dodger

artful dodger

A rogue or miscreant who avoids getting in trouble for their crimes, mischief, or bad behavior through crafty or ingenious means. Taken from the name of a clever pickpocket in Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. She's always causing mischief, but she's such an artful dodger that she always finds a way to get out of trouble. He's an artful dodger, that one. The police can never get any charges to stick to him. I don't know why you're going into business with Joe—that guy's always struck me as an artful dodger.

See also: artful, dodger

coffin-dodger

1. One who is elderly. Primarily heard in the UK. Only coffin-dodgers go grocery shopping at 10 AM on a Tuesday morning. Who cares what some coffin-dodger has to say? Her views have been outdated for 50 years! Only coffin-dodgers take that route, so you'll never get a seat on the bus.

2. One who smokes. You can probably bum a cig off one of the coffin-dodgers out back. Ugh, I reek of smoke after being around all those coffin-dodgers. Sure, I was a coffin-dodger back in the day, like a lot of people. But I gave it up years ago.

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

coffin-dodger

(ˈkɔfnæ dɑdʒɚ)

n. a heavy smoker. I just hate these damn coffin-dodgers who smoke right outside the door!

McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Artful Dodger

a sly person, especially one involved in dubious or criminal activities. It was the nickname of Jack Dawkins, a young pickpocket in Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist. The character survives in the stage and movie musical Oliver!, which was based on the Dickens novel, but the phrase as applied to a “sneaky Pete” is now rarely if ever heard. “Dodger” in the sense of evading danger inspired the name of the Brooklyn (now Los Angeles) baseball team; in its early years in Brooklyn, the team was the “Trolley Dodgers.” Brooklyn had many streetcar lines, and to play in the streets required youngsters to dodge streetcars, and “trolley dodger” became the slang term for anyone from that borough.

See also: artful, dodger

Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price Copyright © 2011 by Steven D. Price