holdup man
1
7.9
- noun
- /ˈhoʊldʌp mæn/
- US
:
ladrón armado
- The police are searching for the holdup man who threatened the bank teller with a gun.
Examples
-
Did you get a good look at the holdup man?
-
This is the note the holdup man gave the girl at the window.
-
The second holdup man, who made good his escape has not yet been identified.
-
And in the ensuing gun battle one of the holdup men, Jerry Schue, age 48, of Burbank, was killed.
-
The holdup man popped the cylinder from the pistol, extracted a bullet, held it an inch away from Riley's eye for his inspection, then reloaded.
Fiction book (1997) -
Witnesses reported that the holdup man wore a ski mask during the robbery.
-
After the robbery, the holdup man fled the scene in a stolen car.
Synonyms
186
1.0
A person who steals from others by using or threatening to hurt them
108
4.6
A person who steals from people or places, often using a weapon
47
3.7
A person who attacks someone on the street to steal from them
1
9.1
A man who threatens people with a weapon to take their money
How Violent
- US
1
7.9
- NSFW
47
3.7
186
1.0
110
1.4
754
1.0
19
4.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is transparently composed from 'holdup' (a robbery carried out by threats or force) + 'man' (an adult male), so its meaning 'a man who commits a holdup' is directly derivable from the constituents. This follows a common noun+noun composition pattern found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily understand it.
Etymology
Holdup man comes from the verb hold and the word up, a picture of someone forcing a shop or person to stop by pointing a weapon and taking money. So a holdup man means 'a man who robs people by threatening them'.