repeat offender, recidivist, repeater 
[noun]
[de draai-deur-cri-mi-neel, de draai-deur-cri-mi-ne-len]
"Draaideurcrimineel" is composed of "draaideur" and "crimineel", which translate to "revolving door" and "criminal" respectively. "Draaideurcrimineel" is an informal synonym of "recidivist"
Alternative synonym is "veelpleger" (lit.: many-committer).
Examples:
– "Draaideurcriminelen hebben vaak ook een zedendelict gepleegd." – "Geloof je dat echt?"
("Repeat offenders have often committed sexual offences too." – "Do you really believe that?")
– "Rechtbanken zijn overbelast door de enorme hoeveelheid draaideurcriminelen."
("Courts of law are overloaded with work due to the huge amount of recidivists.")
– "<Boze winkelier> Ik ben dit jaar al vier keer beroofd! Het zijn allemaal draaideurcriminelen! Oprotten moeten ze!!"
("<Angry shop owner> I have been robbed four times this year already! They're all repeat offenders! They have to f*ck off!")
Expressions:
– "Door één deur kunnen (met)": (lit.: to fit through one door) to get along (with).
– "Dat doet de deur dicht!": that does it!
Example:
– "Mijn auto is nu voor de derde keer bekrast…dat doet de deur dicht!"
("My car has been scratched for the third time now…that does it!")
Related words:
– Crimineel: criminal [noun] [de crimineel, de criminelen].
– Deur: door [noun] [de deur, de deuren].
– Draaien: to turn, to spin [verb] [draaien, draaide, h./i. gedraaid].
Example:
– "Mijn hoofd draait, ik geloof dat ik een misselijk wordt…"
("My head is spinning, I think I'm going to be sick…")
– Veelpleger: (lit.: many-committer) recidivist [noun] [de veelpleger, de veelplegers].
I’m a big fan of DWOTD, but it’s not often I get to expand my English vocabulary here, too! ‘Recidivist’? I think we’re more likely to say ‘repeat offender’.
Appearently the Dutch like this term. At my university in the South of the Netherlands it is used to refer to exam repeaters (which really puzzled me at first).
I love these compound nouns that are such a feature of Dutch (and German I believe).
In English we don’t really have this so much.
Our own “toothpaste” and “underground” pale into insignificance when compared with the glorious “bestuurdersaansprakelijkheidsverzekering” or “Kindercarnavalsoptochtvoorbereidingswerkzaamheden”!
Such a creative language 🙂
LOL @ recidivists. Rebecca is right, very few native English speakers know/use this word. The angry shopkeeper certainly would not. It is used mostly in formal contexts, e.g., studies, law enforcement discussions, etc. The everyday person doesn’t use it.
Thanks guys for your comments, I’ve made ‘repeat offender’ the first translation.
Let’s keep ‘recidivist’ for those DWOTD readers who just can’t prevent getting involved in formal law enforcement discussions 😉
Well, although I do use “recidivist” almost every day, it’s only when I’m being excessively lexiphanic! 🙂
To Chris. If you relish the bestuurdersaansprakelijkheidsverzekering, you should not miss Mark Twain’s
http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/awfgrmlg.html (and apologies to the Dutch if it is only about Deutsch!)
Thanks Twain lives on!
Very interesting and amusing.
Reminds me of that old story about the British diplomat and his translator listening to one of Bismarck’s speeches. Two minutes after the start of the speech the diplomat asks his colleague, who has been sitting in silence, “Why aren’t you translating the Chancellor’s speech?”.
“I’m waiting for the verb, Sir”, he replies dryly…:-)