thief in law

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology[edit]

Calque of Russian вор в зако́не (vor v zakóne).

Noun[edit]

thief in law (plural thieves in law)

  1. A criminal who is respected, has authority and a high ranking status within the criminal underworld in the old Soviet Union, Russia and the republics that formed the former Soviet Union.

Translations[edit]