lorry

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fall off a lorry

Of goods or merchandise, to be acquired by illegal or dubious means; to come into (someone's) possession without being paid for. "Lorry" is a chiefly British term for a truck. Primarily heard in UK. Danny says he has several laptops and phones he wants to sell for cheap—sounds like they fell off a lorry to me. A: "Jake's been peddling a bunch of flat screens for a great price." A: "They probably fell off a lorry then. I wouldn't go for them, if I were you." These prices seem a little too good to be true. You sure this stuff didn't fall off a lorry?

fall off the back of a lorry

Of goods or merchandise, to be acquired by illegal or dubious means; to come into (someone's) possession without being paid for. Primarily heard in UK. Danny says he has several laptops and smartphones he wants to sell for cheap—sounds like they fell off the back of a lorry to me. A: "Jake's been peddling a bunch of flat screens for a great price." A: "They probably fell off the back of a lorry then. I wouldn't go for them, if I were you." These prices seem a little too good to be true. You sure this stuff didn't fall off the back of a lorry?

off the back of a lorry

Likely by illegal or dubious means. Said of the way something has been gotten. The American equivalent is "off the back of a truck." Primarily heard in UK. A: "Jake's been peddling a bunch of flat screens for a great price." A: "He probably got them off the back of a lorry. I wouldn't go for them, if I were you." Danny says he has several laptops and smartphones he wants to sell for cheap—sounds like they fell off the back of a lorry to me.

fall off the back of a lorry

BRITISH, INFORMAL

If you say that goods have fallen off the back of a lorry, you mean that they are stolen goods. We bought some really excellent wine from a woman who clearly caught the bottles as they fell off the back of a lorry. Note: You can also say that you got or bought something off the back of a lorry. Pete once bought the boys a bicycle cheap off the back of a lorry.

fall off (the back of) a lorry

(of goods) be acquired in illegal or unspecified circumstances.

The traditional bogus excuse given to the police by someone caught in possession of stolen goods was that the items in question had ‘fallen off the back of a lorry’.

1991 Time Out People buy so much stolen stuff that…you can…buy a video in Dixons and take it round the corner to a pub, say it fell off the back of a lorry and get 50 quid more than it cost you.

off the ˌback of a ˈlorry

(British English, informal, humorous) goods that fell off the back of a lorry were probably stolen. People say or accept that they came ‘off the back of a lorry’ to avoid saying or asking where they really came from: Where did you get a new DVD player at a price like that? Off the back of a lorry?