sneakers

Noun

sneaker (plural sneakers)

1. One who sneaks.
   • Beshrew the man who on such a day as this, the general festival, should affect to stand aloof. I am none of those sneakers. I am free of the corporation, and care not who knows it.1823, Elia [pseudonym; Charles Lamb], Elia. Essays which have Appeared under that Signature in The London Magazine, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC
2. (Atlantic-Canada, Australia, Florida, New Zealand, Northeastern, US) An athletic shoe with a soft, rubber sole. A trainer.
   • He was wearing a stained white singlet that revealed tufts of black hair under his arms, and slept-in white canvas trousers and rubber-soled sneakers.1954, Ian Fleming, “Death of a Pelican”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 138
3. (UK, archaic, dialectal) A vessel of drink.
   • Spectator
     I have just left the right worshipful and his myrmidons about a sneaker of five gallons!
4. (India, archaic) A large cup (or small basin) with a saucer and cover.
5. A sneaker male.
   • These sneakers may go on this way indefinitely, or, if one of the big males somehow dies or disappears, a sneaker male's hormones will trigger a huge growth spurt and he'll metamorphose into an alpha male.2008, Faye Flam, The Score: The Science of the Male Sex Drive