- 1小咖的、小混混的、不成氣候的（帶輕蔑，多指小奸小惡或小規模營生）
Describes a criminal — or a criminal operation — that is minor: little robberies, small amounts of stolen goods or drugs, nothing that would trouble a serious police unit. A small-time thief, a small-time dealer, a small-time gang.
What you must hear in it is the sneer. "Small-scale" is neutral; "small-time" is not. It says this person tried to be important and failed — a nobody with big ideas. Crime stories run on it: the small-time crook who stumbles into something far larger than himself is one of the oldest plots there is.
It has spread beyond crime to any job or business the speaker thinks is : a small-time promoter, a small-time politician, a small-time operation in a back room. Wherever it goes, it keeps the look-down-on tone. So do not use it about your friend's new shop unless you want to be .
It sits before a noun, is , and belongs to informal speech and journalism rather than formal writing. Its opposite is "big-time".
這個形容詞指規模很小的犯罪或犯罪行動，像小搶劫、少量贓物，或是不成氣候的小團體，常見的搭配有 「a small-time thief」。它的重點是語氣裡的輕蔑，像是說這個人想當大人物，卻沒有成功。它是口語用法，也常出現在新聞報導裡。
後來它也延伸到說話的人覺得不起眼的工作，例如小咖的政治人物或小店，所以用來形容朋友的店會顯得很刻薄。它的相反是 「big-time」。
組成small（小）+ time（在這裡是「檔次、層級」，像 big time 指「大場面、出頭天」）。合起來就是「檔次不高的那一級」。
原始詞典資料1 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
small-timeadj
- 1
On a small scale.
- a small-time thief
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。