shamus

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Have the world-weary shamus and the former Aztec capital lost their noir juju?

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 6, 2025

Dashiell Hammett’s detective Sam Spade did his shamus business in the fogs of San Francisco, but Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe made L.A. the noir capital.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 18, 2022

With a cheap business card and an equally cheap jacket and tie, he smilingly ambles it into the shamus role, knocking on doors and sniffing out leads among all the yammer and serviceable visuals.

From New York Times • Jan. 17, 2018

In Paul Thomas Anderson’s cinematic love-in “Inherent Vice,” Joaquin Phoenix plays Doc Sportello, a Los Angeles shamus in Jesus sandals trucking through the sunshine and noir like a stoner Philip Marlowe.

From New York Times • Dec. 11, 2014

I've got friends in PIB—real friends, not the shamus crowd you're acquainted with that'll take you for your last nickel and then leave you to starve.

From Bear Trap by Nourse, Alan Edward