highbinder
Americannoun
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a swindler; confidence man; cheat.
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a dishonest political official or leader.
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a member of a secret Chinese band or society employed in U.S. cities in blackmail, assassination, etc.
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a ruffian or rowdy.
noun
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a gangster
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a corrupt politician
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(formerly) a member of a Chinese-American secret society that engaged in blackmail, murder, etc
Etymology
Origin of highbinder
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.
So I wasn’t going to have Beatrice’s husband a cutthroat and a highbinder as he would have to be if he had turned the whole trick.
From The Gorgeous Girl by Bartley, Nalbro
It was one Joe Ding, a notorious highbinder.
From The Bradys' Chinese Clew The Secrect Dens of Pell Street by Doughty, Francis Worcester
We have pegged those stocks where the slump would be most demoralizing and already this highbinder, Burton, has smashed those pegs like match-stems.
From Destiny by Buck, Charles Neville
Finally he questioned with soft cheer: "And what sort of a highbinder are you?"
From Son of Power by Comfort, Will Levington
Her next question was, "Have you ever been a highbinder?"
From As A Chinaman Saw Us Passages from his Letters to a Friend at Home by Gratton, Henry Pearson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
