Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

yegg

American  
[yeg] / yɛg /

noun

Older Slang.
  1. a safecracker.

  2. an itinerant burglar.

  3. thug.


yegg British  
/ jɛɡ /

noun

  1. slang a burglar or safe-breaker

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of yegg

First recorded in 1925–30, of obscure origin; the proposals that the word is from German Jäger “hunter” or that it is the surname of a well-known safecracker are both very dubious

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Sometimes, though, past and present combinations commingle in the mind, leaving men to huddle in the cold like hapless burglars while waiting for the frozen-fingered deciphering of the head yegg.

From New York Times • May 22, 2012

There the discarded lemon can be stuffed with colorful yegg and luscious tomato, wrapped in the right sort of cabbage, and served to the public as something called a rehash.

From Time Magazine Archive

North Carolina thinks a Yankee yegg grabbed its historic document during the Civil War when General William Tecumseh Sherman tramped through Raleigh.

From Time Magazine Archive

A masterpiece of bamboozlement, Catch Me is a kind of catch-22 between rival and riven U.S. agencies, written in a style that ranges from hardest-boiled yegg to souffl�, with nothing poached.

From Time Magazine Archive

A yegg never does any damage unless he's right on top of his man.

From The Long Chance by Kyne, Peter B. (Peter Bernard)