yegg

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The Word of the Day for June 27 is:

yegg   \YEG\   noun 
     : safecracker; also : robber 

Example sentence:
     "[Her] attorney does admit that his client had developed 'platonic' 
relationships with two cons, a couple of yeggs named Ollie and Marvin, but only 
to gather information." (_Fort Collins Coloradoan_, December 6, 2002)

Did you know?
     "Safecracker" first appeared in print in English around 1825, but English 
speakers evidently felt that they needed a more colorful word for this rather 
colorful profession. No one is quite sure where "yegg" came from. It first 
appeared in the _New York Evening Post_ on June 23, 1903, in an article about 
"the prompt breaking up of the organized gangs of professional beggars and 
yeggs." By 1905, it had acquired the variant "yeggmen," which was printed in 
the _New York Times_ in reference to unsavory characters captured in the Bowery 
District. "Yegg" has always been, and continues to be, less common than 
"safecracker," but it still turns up once in a while.





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