1670 Inquest after Blood 11 Robert Hilliard, and Richard Wilde, who..were Foot-Pads, both of them dangerous and desperate Fellows.

1680 E. Cellier Malice Defeated 46 He had been set upon by Foot-Pads, and by them robbed of a considerable sum of mony, and most cruelly beaten.

1789 J. Wolcot Subj. for Painters in Wks. (1812) II. 179 I'm no Highwayman. No, there you are right. A Footpad only.

1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge ii. 243 Roads in the neighbourhood of the metropolis were infested by footpads or highwaymen.

1935 Pop. Mech. Oct. 505/2 The hotel burglar, the sneak thief, the footpad, the gunman—each of these has his characteristic traits.

2005 Times Lit. Suppl. 16 Dec. 14/4 For Sherlock to carry a pistol was a rare event. In every tenth story, he might discourage an attacking footpad by taking a swipe with his walking stick, but that was about it.

1859 Spectator 5 Nov. 1131/2 We shall see the practice disappearing, as pocket-picking, foot-padry, and many other offences, have gradually disappeared in our towns.

1861 T. P. Thompson Audi Alteram Partem III. clxxviii. 215 Highwaymanhood and foot-padry.

1889 A. Conan Doyle Micah Clarke xxiii. 233 They did not, as a rule, descend to footpaddery or robbery.

1992 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 19 Aug. 13 If you took up brigandage and footpaddery as a way of life, the chances were you'd encounter the odd bit of criticism and challenge.

1871 York Herald 21 Jan. 9/1 A few shoemakers, tailors, and packmen footpadding the country about, getting the money from their dupes.

1874 W. C. Smith Borland Hall 152 I'd sooner footpad it, and steal and rob.

a1987 J. Logan Coll. Fiction (1991) 75 Footpadding about like the crooks in the..stories you read as a kid.