noun General Slang

Sweeney Todd

/ˌswiːni ˈtɒd/ · noun · slang

Cockney for the Flying Squad — 'Sweeney Todd' rhymes with Squad, clipped to 'the Sweeney'.

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Definitions

1

By the 1970s, a byword for hard-charging, no-nonsense policing, cemented by the TV series of the same name.

“He drove like the Sweeney was on his tail.”
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2

Clipped to 'the Sweeney', plain-clothes detectives or the police more broadly in underworld talk.

“Word is the Sweeney's been watching the lock-up.”
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3

The Flying Squad, the Metropolitan Police unit tackling armed robbery. 'Sweeney Todd' rhymes with 'Flying Squad', and is clipped to 'the Sweeney', dropping the rhyme.

“The Sweeney turned up before they'd even cracked the safe.”
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Sweeney Todd In A Sentence

Leg it, the Sweeney's at the door!
They reckon the Sweeney had the whole gang under surveillance.
You don't grass to the Sweeney where I'm from.

Origin & Usage

Twentieth-century underworld and East End rhyming slang naming Sweeney Todd, the fictional 'demon barber' of Victorian penny-dreadfuls, to rhyme with 'Flying Squad'; the clipped form 'the Sweeney' was popularised nationally by the 1975-78 ITV drama, drawing on the older London slang Hotten began documenting in 1859.

Variants the Sweeney
Tags #cockney#rhyming#british#uk#crime

People Also Ask

What does Sweeney Todd mean in Cockney?

It means the Flying Squad — 'Todd' rhymes with 'Squad'. It's shortened to 'the Sweeney'.

Is it linked to the TV show?

The 1970s ITV series 'The Sweeney' took its title from this slang and spread it nationwide.

Who was Sweeney Todd?

A fictional murderous barber from Victorian penny-dreadfuls; his name was borrowed purely for the rhyme on 'Squad'.

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