spiv
(UK, Irish, dated) A flashy con artist, often homeless, who lives by his wits.
Etymology timeline
Born ~1904 · 1 year of recorded useSeen in the wild
🙄 This latest spiv-iteration of the capitalist casino is going to screw all of us over again someday soon - but, don't worry, the super-rich greedy scumbags behind it will walk away richer and unscathed... #Greed #In…
So the Clacton Crypto-spiv’s latest excuse is “there’s more than one way to pay for a house” so presumably there is more than one way to avoid paying £44,000 in stamp duty? ‘Prime Minister in waiting’! 🤮🤮🤮
How can something be unconditional and unpolitical when its £5m gbp?! The spiv speaks … but he makes no sense. Just like Brexit www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Definitions
(UK, Irish, dated) A flashy con artist, often homeless, who lives by his wits.
I make no apology for attacking spivs and gamblers who did more harm to the British economy than [transport union leader] Bob Crow could achieve in his wildest Trotskyite fantasies, while paying themselves outrageous bonuses underwritten…
“🙄 This latest spiv-iteration of the capitalist casino is going to screw all of us over again someday soon - but, don't worry, the super-rich greedy scumbags behind it will walk away richer and unscathed... #Greed #Insanity #Idiocy www.theguardian.com/business/202...”
— Bluesky· May 2026“So the Clacton Crypto-spiv’s latest excuse is “there’s more than one way to pay for a house” so presumably there is more than one way to avoid paying £44,000 in stamp duty? ‘Prime Minister in waiting’! 🤮🤮🤮”
— Bluesky· May 2026
Comments
(UK, Irish, dated, Scotland Yard) A low and common thief.
It was Robeson who introduced me to the other blacks in New York, the Show Boat cast, the hangers-on, girlfriends, spivs, and bookies. "My people," he called them, "my brothers and sisters"
“How can something be unconditional and unpolitical when its £5m gbp?! The spiv speaks … but he makes no sense. Just like Brexit www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...”
— Bluesky· May 2026
Comments
(UK, Irish, historical) A smartly dressed person who trades in illicit, black-market or stolen goods, especially during World War II.
It was Robeson who introduced me to the other blacks in New York, the Show Boat cast, the hangers-on, girlfriends, spivs, and bookies. "My people," he called them, "my brothers and sisters"
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UK and Irish slang — Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, Yorkshire, Glaswegian, Brummie, Welsh, West Country, plus Irish English. Centuries of regional dialects feeding into modern British and Irish street talk.
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