Clyfaker is an obsolete British slang term for a pickpocket — someone who steals from pockets in crowds.
Clyfaker is an obsolete British slang term for a pickpocket — someone who steals from pockets in crowds. The term belongs to the rich vocabulary of 18th and 19th century British criminal cant, appearing in period slang glossaries and accounts of the criminal underworld. The 'cly' element refers to a pocket in thieves' cant, while 'faker' means someone who makes or takes. Entirely archaic; of interest to criminal history researchers, cant language scholars, and social historians of Georgian and Victorian Britain.
The fair brought out clyfakers from across the city, working the crowds while the marks watched the entertainers.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
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(slang, obsolete) A pickpocket.
"clyfaker" means: A pickpocket.. This is informal slang, common in casual speech, texting and social media, but not appropriate for school work, applications or professional settings. There is no real cause for concern in itself; it is everyday peer vocabulary. If your child uses it, a light comment about audience and register is usually enough — no need to escalate. Context, more than the word, tells you whether to follow up.
"clyfaker" means: A pickpocket.. Register: informal slang, fine in casual conversation, texting and social media but not in academic essays, business writing or formal speech. Note the regional or dialect label (obsolete) — usage may sound odd outside that variety. A common non-native mistake is to use the word in the wrong register, or to assume one fixed meaning when it is actually polysemous; always check the surrounding register and the audience before producing it yourself. In formal writing, prefer a neutral synonym or a short descriptive phrase, and use this word only when you have heard or read it being used naturally in a comparable context.
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