Fagin
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A person who entices children into criminal activity, often teaching them how to conduct those crimes, and profits from their crimes in return for support.
"The indignation of the self-respecting deaf is aroused by the fact that nine-tenths of the mendicant peddling is engineered by slick Fagins who teach inexperienced deaf youths the tricks of the trade and then collect the lion's share of the profits."
- 2 Alternative form of Fagin. alt-of, alternative
"From February until the following October, Latsky was daily in the streets with the "fagins," who made much of him; for at ten years of age he was admitted to be one of the very cleverest of all the young thieves on the East Side."
Example
More examples"The indignation of the self-respecting deaf is aroused by the fact that nine-tenths of the mendicant peddling is engineered by slick Fagins who teach inexperienced deaf youths the tricks of the trade and then collect the lion's share of the profits."
Etymology
From the character named Fagin in Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist.