Teflon adj.
(US) in fig. use; thus the Teflon Don, Mafia boss John Gotti (1940-2002) who for many years defied the authorities.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Dly News (NY) 7 Feb. 5/1: John Gotti, already nicknamed the Teflon Don. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Heat [ebook] ‘He’s Teflon, my uncle. Nothing sticks to him’. | |
| Asbury Park Press (NJ) 14 Jan. A9/1: A fugitive associate of mob boss John Gotti who allegedly paid a juror a $60,000 bribe to seal an aquittal for the ‘Teflon Don’. | |
 | Record (Hackensack, NJ) 2 Apr. A2/2: Mobster John Gotti, —‘The Teflon Don’ was convicted [...] on racketeering and murder charges on April 2, 1992. | |
| Manhattan Mercury (KS) 24 Sept. B6/3: Gangster rap mogul Marion ‘Suge’ Knight was oozing Teflon confidence. |
In compounds
1. (US) used as a nickname for who who may fail in various ways, but is never punished for it.
| Press & Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton, NY) 7 May 6/1: Score anothe for the Teflon Kid [i.e. Ronald Reagan]. Nothing sticks to this president of ours — not the decacle of Beirut, not the illegal warfare against Nicaragua. | |
| News Leader (Staunton, VA) 29 Oct. 4/2: Bill Clinton is too glib, too inexperienced, too much the Teflon Kid who has promised to cure all our ills but doesn’t really level with us on cost. | |
| Leader-Telegram (Eau Claire, WI) 19 Jan. 12: I regard the Teflon Kid (former President Ronald Reagan) as the principal culprit in this whole wrecthed scenario. | |
| Pittsburgh Post-Gaz. (PA) 21 Jan. 24/3: ‘I must have been a Teflon Kid,’ said Jeanne Rosen. ‘I’m not sure I eveer perceived any real or perceived threats’. |
2. (Aus. prison) a tough young person.
| Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Teflon kid. Young tough. See ‘plastic gangster.’. |