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
Mutt was entirely motivated by greed, a dim-witted spiv with a compulsion to gamble and develop ill-conceived get-rich-quick schemes.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 24, 2012
He started off so smarmily overconfident about his new career as a spiv.
From Slate ● Feb. 13, 2012
British Novelist Francis King, 34, pitches his inhumane comedy on the rise and fall of a young Greek spiv of the postwar dead-beat generation.
From Time Magazine Archive
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