cinder dick

[ sin-der dik ]

nounSlang: Older Use.
  1. a railroad police detective: I knew that cinder dick was tailing me, so I ducked between two trains and hopped on the next freight car leaving the yard.

Origin of cinder dick

1
First recorded in 1920–25; so called from cinders of coal-burning locomotives + dick (in the sense “detective”)

Words Nearby cinder dick

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023