n.one who shows exceptional
skill at stealing, cheating, or any other
deceitful scheme carried out for personal
profit. To
rip off means to illegally take or claim as one's own; to exploit, cheat or defraud another. Artist is used here in a combining
form to mean a
specialist, particularly one
adept at trickery, deceit, etc. This expression has been in
use since the
late 1960s.