British slang for a petty thief — the kind who targets small, low-value items rather than pulling off anything dramatic. The name conjures a comically unglamorous criminal: not robbing banks, just nicking coins from someone's prepayment gas meter. It's used with a mixture of contempt and dark humour for people who steal from their own neighbours. A very specifically British way of describing the lowest rung of local criminal life.
The police weren't exactly stretched — they were looking for a gas meter bandit who'd done over three bedsits on the estate.
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(chiefly British, slang) A small-time thief.
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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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