Faginn.
/ˈfeɪɡᵻn/, U.S. /ˈfeɪɡən/ allusive.
A criminal likened to the character Fagin in Dickens's novel Oliver Twist, esp. in being a trainer or leader of a gang of young thieves or pickpockets. Also with the (Criminals' slang): a title given to the head of a gang of receivers of stolen goods. Cf. Artful Dodger n. at artful adj. Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > thief > receiver of stolen goods > [noun] > and controller of young thieves
snap1591
cloyer1602
Fagin1839
1839 Times 22 Feb. 7/2 The ‘Fagins and Artful Dodgers’ of Field-lane.
1891 T. Byrnes in H. Campbell Darkness & Daylight (1893) iii. xxxix. 707 Cunning old professionals, veritable ‘Fagins’ are the brains of these ‘mobs’.
1905 Daily Chron. 14 Apr. 6/6 Thieves' kitchen kept by two modern Fagins.
1970 C. Drummond Stab in Back iv. 82 In the world of receivers of stolen property a kind of system of titles prevails, starting with ‘Cousin Joe’, progressing upwards through ‘the Uncle’ to ‘Father’—very important indeed, but dwarfed by..a gentleman known as ‘the Fagin’.
2015 Grimsby Tel. (Nexis) 4 Mar. 1 A mother has been branded a modern-day Fagin after she used her own children to help in cynical distraction thefts from shops.
Derivatives
ˈFagin-like adj. resembling or reminiscent of Fagin.
ΚΠ
1840 Boston Morning Post 26 Feb. Bloomfield replied—‘No, no. Give me the axe—you'll make a noise. I'll do it down in the cellar.’ How Fagin-like.
1907 Daily Chron. 17 May 3/4 The Fagin-like person who has hitherto been King of the Nile.
2000 L. Peters Orphan Texts ii. 43 Little John falls in with thieves who are under the control of Jolly Bob, a Fagin-like character.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1839