yegg

American  

[yeg] / yɛg /

noun

Older Slang.

1. a safecracker.

2. an itinerant burglar.

3. thug.

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yegg British  

/ jɛɡ /

noun

1. slang a burglar or safe-breaker

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Etymology

Origin of yegg

First recorded in 1925–30, of obscure origin; the proposals that the word is from German Jäger “hunter” or that it is the surname of a well-known safecracker are both very dubious

Example Sentences

Sometimes, though, past and present combinations commingle in the mind, leaving men to huddle in the cold like hapless burglars while waiting for the frozen-fingered deciphering of the head yegg.

From New York Times • May 22, 2012

But the yegg is just a softie under his shell.

From Time Magazine Archive

There the discarded lemon can be stuffed with colorful yegg and luscious tomato, wrapped in the right sort of cabbage, and served to the public as something called a rehash.

From Time Magazine Archive

Stranded Thomas "Red" Moran is young, anemic and a hardboiled yegg.

From Time Magazine Archive

We've identified him as Missouri Horton of the Scott Gang—he got a Sing Sing life sentence for yegg work in Yonkers.

From Stories from Everybody's Magazine by Various