heavy man
An old piece of American underworld slang for a serious criminal or hardened lawbreaker — someone who commits major crimes rather than petty offenses.
Definitions
An old piece of American underworld slang for a serious criminal or hardened lawbreaker — someone who commits major crimes rather than petty offenses. The 'heavy' in the name suggests weight, gravity, and menace: this isn't a pickpocket, this is someone who robs banks or worse. The term was in circulation during the early 20th century and belongs to the rich vocabulary of American criminal and pulp fiction slang. Mostly historical today, but it still shows up in period dramas and crime writing.
The detective warned the rookie that the guy they were after was a heavy man, not some two-bit thief.
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(US, slang, dated) A lawbreaker or criminal.
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Semantically related
- jug-heavy76%
Old American criminal slang for a safecracker — specifically someone who specializes in breaking into safes ('jugs' in heist vernacular). 'Jug-heavy' belongs to the colorful vocabulary of mid-20th century American crime culture, where safes were called jugs and the specialists who cracked them were the heavies. The term appears in pulp fiction, hard-boiled detective novels, and occasionally in accounts of real organized crime from the Prohibition and post-war eras.
- jug-heavy73%
(US, slang) A safecracker.
- heavy mob69%
(UK, informal) A group of bodyguards, enforcers, burly criminals or police, or similar heavies.
- heavy bread67%
Heavy bread is an uncommon American slang term for a large amount of money — significant cash or substantial financial reward. 'Bread' has been used as slang for money in Black American vernacular (from Cockney rhyming slang 'bread and honey' = money, later absorbed into broader usage), and 'heavy' intensifies the quantity. The phrase is rare enough that it reads as slightly dated or hip-hop inflected, used to emphasise both the size and the weight of a financial sum.