1791 W. Maclay Diary (1988) 390 He has acted in a Strange kind of Capacity half pimp half envoy, or perhaps more properly a kind of Political Eavesdropper about the British Court.

1865 Old Guard 3 429 Almost all the witnesses were the hired pimps and spies of Stanton's department—a set of vagabonds and thieves!

1899 J. Bradshaw Highway Robbery under Arms (1912) 8 Yes, savagely they murdered him, The cowardly Blue Coat imps, Who were led on to where he slept By informing Peeler's pimps.

1938 X. Herbert Capricornia 567 ‘I'm not a pimp.’ ‘What you mean pimp?’ ‘I'm not a police-informer.’

1974 Age (Melbourne) 12 Oct. 12/1 You fat pimp! The standard response to ‘I'm going to tell on you’.

1984 Drum (Johannesburg) July 48 He vowed revenge on those singled out as the ‘pimps’ who drove him to prison.

1940 D. Thomas Portrait of Artist as Young Dog 126 I lay like a pimp in a bush by Tom's side and squinted through to see him round his hands on Norma's breast.

1942 Z. N. Hurston in Amer. Mercury July 85 The Harlem pimp is a man whose amatory talents are for sale to any woman who will support him... He is actually a male prostitute.

1960 H. Wentworth & S. B. Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang 390/2 Pimp, a male prostitute, usu. to homosexuals. Since c1935; from the assoc. of pimp and prostitute.

1994 Buffalo News (N.Y.) (Nexis) 18 Feb. (Gusto section) 1 Pimp means a man putting himself up for exploitation by women, in other words, a male prostitute.

1631 B. Jonson Bartholmew Fayre iii. v. 41 in Wks. II I neuer saw a young Pimpe errant, and his Squire better match'd.

a1637 B. Jonson Magnetick Lady v. iv, in Wks. (1640) III I hope you take not me for a Pimpe errant, To deale in smock Affaires?

1684 T. Southerne Disappointment ii. i. 16 Now thou art Pimp-master in Ord'nary to my Family.

1660 (title) The ladies champion confounding the author of the wandring whore, by Eugenius Theodidactus, powder-monkey, roguy-crucian, pimp-master-general.

1696 M. Pix Spanish Wives i. ii. 5 Sir, you gave me five Ducats,—as I hope for Preferment, and to be made Pimp-master general, it deserves double the Sum.

1701 W. Kennett Cowell's Interpreter (new ed.) sig. N2a [Quotes Assize Roll, No. 48, m. 28^d, of 12 Edw. I (1284), ‘Willelmus Hoppeshort, tenet dimidiam virgatam terræ in Bokhampton de Domino Rege, per servitium custodiendi sex Damisellas, scil. meretrices, ad custum Domini Regis,’ and adds] i.e. by Pimp Tenure.

1800 G. Clark Memoranda legalia 391 (heading) Pimp-tenure.

1874 W. C. Hazlitt Blount's Tenures of Land 30 [Translating the Assize Roll in quot. 1701] Bockhampton, Co. of Berks... William Hoppeshort holds half a yard-land, in that town, of our lord the king, by the service of keeping for the king six damsels, to wit, whores, at the cost of the king. This was called pimp-tenure.

1707 J. Stevens tr. F. de Quevedo Comical Wks. 405 Such..Sayings are a Discredit to your self..as for Instance..a Pimp whisk; a tatter demallion; tittle tattle.

1638 J. Ford Fancies i. 8 'Tis a gallant life to bee an old Lords pimpe-whiskin.

a1652 R. Brome Damoiselle iii. i. sig. D4^v, in Five New Playes (1653) Here she comes, and the Pimp whiskin with her.

1694 T. D'Urfey Comical Hist. Don Quixote: Pt. 2nd v. i. 53 What can't you think, Pimp-whiskin?

1646 W. Scot in H. Mill 2nd Pt. Nights Search Pref. He never could find out what thou hast done: Or had he spi'd it, Pimp-like he'd conceale The fact, which honour drives thee to reveale.

1676 T. Shadwell Virtuoso i. 17 Prince-like, Pimp-like in sadness! I never knew an Orator that was not a Rascal.

1703 E. Ward London-Spy Compleat xv. 361 A Man..who has no way left but, Pimp like, to live upon other Peoples Debaucheries.

1793 J. B. Moreton W. Indian Customs & Manners (new ed.) 77 They [sc. the female slaves] are ordered from the field to wait upon their master and his friends; and though this is a pimp-like action, most managers are guilty of it.

1987 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 7 Nov. 34/3 The Transport Minister..yesterday accused a Liberal MHR of a ‘sneaky pimp-like campaign of innuendo’.

a1731 D. Defoe Curious & Diverting Journies thro' Great-Brit. (1734) 58/1 Those small light Bavins which are used in Taverns in London to light their Faggots,..the Wood-men call them Pimps.

1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue Pimp,..also a small faggot used about London for lighting fires, named from introducing the fire to the coals.

1862 Mrs. Grote Coll. Papers 157 Buying wood in the copses..and cutting it up at home in little faggots, called ‘pimps’.

1889 Official Advt. 17 Jan. The Commissioners of H.M. Works &c. are prepared to receive tenders for the supply of brushwood fagots (pimps) to the royal palaces, government offices, &c.

1924 W. Robinson Wood Fires 57 Small bundles of wood pimps are a great aid; usually about a foot long, and made up of small twigs of birch or hazel.

2000 T. Wales Sussex as She wus Spoke 38 Pimps, bundles of firewood.

1865 Atlantic Monthly July 53/1 That's what your pimping about us comes to. Want to ruin our business, do you?

1938 X. Herbert Capricornia 524 He reckons I pimped on him—and that's how the johns went out and grabbed 'em both.

1949 Landfall Mar. 30 He would grope out, head down, afraid to meet someone who would pimp on him.

1990 A. Duff Once were Warriors iii. 33 They look just like school prefects:..they'd pimp on you soon as look at you.

1969 in R. Penhallurick Gowerland & Lang. (1994) 73 Pimp, to watch on the sly.

1976 ‘R. Lewis’ Witness my Death i. 13 Dai—Pimping again then, is it?

1996 S. Moylan Lang. Kilkenny 199 Pimp, to spy on..to watch furtively.

2000 Re: What's Deal with Riceboys? in chi.general (Usenet newsgroup) 13 Mar. They have to pimp their ride up.

2002 Rolling Stone 14 Nov. 63/3 I pimped out the Bentley with white-and-blue-striped interior.

2004 N.Y. Times 4 July viii. 11/4 Customizers who ‘pimp’ their rides with gargantuan tires and costly, flashy wheels.

2006 Canad. Business (Electronic ed.) 25 Sept. 114 You get plenty of options to pimp your PC. For the exterior, you can choose Poison purple, Monaco yellow, [etc.].