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spiv

noun
/spɪv/

Etymology

Unknown. Perhaps from spiff, spiffy. Spiv was the nickname of Henry Bagster, a Londoner arrested a number of times in 1904-6 for activities as described below, and may have been the archetype. Also possibly from Romani spiv (“sparrow”), as active and opportunistic.

  1. derived from spiv — “sparrow”

Definitions

  1. A smartly dressed person who trades in illicit, black-market or stolen goods, especially…

    A smartly dressed person who trades in illicit, black-market or stolen goods, especially during World War II.

  2. A flashy con artist, often homeless, who lives by his wits.

    • I mean, Mayfair is just top spivs stepping into the slippers of the former gentry, and Belgravia, like I've said, is all flats in houses built as palaces, and Chelsea—well!
    • It was Robeson who introduced me to the other blacks in New York, the Show Boat cast, the hangers-on, girlfriends, spivs, and bookies. "My people," he called them, "my brothers and sisters" […]

  3. A low and common thief.

  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. A slacker

      A slacker; one who shirks responsibility.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for spiv. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA