Fagin

American  

[fey-gin] / ˈfeɪ gɪn /

noun

1. (in Dickens'Oliver Twist ) a villainous old man who trains and uses young boys as thieves.

2. Also fagin. a person who teaches crime to others.

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Fagin Cultural  

1. A villain in the novel Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens. The unscrupulous, miserly Fagin teaches Oliver Twist and other orphaned boys to pick pockets and steal for him.

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Example Sentences

Flanagan at Largo — who owns Largo — he’s the reason I love L.A. and he sort of took me in, I think of him like Fagin in “Oliver.”

From Los Angeles Times

Among other achievements, Dr. Fagin was widely credited with overturning the common practice of strictly limiting parental visits to hospitalized children.

From New York Times

“The assassination certainly defined a generation,” Fagin said.

From Seattle Times

Mr Rawlins had performed as Fagin to 14-year-old Williams' Artful Dodger in a sold-out North Staffs Operatic Society performance of Oliver! in 1988 - just two years before Take That was formed.

From BBC

Oliver’s transit from the workhouse to an undertaker’s establishment to Fagin’s hide-out, spread across eight chapters in the Dickens, takes what seems like a blink of an eye here.

From New York Times