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Safecracker first appeared in print in English around 1873, but English speakers evidently felt that they needed a more colorful word for this rather colorful profession. No one is quite sure where yegg came from. Its earliest known use in print is from a 1901 New York Times article. This same article also includes the first known print use of the variant yeggmen. Yegg has always been less common than safecracker, but it still turns up once in a while.
Examples of yegg in a Sentence
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In one high-profile case, DuPay and his partner John Wesson figured out who had emptied the Portland Zoo’s safe one night in 1969 -- a cocky yegg named Billy Lewis -- and managed to tie evidence directly to the man’s new wife.
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oregonlive, 3 May 2021
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oregonlive, 3 May 2021
Cite this Entry
“Yegg.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yegg. Accessed 19 May. 2025.
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