Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

second-story man

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.13 in modern English

Syllables: sec-ond-s-to-ry -man
IPA

22

Scrabble Score

14

Letters

6

Syllables

11

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A burglar, especially one who performs a legitimate service at a residence and returns later to perform the theft, usually by way of an unconventional access point above ground level that was identified in the initial visit.

American usage; Slang

Example Sentences

"For a brief period in Warsaw in the 1890s, Kornblum had been forced into a life of crime, as a second-story man, and the prospect of prizing the Golem out of its current home, unsuspected, awoke wicked old memories of gaslight and stolen gems."
"They were appalled by his idea of making a spy service out of a scattershot collection of Wall Street brokers, Ivy League eggheads, soldiers of fortune, ad men, news men, stunt men, second-story men, and con men."

Usage

American usage
Slang

Inflected Forms

second-story men (plural) second-storey man (alternative)

Synonyms

cat burglar

Questions

What does second-story man mean?: A burglar, especially one who performs a legitimate service at a residence and returns later to perform the theft, usually by way of an unconventional access point above ground level that was identified in the initial visit.

How to pronounce second-story man

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