spiv, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

spiv n.

also spive

[? Rom. spiv, sparrow, used by gypsies as a derog. ref. to those who existed by picking up the leavings of their betters, criminal or legitimate; alternative theories include the reverse of V.I.P.s or police abbr. suspected persons and itinerant vagrants; note also spiff n. (1)]

a flashy, sharp individual who exists on the fringes of real criminality, living by their wits rather than a regular job; also attrib.

1929		C.G. Gordon Crooks of the Und. 230: Supposing a clique of Manchester ‘spives’ were coming down to London.
1937		J. Curtis You’re in the Racket, Too 31: Turning it into a right flash neighbourhood instead of the leery old alley it used to be when he was a spiv.
1939		J. Worby Spiv’s Progress 47: I knew a spiv in Old Compton Street [...] he asked me if I wanted to make a bit of easy dough [Ibid.] 202: They were spivs [...] They lived by all manner of tricks, matching their wits against the public and keeping out of the hands of the police .
1946		S. Jackson Indiscreet Guide to Soho 113: In Soho you will see ‘spivs.’ They are the men who have no fixed occupation and live on their wits.
1959		C. MacInnes Absolute Beginners 65: Mayfair is just top spivs stepping into the slippers of the former gentry.
1959		B. Naughton ‘Late Night on Watling Street’ in Late Night on Watling Street (1969) 7: A real spiv kid, the clothes, the walk.
1963		L.F. Freed Crime in S. Afr. 99: Spivs and gamblers dodging the police, and groups dancing to portable gramophones.
1967		J. Wynnum I’m a Jack, All Right 10: There ought to be a law to protect the dumb bunnies from spivs like Thumper.
1978		P. Theroux Picture Palace 88: The hangers-on, girlfriends, spivs, and bookies. ‘My people,’ he called them.
1989		T. Blacker Fixx 131: The new generation of City spivs fell over themselves [...] to overpay.
1999		Guardian Rev. 21 Aug. 10: Her desperation to see her father as a knight in shining armour – rather than the feckless spiv that he actually is.
2007		M. Rowson Stuff 106: My grandmother would be beguiled by some spiv who’d set up his stall hawking the latest labour-saving tat.
2017		G. Gilmore Headland [ebook] He’d always liked the idea of bring a spiv.
2023		R. Milward Man-Eating Typewriter 37: [C]ajoling bodega-omis, flattering sailors and charverings spivs.

In derivatives

spi(v)vish (adj.)

1. characteristic of the spiv.

1948		C. Day Lewis Otterbury Incident 18: Tilting his hat at an even more spivvish angle.
1950		C. Harris Three-Ha’Pence to the Angel 98: Two spiv-ish youths passed in a loud monotony of adjectives.
1956		D. Davin Sullen Bell 87: There were few people in the restaurant, spivvish-looking and absorbed.
1965		New Statesman 19 Mar. 463/1: The spivvish businessman.

2. see spiffy adj. (1)

spivmobile (n.) [-mobile sfx]

an exceptionally ostentatious and flashy car, such as might be driven by a spiv or their successors.

1986		Times (Shreveport, LA) 12 Oct. 89/1: By using words like spivmobile, prawnhead or cobber, slang slingers risk being misunderstood.
1989		Canberra Times (ACT) 16 Jan. 4/5: I can confirm that the [Jaguar] Mark II is the ideal spivmobile.
1997		Parry & Azulay Arsenal World 1 Sept. 🌐 Panic set in and I had completely forgotten my hunger, as I swung the spivmobile through a 180 and headed back round this ring road.
2002		Observer 29 Dec. 100/1: The car has become more of an ‘I have mucho money’ spivmobile than [...] a way of going from A to B.

In compounds

spiv-dressed (adj.)

wearing clothes characteristic of the spiv; note ad hoc var. at cit. 1968.

1968		(con. 1930s) J. Healy Death of an Irish Town 20: They came in new suits and flashy ties, spiv-knotted.
1972		E. Grogan Ringolevio 235: The spiv-dressed comedian.

spiv suit (n.)

a flashy suit as worn by, and denoting a spiv.

1958

(con. 1940s) B. Behan Borstal Boy 352: Telling me about ’is spiv suits he wore.