YEGG

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 6 December 2011

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YEGG  (n. pl. -S)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) a burglar or safecracker
2. (n.) a dangerous criminal of any kind

Useful information for game players:

• Front hooks: (none)
• Back hooks: -S
• Anagrams: EGGY
• Longer extensions: yeggMAN, yeggMEN
• Wraparounds: (none)
• Other Spellings: (none)
• Related Forms: YEGGMAN, YEGGMEN

Epilogue:
The colorful word YEGG, and the synonymous YEGGMAN, were often used in newspaper stories in the early to mid-twentieth century:

Six yeggmen, masked with handkerchiefs, blew open the safe in the Suffield Savings Bank early this morning.
~ NY Tribune, 18 Dec. 1906

A gang of more than a dozen yeggs yesterday blew the doors of five safes of the Kellogg Switchboard & Supply Co. and escaped with loot estimated at $33,000.
~ Miami News, 18 October 1926

There have been several theories about the origins of the term, but none have proved conclusive.  It may have been inspired by John Yegg or John Yeager, notorious SAFECRACKERS (or CRACKSMEN) of the early 1900s.  Or it may derive from San Francisco Chinatown slang (yekk, meaning “beggar”) or from Scottish dialect words (yark or yek, meaning “to break”).  Even the German jager (“huntsman”) has been suggested as a possible source.  Like the individual the word describes, this word’s history is likely to remain slightly elusive and mysterious.


This week’s theme: Words starting with the letter Y

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