second-storey man

English

Alternative forms

• second-story man (US)

Pronunciation

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Noun

second-storey man (plural second-storey men)

1. (slang, US) A thief, especially one who climbs into buildings above ground level.

   Synonym: second-storey worker

   • 2007, Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes, Penguin, published 2008, page 4:

     They were appalled by his idea of making a spy service out of a scattershot collection of Wall Street brokers, Ivy League eggheads, soldiers of fortune, ad men, news men, stunt men, second-story men, and con men.

   • 2000, Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Random House, page 16:

     For a brief period in Warsaw in the 1890s, Kornblum had been forced into a life of crime, as a second-story man, and the prospect of prizing the Golem out of its current home, unsuspected, awoke wicked old memories of gaslight and stolen gems.