What does yeggmen mean?
Yeggmen is an informal, chiefly Australian and New Zealand term for thieves and swindlers, with a particularly strong association with pickpockets who worked in busy streets, stations, and other crowded public places. Depending on context, it can also mean confidence tricksters more generally: people who deceive others in order to obtain money or property. The word is usually plural and appears in journalistic, police, and historical descriptions of urban crime as well as in period fiction and dialogue intended to sound colorful or distinctly Australian. Its strong register makes it useful for recognizing older accounts of city life and for understanding why an otherwise straightforward reference to a crowd or event might suddenly become suspicious. It is not a neutral general term for all criminals, and modern speakers are more likely to use pickpocket, con artist, swindler, or thief. In its distinctive plural form, yeggmen also preserves an older layer of Australian slang that ordinary modern vocabulary has largely replaced.
noun (plural only)Yeggmen are thieves or swindlers, especially pickpockets who operated in crowded public places. The term is chiefly used in Australian and New Zealand informal English.
- Thieves or swindlers, especially pickpockets who worked in crowded public places.
- Confidence tricksters or swindlers more generally.
"The yeggmen disappeared into the crowd outside the railway station, each with another stolen wallet."
"Police warned passengers to watch for yeggmen during the busy festival weekend."
"The novel depicts a shadowy network of yeggmen operating on the streets of 1920s Melbourne."
The plural is the normal dictionary form and refers collectively to pickpockets, swindlers, or confidence tricksters.
"The report described how yeggmen targeted passengers around the busiest platforms."
The plural-only yeggmen were the pickpockets who specialized in busy streets, stations, and other crowded places.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of yeggmen
Yeggmen is an early twentieth-century English slang word especially associated with Australia and New Zealand. It is generally treated as the plural of yeggman, whose stem yegg denotes a swindler or criminal; the ultimate origin of yegg, however, is uncertain. The word thus has a clear morphological history even though its deeper source cannot be stated confidently.
Related word forms
How yeggmen is actually used
This is an informal, socially marked term associated especially with Australian and New Zealand English. It is particularly associated with pickpockets and is now encountered more often in historical, journalistic, or fictional contexts.
Easily confused with yeggmen
A yeggman is the singular form, whereas yeggmen is the usual plural used for such a thief or swindler.