Cad

or CADGER (from which it is shortened), a mean or vulgar fellow; a beggar; one who would rather live on other people than work for himself; a man who tries to worm something out of another, either money or information. Johnson uses the word, and gives huckster as the meaning, in which sense it was originally used. Apparently from CAGER , or GAGER , the old Cant term for a man. The exclusives at the English Universities apply the term CAD to all non-members. It has also been suggested that the word may be a contraction of the French CADET .