See spiv in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for spiv meaning in English (5.1kB)
{
"derived": [
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
"word": "spivvery"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
"word": "spivish"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
"word": "spivvy"
}
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en"
},
"expansion": "Unknown",
"name": "unk"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "spiff"
},
"expansion": "spiff",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "spiffy"
},
"expansion": "spiffy",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "rom",
"3": "spiv",
"t": "sparrow"
},
"expansion": "Romani spiv (“sparrow”)",
"name": "der"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Unknown. Perhaps from spiff, spiffy. Spiv was the nickname of Henry Bagster, a Londoner arrested a number of times in 1904-6 for activities as described below, and may have been the archetype. Also possibly from Romani spiv (“sparrow”), as active and opportunistic.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "spivs",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "spiv (plural spivs)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "British English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "46 37 5 12",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "50 39 3 8",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
"parents": [
"Entries with topic categories using raw markup",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "56 27 7 10",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Crime",
"orig": "en:Crime",
"parents": [
"Criminal law",
"Society",
"Law",
"All topics",
"Justice",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "34 28 6 31",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "People",
"orig": "en:People",
"parents": [
"Human",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A smartly dressed person who trades in illicit, black-market or stolen goods, especially during World War II."
],
"id": "en-spiv-en-noun-9A1GgLgE",
"links": [
[
"trade",
"trade"
],
[
"illicit",
"illicit"
],
[
"black-market",
"black-market"
],
[
"stolen",
"stolen"
],
[
"goods",
"goods"
],
[
"World War II",
"World War II"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(British, historical) A smartly dressed person who trades in illicit, black-market or stolen goods, especially during World War II."
],
"tags": [
"British",
"historical"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "British English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "34 28 6 31",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "People",
"orig": "en:People",
"parents": [
"Human",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1978, Paul Theroux, Picture Palace, page 92",
"text": "It was Robeson who introduced me to the other blacks in New York, the Show Boat cast, the hangers-on, girlfriends, spivs, and bookies. \"My people,\" he called them, \"my brothers and sisters\" […]",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2010 September 22, Gavin Stamp, quoting Vince Cable, “Cable in attack on bonuses for City 'spivs'”, in BBC News",
"text": "I make no apology for attacking spivs and gamblers who did more harm to the British economy than [transport union leader] Bob Crow could achieve in his wildest Trotskyite fantasies, while paying themselves outrageous bonuses underwritten by the taxpayer.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A flashy con artist, often homeless, who lives by his wits."
],
"id": "en-spiv-en-noun-rD7hwZLz",
"links": [
[
"con artist",
"con artist"
],
[
"wits",
"wits"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(British, dated) A flashy con artist, often homeless, who lives by his wits."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "sharper"
},
{
"word": "chiseler"
},
{
"word": "wide boy"
},
{
"word": "fraudster"
},
{
"word": "confidence trickster"
}
],
"tags": [
"British",
"dated"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "British English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A low and common thief."
],
"id": "en-spiv-en-noun-C0R673f2",
"links": [
[
"Scotland Yard",
"Scotland Yard"
],
[
"thief",
"thief"
]
],
"qualifier": "Scotland Yard",
"raw_glosses": [
"(British, dated, Scotland Yard) A low and common thief."
],
"tags": [
"British",
"dated"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "British English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "34 28 6 31",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "People",
"orig": "en:People",
"parents": [
"Human",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A slacker; one who shirks responsibility."
],
"id": "en-spiv-en-noun-w3d95GGe",
"links": [
[
"slacker",
"slacker"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(British, dated) A slacker; one who shirks responsibility."
],
"tags": [
"British",
"dated"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/spɪv/"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ɪv"
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-spiv.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9b/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-spiv.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-spiv.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9b/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-spiv.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-spiv.wav.ogg",
"tags": [
"Southern-England"
],
"text": "Audio (Southern England)"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"spiv"
],
"word": "spiv"
}
{
"categories": [
"English 1-syllable words",
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
"English lemmas",
"English nouns",
"English terms derived from Romani",
"English terms with IPA pronunciation",
"English terms with audio links",
"English terms with unknown etymologies",
"Rhymes:English/ɪv",
"Rhymes:English/ɪv/1 syllable",
"en:Crime",
"en:People"
],
"derived": [
{
"word": "spivvery"
},
{
"word": "spivish"
},
{
"word": "spivvy"
}
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en"
},
"expansion": "Unknown",
"name": "unk"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "spiff"
},
"expansion": "spiff",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "spiffy"
},
"expansion": "spiffy",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "rom",
"3": "spiv",
"t": "sparrow"
},
"expansion": "Romani spiv (“sparrow”)",
"name": "der"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Unknown. Perhaps from spiff, spiffy. Spiv was the nickname of Henry Bagster, a Londoner arrested a number of times in 1904-6 for activities as described below, and may have been the archetype. Also possibly from Romani spiv (“sparrow”), as active and opportunistic.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "spivs",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "spiv (plural spivs)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"British English",
"English terms with historical senses"
],
"glosses": [
"A smartly dressed person who trades in illicit, black-market or stolen goods, especially during World War II."
],
"links": [
[
"trade",
"trade"
],
[
"illicit",
"illicit"
],
[
"black-market",
"black-market"
],
[
"stolen",
"stolen"
],
[
"goods",
"goods"
],
[
"World War II",
"World War II"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(British, historical) A smartly dressed person who trades in illicit, black-market or stolen goods, especially during World War II."
],
"tags": [
"British",
"historical"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"British English",
"English dated terms",
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1978, Paul Theroux, Picture Palace, page 92",
"text": "It was Robeson who introduced me to the other blacks in New York, the Show Boat cast, the hangers-on, girlfriends, spivs, and bookies. \"My people,\" he called them, \"my brothers and sisters\" […]",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2010 September 22, Gavin Stamp, quoting Vince Cable, “Cable in attack on bonuses for City 'spivs'”, in BBC News",
"text": "I make no apology for attacking spivs and gamblers who did more harm to the British economy than [transport union leader] Bob Crow could achieve in his wildest Trotskyite fantasies, while paying themselves outrageous bonuses underwritten by the taxpayer.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A flashy con artist, often homeless, who lives by his wits."
],
"links": [
[
"con artist",
"con artist"
],
[
"wits",
"wits"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(British, dated) A flashy con artist, often homeless, who lives by his wits."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "sharper"
},
{
"word": "chiseler"
},
{
"word": "wide boy"
},
{
"word": "fraudster"
},
{
"word": "confidence trickster"
}
],
"tags": [
"British",
"dated"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"British English",
"English dated terms"
],
"glosses": [
"A low and common thief."
],
"links": [
[
"Scotland Yard",
"Scotland Yard"
],
[
"thief",
"thief"
]
],
"qualifier": "Scotland Yard",
"raw_glosses": [
"(British, dated, Scotland Yard) A low and common thief."
],
"tags": [
"British",
"dated"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"British English",
"English dated terms"
],
"glosses": [
"A slacker; one who shirks responsibility."
],
"links": [
[
"slacker",
"slacker"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(British, dated) A slacker; one who shirks responsibility."
],
"tags": [
"British",
"dated"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/spɪv/"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ɪv"
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-spiv.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9b/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-spiv.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-spiv.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9b/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-spiv.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-spiv.wav.ogg",
"tags": [
"Southern-England"
],
"text": "Audio (Southern England)"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"spiv"
],
"word": "spiv"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (93a6c53 and 21a9316). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.