second-story man

plural second-story men · alternative second-storey man

1. USslangA 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.

   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: The History of the CIA, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 4

   1 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 September 19, Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 16

   Synonyms: cat burglar