ganef

plural ganefs · plural ganevim · alternative ganif · alternative ganof · alternative gonef · alternative gonif · alternative goniff · alternative gannef · alternative gonof · alternative gonoff · alternative gonoph · alternative gonnof

1. derogatoryslangA thief; a rascal or scoundrel.

   The streets swarmed with hucksters, ganefs, and handkerchief girls who solicited in the shadows of buildings draped in black bunting.

   1999, Steve Stern, The Wedding Jester, Graywolf Press, page 86

   3 more examples

   Right to the end of the street he dragged her, pursued by a hooting crowd. Then he stopped, worn out. "Will you give me that sixpence, you Ganef!"

   1914 [1892], Israel Zangwill, Children of the Ghetto: A Study of a Peculiar People

   Packed in airtight against the bite of the steely out-of-doors, most of the village of Vodna—except the children and the half-witted Shimsha, the ganef—huddled under its none-too-plentiful coverings that night and prayed and trembled.

   1922, Fannie Hurst, “Roulette”, in The Vertical City

   I would love to have a little inside knowledge that my grandfather's friends took down a president, but the reality is an endless procession of desperate little ganefs—and most of them are very small—trying to stay one step ahead of cops in suits from Sy Syms.

   2011, Eric Dezenhall, The Devil Himself, St. Martin's Press (Thomas Dunne Books), page 12