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Glite Dictionary
🪜 A wallpaper worker 💸 A check forger
paperhanger

paperhanger

9.9
A person who pays with fake money or bad checks
  • noun
  • /ˈpeɪpərˌhæŋər/
  • Archaic
translation icon : estafador
  • The authorities arrested him for being a notorious paperhanger who wrote bad checks.

Examples

  • They discovered that the paperhanger had been using counterfeit money at various stores.

  • After his last fraudulent transaction, the paperhanger fled the country to escape prosecution.

  • The worst thing a paperhanger can do is show his face.

    Catch Me If You Can (2002)

  • He's a dead paperhanger now.

    Zulu (1964)

  • A goddamn paperhanger.

    Catch Me If You Can (2002)

Synonyms

kiter
vspaperhanger
  • Specialized
9.9

A person who writes checks without enough money to get cash

is a broader term covering passing bad checks or counterfeit paper money
utterer
vspaperhanger
  • Archaic
9.9

A person who tries to pass fake money as real

includes passing fake notes but also covers passing bad checks

Surface Forms

paperhanger singular
paperhangers plural

Morphology

paperhanger = paper + hanger (opaque) = paper + hanger

Although composed of 'paper' + 'hanger', the specific illicit meaning 'one who passes bad checks or counterfeit money' is a specialized slang sense not directly predictable from the literal parts.

Etymology

Paperhanger also has an old slang use built from paper and 'hanger'; a helpful way to remember this meaning is to imagine someone who 'hangs' bad paper on others — they try to pass fake money or bad checks.