"swell mob" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "swell mobs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
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  ],
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {},
      "expansion": "swell mob (plural swell mobs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
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            "Fundamental"
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          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "swell-mobsman"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1850 September 14, [Charles Dickens], “Three “Detective” Anecdotes”, in Charles Dickens, editor, Household Words. A Weekly Journal., volume I, number 25, London: Office, […], →OCLC:",
          "text": "But some of the Swell Mob, on the occasion of this Derby that I refer to, so far kiddied us as to hire a horse and shay; start away from London by Whitechapel, and miles round; come into Epsom from the opposite direction; […]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1856, George Laval Chesterton, Revelations of Prison Life, 2nd revised edition, volume 1, London: Hurst and Blackett, →OCLC, page 137:",
          "text": "A grand distinction is to be drawn, in this respect, between the swell mob and common thieves; the former being, for the most part, men of the world, of some education—not appearing at all flash (thief-like), but, on the contrary, acting the part of gentlemen in society.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1911, G. K. Chesterton, “Our Mutual Friend”, in Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens, London: J. M. Dent & Sons, →OCLC, page 212:",
          "text": "There is the old faculty of managing a crowd, of making character clash with character, that had made Dickens not only the democrat but even the demagogue of fiction. For if it is hard to manage a mob, it is hardest of all to manage a swell mob. The particular kind of chaos that is created by the hospitality of a rich upstart has perhaps never been so accurately and outrageously described.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2002, Meg Arnot, Cornelie Usborne, Gender And Crime in Modern Europe, page 82:",
          "text": "A boy called Hewitt, awaiting transportation on the Euryalus hulk in the mid-1830s, told an interviewer that the swell-mob would often call into lodging-houses in order to recruit \"go-alongs\" for thieving expeditions: \"boys are delighted [they] think it an honour to go with a swell-mob\".",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Well-dressed thieves and swindlers, regarded collectively."
      ],
      "id": "en-swell_mob-en-noun-4mt5B9~a",
      "links": [
        [
          "thieves",
          "thief"
        ],
        [
          "swindler",
          "swindler"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(archaic, slang) Well-dressed thieves and swindlers, regarded collectively."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
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  "word": "swell mob"
}

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "swell-mobsman"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "swell mobs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {},
      "expansion": "swell mob (plural swell mobs)",
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
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        {
          "ref": "1850 September 14, [Charles Dickens], “Three “Detective” Anecdotes”, in Charles Dickens, editor, Household Words. A Weekly Journal., volume I, number 25, London: Office, […], →OCLC:",
          "text": "But some of the Swell Mob, on the occasion of this Derby that I refer to, so far kiddied us as to hire a horse and shay; start away from London by Whitechapel, and miles round; come into Epsom from the opposite direction; […]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1856, George Laval Chesterton, Revelations of Prison Life, 2nd revised edition, volume 1, London: Hurst and Blackett, →OCLC, page 137:",
          "text": "A grand distinction is to be drawn, in this respect, between the swell mob and common thieves; the former being, for the most part, men of the world, of some education—not appearing at all flash (thief-like), but, on the contrary, acting the part of gentlemen in society.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1911, G. K. Chesterton, “Our Mutual Friend”, in Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens, London: J. M. Dent & Sons, →OCLC, page 212:",
          "text": "There is the old faculty of managing a crowd, of making character clash with character, that had made Dickens not only the democrat but even the demagogue of fiction. For if it is hard to manage a mob, it is hardest of all to manage a swell mob. The particular kind of chaos that is created by the hospitality of a rich upstart has perhaps never been so accurately and outrageously described.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2002, Meg Arnot, Cornelie Usborne, Gender And Crime in Modern Europe, page 82:",
          "text": "A boy called Hewitt, awaiting transportation on the Euryalus hulk in the mid-1830s, told an interviewer that the swell-mob would often call into lodging-houses in order to recruit \"go-alongs\" for thieving expeditions: \"boys are delighted [they] think it an honour to go with a swell-mob\".",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Well-dressed thieves and swindlers, regarded collectively."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "thieves",
          "thief"
        ],
        [
          "swindler",
          "swindler"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(archaic, slang) Well-dressed thieves and swindlers, regarded collectively."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
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  "word": "swell mob"
}