Meaning of Sam Spade | Babel Free

Definitions

1. The fictional private detective created by Dashiell Hammett who was protagonist of The Maltese Falcon.
2. A private detective.
   informal

Examples

“Congratulations on the detective work⟳ — a real Sam Spade job.”

“"To do a real Sam Spade, phone a bar near the resort. The ski bum who answers the phone will tell⟳ it as he sees it”

“First we tried to hire⟳ a private detective […]. Next we tried amateurs, two college students out to make⟳ their fortune as modern-day Sam Spades. They had obviously watched too much noir TV […]”

“I reckon like⟳ I'm some kind of Sam Spade here. I've put⟳ to one side the main plot and concentrated instead on the key character, following him to get⟳ some idea of his comings and goings”

CEFR level