second-story man

American  

noun

1. a burglar who enters through an upstairs window.

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Etymology

Origin of second-story man

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

And so comes, as sure as the city’s other countless rites of summer, the “second-story man,” a thief, nicknamed more than a century ago, who breaks into upper-story apartments by way of windows left open to the breeze.

From New York Times

In Williamsburg, as the season of the second-story man begins, Detective Panagopoulos gave no-nonsense advice to residents — “Lock your windows” — and said the nickname was flawed.

From New York Times

A Season of Open Windows, and the Second-Story Man He left the apartment that Wednesday morning as he did every other day, planning on getting some work done on a book he was writing.

From New York Times

This second-story man worked downward.

From New York Times

In November 1887, detectives investigating a diamond heist on Lexington Avenue arrested a suspect they described as “the best second-story man in America,” but only after officers wasted precious time with a theory that it had been an inside job, for no other thief was “so cunning or agile.”

From New York Times