spiv
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of spiv
1885–90; back formation from dial. spiving smart; perhaps akin to spiffy
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.
The actor - defined by his roles as Arthur Daley and St Trinian's spiv Flash Harry - died in hospital following a short illness, aged 90.
From BBC • Dec. 30, 2015
He’s what we Britons call a spiv, a dandified minor crook, and his knees seem to stay perpetually bent, often grotesquely so.
From New York Times • Jun. 7, 2013
He started off so smarmily overconfident about his new career as a spiv.
From Slate • Feb. 13, 2012
His father was a spiv, at school he felt like a secret agent infiltrating the upper classes, and writing was a response to his growing sense of the futility of spookery.
From The Guardian • Dec. 10, 2010
He is a spiv, and his roguish capacity for survival unites him with Ulysses, Tom Jones and Huckleberry Finn.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
