# Philadelphia lawyer

> English word · Noun

## Definitions
1. A clever, crafty, or otherwise extremely adroit practitioner of law.

## Etymology
Possibly derived from Andrew Hamilton's skillful defense of John Peter Zenger in 1735, though, as the phrase is not attested until 1788, this is uncertain.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/philadelphia-lawyer