tumbe

What it means

1. 1.

   A rip-off, a stitch-up; also a robbery in the specific sense of taking something from someone who was themselves up to no good.

2. 2.

   The verb tumbar is to steal or to swindle: 'me tumbaron el celular'. Also used of being cheated on.

Examples with translations

• Eso fue un tumbe, me cobraron el doble.

  That was daylight robbery, they charged me twice the price.

• Le tumbaron la moto en la esquina.

  They took his motorbike right there on the corner.

Where it comes from

From tumbar, to knock down. The noun is well established in Dominican crime reporting and in dembow lyrics alike, which has given it a currency beyond the street speech it came from.

Other forms

Spellings and variants:

tumbar