Phrase guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
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No pronunciation record was provided for this word.
name
Alternative form of peaky blinder (“gang member”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, alternative
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A member of the Peaky Blinders gang. They operated in Birmingham from the end of the 19th century until after the First World War. Gang members had a distinctive appearance: close-cropped hair, bell-bottomed trousers, peaked caps, and a white scarf knotted at the throat.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: historical
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A peaked cap like that worn by a peaky blinder, especially when worn with the peak pulled down to the side of the head.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Any ruffian or street gang member.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Qualifier: Birmingham
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
From the name of a street gang in Birmingham, the Peaky Blinders, who got their name From the peaked caps their members wore, and from blinder (“exceptional performance”) or from the practice of pulling a victims hat over his eyes so that he could not identify his attacker. There is a folk etymology claiming the "blinder" part of the name comes from the practice of stitching razor blades or weights into the peak of the cap and using it as a weapon to blind one's opponent, but this has been shown to be apocryphal.
