swell mob
swell mob noun: well-dressed thieves and swindlers, regarded collectively.
Noun
swell mob (plural swell mobs)
- Well-dressed thieves and swindlers, regarded collectively.
- But some of the Swell Mob, on the occasion of this Derby that I refer to, so far kiddied us as to hire a horse and shay; start away from London by Whitechapel, and miles round; come into Epsom from the opposite direction; […]1850 September 14, [Charles Dickens], “Three “Detective” Anecdotes”, in Charles Dickens, editor, Household Words. A Weekly Journal., volume I, number 25, London: Office, […], →OCLC
- A grand distinction is to be drawn, in this respect, between the swell mob and common thieves; the former being, for the most part, men of the world, of some education—not appearing at all flash (thief-like), but, on the contrary, acting the part of gentlemen in society.1856, George Laval Chesterton, Revelations of Prison Life, 2nd revised edition, volume 1, London: Hurst and Blackett, →OCLC, page 137
Forms of swell mob
| plural | swell mobs |
|---|
Words formed from swell mob
Questions about swell mob
- What does swell mob mean?
- Swell mob means well-dressed thieves and swindlers, regarded collectively.
- What part of speech is swell mob?
- Swell mob is a noun.
- What is the plural of swell mob?
- The plural of swell mob is swell mobs.
Words near swell mob in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: swell mob (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-swell mob.ogg.
Cite this entry: “swell mob.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/swell_mob. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.