light-fingeredadj.

1546 T. Langley tr. P. Vergil Abridgem. Notable Worke vii. vi. 140 These..be so light fingered and suche rigbies Children that they wil fynde two thynges, afore they lose one.

1624 T. Gataker Discuss. Transubstant. 148 Some light-fingered person having pickt his purse.

1699 W. Dampier Voy. & Descr. i. i. 14 Our men contented themselves with looking after their goods (the Tonquinese being very light finger'd).

1758 S. Johnson Idler 14 Oct. 217 Sharp girls were apt to be light fingered.

1823 W. Scott Let. 6 June (1935) VIII. 13 The light-fingerd gentry melt plate so soon as it comes into their possession.

1930 Morning Herald (Uniontown, Pa.) 11 Oct. 8/2 The name of Hornung's light-fingered burglar [sc. Raffles] was grafted into the language as a synonym for gentlemen [sic] crook.

2018 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 20 May (Late ed.) (Book Review section) 1 The boy is a furtive thief, light-fingered and deft, making away each week with another small treasure.

1557 R. Edgeworth Serm. very Fruitfull xviii. f. cclxxxviii^v They muste not be lyght fingered, or readye to stryke, or to hurte anie manne.

1588 W. Lambarde Eirenarcha (new ed.) ii. vii. 220 Youth..whether brawling, quarrelous, lightfingred or bloudiehanded.

1590 R. Harvey Plaine Percevall Ded. sig. A2 Light fingred younkers, which make euery word a blow.

1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 475 Angry men are light fingered, and apt to strike.

1624 J. Dyke Good Conscience xvi. 278 See how light fingerd Pashur is, hee hath fists for Ieremies face, and stockes for his heeles.

1736 Gentleman's Mag. Jan. 38/2 She would trust hers [sc. ears] to none but this light-finger'd Mandarine.

1804 Edinb. Rev. 5 152 The..solemn gravity of the premier affords a fine contrast to the light-fingered agility of his brother.

1941 Southtown Economist (Chicago) 11 June 15/1 Its yellowed keys cracked and scarred..through the type of abuse that too much hysterical and heavy-handed revelry inspires in an otherwise light-fingered musician.

2019 Guardian (Nexis) 8 Jan. (Music section) For all the light-fingered fleetness of the performance those problems were never completely solved, and the central section of the slow movement particularly lost some of its vehemence.

1817 Neuman's New Dict. Spanish & Eng. Langs. (ed. 3) I Sutileza de manos, address in handling or operating; slight of hand; light-fingeredness or nimbleness of a thief.

1881 Nation (N.Y.) 33 358/1 The general persuasion of their propensity to light-fingeredness.

1925 A. J. Carver Treeshy in Harper's Monthly Mag. Dec. 356/1 Because of Treeshy's light-fingeredness.., my mamma..went about hiding..our stockings, our underwear, and our petty childish jewelry.

2014 Examiner Newspaper (Austral.) (Nexis) 23 Dec. 22 Watching out for opportunistic persons who regard this time of year as necessary to perfect their techniques of light-fingeredness.