Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Alternative form of gonoph.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (Yiddish) a thief or dishonest person or scoundrel (often used as a general term of abuse)

Etymologies

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Examples

  • For those Mooseketeers who are not fluent in Yiddish, "goniff" means a dishonest person.

    Bull Moose 2005

  • For those Mooseketeers who are not fluent in Yiddish, "goniff" means a dishonest person.

    Archive 2005-05-01 2005

  • Bernie Madoff the goniff stole $50 Billion in the biggest Ponzi scheme ever, and I'm about to be taken to the American Express Abu Gahreb.

    WN.com - Articles related to Push for Europe-Wide Oversight of Credit Raters 2010

  • Bernie Madoff the goniff stole $50 Billion in the biggest Ponzi scheme ever, and I'm about to be taken to the American Express Abu Gahreb.

    WN.com - Articles related to Push for Europe-Wide Oversight of Credit Raters 2010

  • "That goniff who should be doing time, chopping rocks, making license plates, somehow slipped out of his apartment confinement and he's treating himself to a shore dinner."

    The New Yorker 2009

  • "That goniff who should be doing time, chopping rocks, making license plates, somehow slipped out of his apartment confinement and he's treating himself to a shore dinner."

    The New Yorker Woody Allen 2009

  • They used Yiddish words such as tineff for ` shoddy goods, 'goniff for ` thief,' mumser for an ` unpleasant person '(usually the head merchandise buyer), zu viel gelt for ` too much money,' schlock for

    VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol XIII No 3 1986

  • To blow through $130 million campaign dollars while pocketing over 3% of that (Penn's cut plus God-only-knows what Wolfson's getting — it ain't chicken feed.) and losing 11 straight contests in crunch time, is to scream from the rooftops “I am ... a goniff — and don't particularly give a rat's ass what you think of me or how I handle things — just as long as I get “my cut”.

    The Ill-Served GET Served. 2008

  • To blow through $130 million campaign dollars while pocketing over 3% of that (Penn's cut plus God-only-knows what Wolfson's getting — it ain't chicken feed.) and losing 11 straight contests in crunch time, is to scream from the rooftops “I am ... a goniff — and don't particularly give a rat's ass what you think of me or how I handle things — just as long as I get “my cut”.

    Archive 2008-02-01 2008

  • I'd rather you didn't hear me negotiating for money with this goniff, since it might tarnish the bright image you have of me as a sweet and demure person. "

    Tek Money Shatner, William 1995

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