bandit
[ban-dit]
- a robber, especially a member of a gang or marauding band.
- an outlaw or highwayman.
- Informal.
- a person who takes unfair advantage of others, as a merchant who overcharges; swindler; cheat.
- a vendor, cab driver, etc., who operates a business or works without a required license or permit, and without observing the usual rules or practices.
- Military Informal. an enemy aircraft, especially an attacking fighter.
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- make out like a bandit, Slang. to be extremely successful; profit greatly: The early investors in the company have made out like bandits.
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Origin of bandit
1585–95; earlier bandetto, plural banditti < Italian banditi outlaws, plural of bandito proscribed, past participle of bandire banish, exile, announce publicly < Gothic bandwjan to make a sign, indicate (cf. band1) with v. suffix -ire < Latin -īre
Synonyms
See more synonyms for bandit on Thesaurus.com1, 2. brigand, desperado.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
bandit
- a robber, esp a member of an armed gang; brigand
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Word Origin
C16: from Italian bandito, literally: banished man, from bandire to proscribe, from bando edict, ban 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for make out like a bandit
bandit
n.
1590s, from Italian bandito (plural banditi) "outlaw," past participle of bandire "proscribe, banish," from Vulgar Latin *bannire "to proclaim, proscribe," from Proto-Germanic *bann (see ban (v.)). *Bannire (or its Frankish cognate *bannjan) in Old French became banir-, which, with lengthened stem, became English banish.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with make out like a bandit
make out like a bandit
Succeed extremely well, as in He invested in real estate and made out like a bandit. This expression likens other forms of success to that of a triumphant robber. It may, however, come from an intermediate source, that is, the use of bandit (or one-armed bandit) for a slot machine, which is far more profitable for the house than for gamblers. [Slang; c. 1970]
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.