long firm

English

Etymology

• Perhaps from the idea that such a firm (company) would claim to have been established for a long time.
• Perhaps from Old English gelang (“fraudulent”) and Italian firma (“signature”).

(Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Noun

long firm (plural long firms)

1. A company of swindlers who obtain goods on pretence of being established in business, and then decamp without payment to do the same elsewhere.