thimblerigger

See also: thimble-rigger

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

thimblerig +‎ -er or thimble +‎ rigger

Noun

thimblerigger (plural thimbleriggers)

  1. One who cheats by thimblerigging, or tricks of legerdemain.
    • 1899, Stephen Crane, chapter 1, in Twelve O'Clock:
      “ […] Them rich fellers, they don't make no bad breaks with their money. They watch it all th' time b'cause they know blame well there ain't hardly room fer their feet fer th' pikers an' tin-horns an' thimble-riggers what are layin' fer 'em. […] ”
    • 1980, Bernard MacLaverty, 'Lamb' (novel), (Chapter 6, at page 50 in the 1981 King Penguin paperback edition):
      "Mrs Kane has been filling us in on some background information on Owen." The woman nodded, drumming her nicotined fingers. "And I have been assuring her that the boys who arrive here thimbleriggers and termagants are the least of our worries. But we do not send them out that way. Do we, Brother?"

Translations

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for thimblerigger in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)

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