spiv

名词 n.
中文释义

英文释义

名词 n.
  1. A smartly dressed person who trades in illicit, black-market or stolen goods, especially during World War II. Ireland,UK,historical
  2. A flashy con artist, often homeless, who lives by his wits. Ireland,UK,dated
    — 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!
  3. A low and common thief. Ireland,UK,dated
  4. A slacker; one who shirks responsibility. Ireland,UK,dated

词形变化

spivs plural

词汇关系

衍生词
spivish spivvery spivvish spivvy

词源

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.
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