spiv

English

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spɪv/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪv

Noun

spiv (plural spivs)

1. (UK, Ireland, historical) A smartly dressed person who trades in illicit, black-market or stolen goods, especially during World War II.
2. (UK, Ireland, dated) A flashy con artist, often homeless, who lives by his wits.

   Synonyms: sharper, chiseler, wide boy; see also Thesaurus:fraudster, Thesaurus:confidence trickster

   • 1960 [1959], Colin MacInnes, Absolute Beginners, New York: Macmillan, page 65:

     I mean, Mayfair is just top spivs stepping into the slippers of the former gentry, and Belgravia, like I've said, is all flats in houses built as palaces, and Chelsea—well!

   • 1978, Paul Theroux, Picture Palace, page 92:

     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" […]

   • 2010 September 22, Gavin Stamp, quoting Vince Cable, “Cable in attack on bonuses for City 'spivs'”, in BBC News‎^[1]:

     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.

3. (UK, Ireland, dated, Scotland Yard) A low and common thief.
4. (UK, Ireland, dated) A slacker; one who shirks responsibility.

Derived terms

• spivvery
• spivish
• spivvy

Further reading

• Michael Quinion (1996–2024) “Spiv”, in World Wide Words.
• “spiv n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present
• Eric Partridge (2005) “spiv”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, volume 2 (J–Z), London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 1837.

Anagrams

• IVPs, Visp, VIPs, PIVs, V.I.P.s