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单词 spiv
释义

Definition of spiv in English:

spiv

noun spɪvspɪv
British informal
  • A man, typically a flashy dresser, who makes a living by disreputable dealings.

    〈英,非正式〉(多指衣冠奢华的)靠从事肮脏交易生活的人

    Example sentencesExamples
    • In the foreground, the spivs of spin hawk their pretty baubles.
    • Get rid of these dreadful spivs with their electric guitars and let's up the current affairs quota!
    • Harry is fed up being confused, alarmed and he finds he has seized the little weasel, the little spiv and ground him like pretzel against the dividing panel.
    • They watched in wonder as bankers, industrialists and assorted spivs piled up more and more riches.
    • What such a history would particularly need to convey in relation to higher education is the paradigm shift brought about since 1992 by the increasing influence of the spivs in suits (aka managers).
    • Guys like him are part of the English culture - he's like the spiv from the Second World War.
    • A bored telemarketer teams up with a mate for a get-rich scam that takes on all the get-richer spivs.
    • My new government of troglodytes, murderers and spivs barely elongates the customary scream I give upon waking.
    • Chairman of the Mid-Hants Watercress Line, David Snow, dressed as a spiv for the occasion, said the weekend was a resounding success with the first day attracting bigger crowds than last year.
    • Lincoln thought twice about extending her sportsmanship to helping the sepultural spiv up as she realized this would be seen as a demoralizing gesture rather than a respectful one.
    • She would recount how it was possible to buy anything - from meat, chocolate, cigarettes and the obligatory ‘nylons’ - from the spivs and black market racketeers.
    • That, and the simple fact that anybody with a gimmick on prime-time TV is bound to be a hit no matter what they do, whether it's nuns and paintings or suited spivs with antiques.
    • One of the choicest ironies is that he now speaks with disapproval about black marketeers, spivs and touts and unofficial operators, and has nothing but praise for his new friends in the RFU.
    • Regulars will be dressing up for the occasion too - as everything from wartime spivs to army officers and nurses.
    • Martin Clunes plays George Haigh, a wartime spiv who murdered nine people and dissolved their bodies in acid.
    • I thought the art of the spiv had died out years ago.
    • Dire circumstances gave social sanction to small scale corruption and spivs were simultaneously despised and admired as buccaneers.
    • The single exceptions (apart from the wicked spiv who finds the girls) are the only two working-class characters who show any signs of aspiration or youth.
    • Another accusation thrown at the market is that its light regulatory touch could open the door to spivs and hopeless cases.
    • Glass cites the example of the Soviet Union, whose old nomenklatura may now be numbered among ‘the tyrants and spivs of the succeeding capitalist order’.

Derivatives

  • spivvish

  • adjectiveˈspɪvɪʃˈspɪvɪʃ
    British informal
  • spivvy

  • adjectivespivviest, spivvierˈspɪviˈspɪvi
    British informal
    • Flashily dressed and seeming disreputable or untrustworthy.

      a young, spivvy salesman with a suitcase of samples
      Example sentencesExamples
      • And after a shaky start, Daniel actually starts to enjoy climbing his family tree - ranging from the willowy Rebecca to shakier timbers like the spivvy Irving.
      • The fact that he is played by an actor whom nature has condemned to permanently talk out of the side of his mouth, as if drawn by Picasso, adds to his spivvy air.
      • Again, the mode is parable: a spivvy Italian father tries to please his Anglicized young son by integrating into the mainstream through an arranged marriage.

Origin

1930s: perhaps related to spiffy.

Rhymes

forgive, give, live, misgive, outlive, shiv, sieve, Viv

Definition of spiv in US English:

spiv

nounspivspɪv
British informal
  • A man, typically characterized by flashy dress, who makes a living by disreputable dealings.

    〈英,非正式〉(多指衣冠奢华的)靠从事肮脏交易生活的人

    Example sentencesExamples
    • In the foreground, the spivs of spin hawk their pretty baubles.
    • One of the choicest ironies is that he now speaks with disapproval about black marketeers, spivs and touts and unofficial operators, and has nothing but praise for his new friends in the RFU.
    • A bored telemarketer teams up with a mate for a get-rich scam that takes on all the get-richer spivs.
    • My new government of troglodytes, murderers and spivs barely elongates the customary scream I give upon waking.
    • Glass cites the example of the Soviet Union, whose old nomenklatura may now be numbered among ‘the tyrants and spivs of the succeeding capitalist order’.
    • She would recount how it was possible to buy anything - from meat, chocolate, cigarettes and the obligatory ‘nylons’ - from the spivs and black market racketeers.
    • The single exceptions (apart from the wicked spiv who finds the girls) are the only two working-class characters who show any signs of aspiration or youth.
    • Martin Clunes plays George Haigh, a wartime spiv who murdered nine people and dissolved their bodies in acid.
    • Regulars will be dressing up for the occasion too - as everything from wartime spivs to army officers and nurses.
    • They watched in wonder as bankers, industrialists and assorted spivs piled up more and more riches.
    • What such a history would particularly need to convey in relation to higher education is the paradigm shift brought about since 1992 by the increasing influence of the spivs in suits (aka managers).
    • Get rid of these dreadful spivs with their electric guitars and let's up the current affairs quota!
    • Lincoln thought twice about extending her sportsmanship to helping the sepultural spiv up as she realized this would be seen as a demoralizing gesture rather than a respectful one.
    • Guys like him are part of the English culture - he's like the spiv from the Second World War.
    • I thought the art of the spiv had died out years ago.
    • That, and the simple fact that anybody with a gimmick on prime-time TV is bound to be a hit no matter what they do, whether it's nuns and paintings or suited spivs with antiques.
    • Harry is fed up being confused, alarmed and he finds he has seized the little weasel, the little spiv and ground him like pretzel against the dividing panel.
    • Another accusation thrown at the market is that its light regulatory touch could open the door to spivs and hopeless cases.
    • Chairman of the Mid-Hants Watercress Line, David Snow, dressed as a spiv for the occasion, said the weekend was a resounding success with the first day attracting bigger crowds than last year.
    • Dire circumstances gave social sanction to small scale corruption and spivs were simultaneously despised and admired as buccaneers.

Origin

1930s: perhaps related to spiffy.

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更新时间:2024/10/19 14:50:34