Philadelphia lawyer

noun

A clever, crafty, or otherwise extremely adroit practitioner of law.

Similar
legal beaglelegal eagle
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounPhiladelphia lawyer (plural Philadelphia lawyers)

plural Philadelphia lawyers

  1. USA clever, crafty, or otherwise extremely adroit practitioner of law.

    Synonyms: legal beagle, legal eagle

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA clever, crafty, or otherwise extremely adroit practitioner of law.

Similar
legal beaglelegal eagle
Also see
legal beaglelegal eagle

Origin

Possibly derived from Andrew Hamilton's skillful defense of John Peter Zenger in 1735, though, as the phrase is not attested until 1788, this is uncertain.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Philadelphia lawyer. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Philadelphia%20lawyer

MLA

“Philadelphia lawyer.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Philadelphia%20lawyer. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Philadelphia lawyer,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Philadelphia%20lawyer.

Source: Philadelphia lawyer on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.