peaky blinder

English

Harry Fowles, notorious peaky blinder, wearing his peaky blinder (cap)

Etymology

From the name of a street gang in Birmingham, the Peaky Blinders, who got their name From the peaked caps their members wore, and from blinder (“exceptional performance”) or from the practice of pulling a victims hat over his eyes so that he could not identify his attacker. There is a folk etymology claiming the "blinder" part of the name comes from the practice of stitching razor blades or weights into the peak of the cap and using it as a weapon to blind one's opponent, but this has been shown to be apocryphal.

Noun

peaky blinder (plural peaky blinders)

1. (historical) A member of the Peaky Blinders gang. They operated in Birmingham from the end of the 19th century until after the First World War. Gang members had a distinctive appearance: close-cropped hair, bell-bottomed trousers, peaked caps, and a white scarf knotted at the throat.
   • 1910, Robert Hall Best, William John Davis, Charles Perks, The Brassworkers of Berlin and of Birmingham: A Comparison, page 35:

     They return from camp with new boots, shirt, stockings and money; part of which is spent in excess on their first night's return after training and part goes to purchase a pair of “peaky blinder” trousers.

   • 1984, Midland History - Volumes 9-12, page 108:

     In Birmingham the 'peaky-blinder' and 'slogger' gangs were particularly notorious.

   • 2019, Carl Chinn, Peaky Blinders - The Real Story of Birmingham's most notorious gangs.:

     There is a reference in the Birmingham Daily Gazette to a 'hooligan outrage' in Newton Row in January 1907 - which had formerly been a peaky blinder stronghold - when three men of the peaky blinder type savagely attacked and robbed a businessman late at night, but there appears to be no mention of assaults or fights by peaky blinders after that..

   • 2016, Dick Hobbs, Mischief, Morality and Mobs, page 94:

     As Arthur Matthison recalled (1937:63), the peaky blinder wore: Bell-bottomed trousers secured by a buckle belt, hob-nailed boots, a jacket of sorts, a gaudy scarf and a billy-cock hat with a long elongated brim.

2. (archaic) A peaked cap like that worn by a peaky blinder, especially when worn with the peak pulled down to the side of the head.
   • 1899, The Puritan - Volume 5, page 206:

     So, in London, birds of a feather must flock together, willy nilly, silk hat and frock coat must go with white gloves and brown sables, “peaky blinder and “ choker " must associate with crop fringed hair, ear curls, and rakish three feathered hat.

   • 1968, Maurice Wiggin, The Memoirs of a Maverick, page 30:

     You could practically hear the rusty wheels whirring round beneath his black peaky blinder.

   • 2019, Carl Chinn, Peaky Blinders - The Real Story of Birmingham's most notorious gangs.:

     The peak of the peaky-blinder was usually slit open and pennies or razor-blades or pieces of slate inserted and stitched up again. The caps, peaky-blinders, were used in fighting to be whipped off the head and swiped across the opponent's eyes, momentarily blinding them or slashing the cheeks.

3. (Birmingham) Any ruffian or street gang member.
   • 1908, The Spectator - Volume 101, page 781:

     Probably the "hooligan" of London need not cost more to redeem than the " ike " of Manchester or the "peaky blinder" of Birmingham; the differences in expense lie in the method.

   • 1914, Pharmaceutical Journal - Volume 37, page 262:

     Hundreds of girls and youths, mainly of the “ peaky blinder ” type, parade the streets—sometimes half a dozen arm-in-arm across the pavements.

   • 2019, Carl Chinn, Peaky Blinders - The Real Story of Birmingham's most notorious gangs.:

     There is a reference in the Birmingham Daily Gazette to a 'hooligan outrage' in Newton Row in January 1907 - which had formerly been a peaky blinder stronghold - when three men of the peaky blinder type savagely attacked and robbed a businessman late at night, but there appears to be no mention of assaults or fights by peaky blinders after that..

   • 1964, Charles Frederick Victor Smout, The story of the progress of medicine, page 137:

     Nights on the district were nightmares. Peaky-blinder warrens down which the police daren't venture, except in twos; drunken gamp midwives under the bed, and often a race betwen half-an-inch of a guttering candle and a dawn two hours away, the patient indulging in a P.P.H., little or no water and no one to send for help.

Usage notes

The description of stitching razor-blades or weights into the peak of the cap and using it as a weapon has been shown to be apocryphal.