Green’s Dictionary of Slang

-bandit sfx

[ironic use of SE bandit]

1. used in combs. as a generic for a minor criminal practising a particular speciality.

[US](con. 1950s) J. Peacock Valhalla 249: Brass bandits [...] clamored on the heels of the marines, scooping up the expended cartridges as fast as they were fired.
[UK]F. Norman in Daily Tel. Mag. May in Norman’s London (1969) 234: The milk bandit is given a censorious lecture and sent to prison for six months.
[US]J. Wambaugh Choirboys (1976) 109: ‘We ever get a limp dick bandit around here he’ll be a prime suspect.’ ‘Very funny, Potts.’.
[UK]F. Norman Too Many Crooks Spoil the Caper 113: I won’t give the time of day to gas-meter bandits.
[Aus]V. Darroch On Coast 36: Beer Bandit: A low [...] form of marine life that frequents and patronizes unmanned bars and beer fridges.
[UK]S. Berkoff West in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 110: These chicks [...] would be booked up by other snatch-bandits.
[UK]J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 112: Down Leicester Square you got bag bandits.
[UK]Indep. 5 Feb. 9: We hope this is the beginning of the end for the burger bandits and their stinking barrows.

2. in combs., a homosexual, see arse bandit n., arsehole bandit under arsehole n.

3. an obsessive, a user.

[UK]Observer Mag. 5 Sept. 34: A deep-thinking, soft-spoken 20-year-old BMX bandit.