peaky blinder

plural peaky blinders

1. historicalA member of the Peaky Blinders gang. They operated in Birmingham from the end of the 19th century until after the First World War. Gang members had a distinctive appearance: close-cropped hair, bell-bottomed trousers, peaked caps, and a white scarf knotted at the throat.

   In Birmingham the 'peaky-blinder' and 'slogger' gangs were particularly notorious.

   1984, Midland History - Volumes 9-12, page 108

   3 more examples

   They return from camp with new boots, shirt, stockings and money; part of which is spent in excess on their first night's return after training and part goes to purchase a pair of “peaky blinder” trousers.

   1910, Robert Hall Best, William John Davis, Charles Perks, The Brassworkers of Berlin and of Birmingham: A Comparison, page 35

   There is a reference in the Birmingham Daily Gazette to a 'hooligan outrage' in Newton Row in January 1907 - which had formerly been a peaky blinder stronghold - when three men of the peaky blinder type savagely attacked and robbed a businessman late at night, but there appears to be no mention of assaults or fights by peaky blinders after that..

   2019, Carl Chinn, Peaky Blinders - The Real Story of Birmingham's most notorious gangs.

   As Arthur Matthison recalled (1937:63), the peaky blinder wore: Bell-bottomed trousers secured by a buckle belt, hob-nailed boots, a jacket of sorts, a gaudy scarf and a billy-cock hat with a long elongated brim.

   2016, Dick Hobbs, Mischief, Morality and Mobs, page 94

2. archaicA peaked cap like that worn by a peaky blinder, especially when worn with the peak pulled down to the side of the head.

   You could practically hear the rusty wheels whirring round beneath his black peaky blinder.

   1968, Maurice Wiggin, The Memoirs of a Maverick, page 30

   2 more examples

   So, in London, birds of a feather must flock together, willy nilly, silk hat and frock coat must go with white gloves and brown sables, “peaky blinder and “ choker " must associate with crop fringed hair, ear curls, and rakish three feathered hat.

   1899, The Puritan - Volume 5, page 206

   The peak of the peaky-blinder was usually slit open and pennies or razor-blades or pieces of slate inserted and stitched up again. The caps, peaky-blinders, were used in fighting to be whipped off the head and swiped across the opponent's eyes, momentarily blinding them or slashing the cheeks.

   2019, Carl Chinn, Peaky Blinders - The Real Story of Birmingham's most notorious gangs.

3. BirminghamAny ruffian or street gang member.

   Hundreds of girls and youths, mainly of the “ peaky blinder ” type, parade the streets—sometimes half a dozen arm-in-arm across the pavements.

   1914, Pharmaceutical Journal - Volume 37, page 262

   3 more examples

   Probably the "hooligan" of London need not cost more to redeem than the " ike " of Manchester or the "peaky blinder" of Birmingham; the differences in expense lie in the method.

   1908, The Spectator - Volume 101, page 781

   There is a reference in the Birmingham Daily Gazette to a 'hooligan outrage' in Newton Row in January 1907 - which had formerly been a peaky blinder stronghold - when three men of the peaky blinder type savagely attacked and robbed a businessman late at night, but there appears to be no mention of assaults or fights by peaky blinders after that..

   2019, Carl Chinn, Peaky Blinders - The Real Story of Birmingham's most notorious gangs.

   Nights on the district were nightmares. Peaky-blinder warrens down which the police daren't venture, except in twos; drunken gamp midwives under the bed, and often a race betwen half-an-inch of a guttering candle and a dawn two hours away, the patient indulging in a P.P.H., little or no water and no one to send for help.

   1964, Charles Frederick Victor Smout, The story of the progress of medicine, page 137

1. alternativeAlternative form of peaky blinder (“gang member”).

   In other cities similar gangs were known by different names. In Birmingham they were called “Peaky Blinders' or 'Sloggers', while in Manchester and Salford they were known and feared as 'Scuttlers' and later as 'Ikes' or 'Ikey Lads'.

   1989, David M. Downes, Crime and the City: Essays in Memory of John Barron Mays, page 26

   1 more example

   In our suburban retreats, less disturbed by Peaky pranks, though now and again hedges, fences, and flower beds testify to a visit, we are too apt to think it is no concern of ours, or to assert that, as regards Peaky Blinders at any rate, " I am not my brother's keeper".

   1899, The Central Literary Magazine - Volume 14, page 72