purse-cuttingn.
/ˈpəːsˌkʌtɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈpərsˌkədɪŋ/ Now rare.
The action of cutting and stealing from purses.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > cutting or stealing purses > [noun]
cutpursing1499
purse-picking1571
purse-taking1598
purse-cutting1623
cutting1700
purse snatching1880
1623 J. Taylor World runnes on Wheeles sig. C Their damming vp the streets in this manner, where people are wedged together that they can hardly stirre, is a maine and great aduantage to the most vertuous Mysterie of purse-cutting.
1632 R. Sanderson 12 Serm. 391 Such as live by Stealing, and Robbing, and Piracy, and Purse-cutting.
1700 in New Statist. Acct. Scotl. (1845) XIII. 23 [The Sheriff] finds the libel relevant as to the rest of the articles, of..keeping ye mercats in yr ordinarie manner of thieving and purse-cutting.
1876 Notes & Queries 30 Dec. 539/1 They taught how to make ointments proper for the production of seeming sores; the terms of the argot; the mystery of purse-cutting.
1908 Mod. Philol. 6 126 In each play the quack surgeon..uses his shop and trade to draw victims for purse-cutting.
1956 Lima (Ohio) News 26 Sept. 22/1 All of those, burglary, robbery, shoplifting, purse cutting, and embezzlement, constitute an act of theft.
2005 U.S. States News Newswire (Nexis) 8 Apr. A tough, realistic account of the hardships endured by six women whose crimes were purse-cutting, prostitution, and ‘false pretenses’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1623