pocket-pickern.
/ˈpɒkɪtˌpɪkə/, U.S. /ˈpɑkətˌpɪkər/ A pickpocket.
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the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > thief > pickpocket or cutpurse > [noun] > pickpocket
fig-boyc1555
foister1585
foist1591
pickpocket1591
bung1600
diver1608
pocket-picker1622
pocketeerc1626
bung-nipper1659
file1673
filer1674
shark1707
hoister1708
knuckle1781
knuckler1801
buzzgloak1819
cly-faker1819
fingersmith1819
knuck1819
fogle hunter1821
buzzman1832
nobbler1839
wire1851
gonoph1853
wirer1857
dip1859
moll-tooler1859
buzzer1862
hook1863
snotter1864
tool1865
pocket-cutter1885
dipper1889
pogue-hunter1896
pick1902
finger1925
whizz1925
whizzer1925
prat diggera1931
whizz-boy1931
whizz-man1932
reefer1935
1622 S. Rowlands Good Newes & Bad Newes 42 A Pocket-picker most exceeding braue (For true mens purses did maintaine the knaue).
1674 S. Speed Kings-Bench Scuffle sig. G Nor was there want of Pocket-pickers there.
1725 Life & Glorious Actions J. Wilde 51 Those that were Clout Files (or Pocket pickers of Handkerchiefs only) he appointed for one Company.
1820 J. Galt Ayrshire Legatees in Blackwood's Mag. Aug. 470 A pocket-picker..cutted off the tail of my coat.
1942 V. Starrett Bookman's Holiday 204 No one, I thought, would be more joyously entertained than Anatole France by the activities of the pocket-pickers at his funeral.
1999 W. T. Austin Banana Justice ix. 138 Pocket-pickers operate on the jeepneys and sit with other passengers awaiting an appropriate target.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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