hoister

English

Etymology

hoist + -er

Noun

hoister (plural hoisters)

  1. One who, or that which, hoists or lifts.
    • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
      [] putting one foot into it, so as the better to secure his slippery hand-hold on the whip itself, the hoisters ran him high up to the top of the head, almost before Tashtego could have reached its interior bottom.
  2. (Britain, slang) A thief.
    • 1931, The Police Journal (volume 4, page 504)
      In order better to appreciate the use of argot among thieves, a visit to a few public bars of the third-class public houses of Kennington or in the immediate vicinity of the Elephant and Castle would prove of great value, as hoisters, whizzers, tea-leaves, con-heads, broadsmen and brass nobs []

Anagrams

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