fingerern.
/ˈfɪŋɡ(ə)rə/, U.S. /ˈfɪŋɡərər/ A person who fingers (in various senses of finger v.); esp. (in early use) a person who acquires or accepts money dishonestly.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > thief > petty thief or pilferer > [noun]
mitcher?c1225
nimmera1325
pilferer1350
truffer1485
lurcher1528
picker1549
filcher1557
purloiner1557
prig1567
prigger1567
prigman1567
fingerer1575
piker1590
prag1592
nibbler1598
lurch-man1603
petty larcener1640
budge1673
catch-cloaka1679
prigster1682
sutler1699
marauder1764
snib1823
chicken thief1840
lurker1841
souvenir hunter1862
robberling1865
jackdaw1887
miker1890
frisker1892
bower-bird1926
jagoff1931
magpie1944
slockster-
1575 J. Awdely Fraternitye of Vacabondes (new ed.) sig. A.ivv, (heading) A Cheatour or Fingerer.
1645 J. Lilburne England's Birth-right Justified 39 To call to a just and strict account all Fingerers, and Receivers of money.
1662 T. S. Fragmenta Aulica 141 An Act was propounded for the better regulation of the Exchequer, which some fingerers of that money..would have only to look forward to the future management of it.
1755 tr. Conversat. on Polite Life 147 An old fingerer of the public money dazzled her eyes with a diamond of the first water.
1835 Fraser's Mag. Mar. 301/2 To be shot at by a practised fingerer of the hair-trigger.
1893 Scribner's Mag. May 614/2 Dencombe was..a fingerer of style.
1902 Macmillan's Mag. July 173/2 I lacked the wit to see how so ardent a fingerer of his beads could be so glib with his dagger.
1963 Life 28 June 85/1 Prominent fiddlers and fingerers will make music for the benefit of the Stamford Museum.
2008 Gaurdian (Nexis) 15 Jan. (Sport section) 11 If the fingerer gets a lighter sentence, the system needs to be balanced by a relative hammering for the fingered.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1575