towzery gang
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Sense 1
A group of swindlers who set up fraudulent auctions with shill bidders.
Register: slang
Sources & notes
Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30 via kaikki.org).
Sense 2
swindlers who hire sale-rooms, usually in the suburbs, for mock auction sales of cheap and worthless goods, and who advertise their ventures as "Alarming Sacrifices," "Important Sales of Bankrupts’ Stock," &c. The American name for a mock auctioneer is a "Peter Funk."
Era: ca. 1874 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Historical definition reproduced from Hotten’s The Slang Dictionary (1874, public domain; Project Gutenberg #42108, retrieved 2026-07-31). Reflects the attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “towzery gang” mean?
A group of swindlers who set up fraudulent auctions with shill bidders.
Is “towzery gang” formal or informal?
towzery gang is generally slang.