Meanings
plural second-storey men · alternative US second-story man
- USslangA thief, especially one who climbs into buildings above ground level.
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.
2007, Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes, Penguin, published 2008, page 41 more example
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.
2000, Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Random House, page 16Synonyms: second-storey worker
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA thief, especially one who climbs into buildings above ground level.
Cite this entry
second-storey man. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/second-storey%20man
“second-storey man.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/second-storey%20man. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “second-storey man,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/second-storey%20man.
Source: second-storey man on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.