ink has been jailed for two years.

—Henry Samuel

Fields folded in on himself like a cardsharp checking the aces up his sleeve …

—Richard Alleva

There was no evil which they would not believe of Mazarin, that he was a thief, a cardsharper, a perverted libertine …

—H. A. L. Fisher

also : a skilled card player

… 350 big-time cardsharps convened last week for the 29th annual World Series of Poker at Binion's Horseshoe hotel and casino …

—Tricia Laine and Andrew Essex

Word History

First Known Use

1840, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for card sharp

• carp
• harp
• scarp
• tarp
• endocarp
• pericarp