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A thief who steals from the pockets or purses of others in public places
Answer for the clue "A thief who steals from the pockets or purses of others in public places ", 8 letters:
cutpurse
Alternative clues for the word cutpurse
Word definitions for cutpurse in dictionaries
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Word definitions in The Collaborative International Dictionary
Cutpurse \Cut"purse`\ (k[u^]t"p[^u]rs`), n. One who cuts purses for the sake of stealing them or their contents (an act common when men wore purses fastened by a string to their girdles); one who steals from the person; a pickpocket To have an open ear, ...
WordNet
Word definitions in WordNet
n. a thief who steals from the pockets or purses of others in public places [syn: pickpocket , dip ]
Wiktionary
Word definitions in Wiktionary
n. A thief who steals from others' purse or pockets in public.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Word definitions in Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"one who steals by the method of cutting purses, a common practice when men wore their purses at their girdles" [Johnson], mid-14c., from cut (v.) + purse (n.). The word continued after the method switched to picking pockets.
Usage examples of cutpurse.
Rene and his men to tend to the horses and themselves at a stable nearby, he went into the tavern, which was known to every cutpurse and bawd in London.
A weapon of some kind was always a necessity for those who strode the byways of a haven for cutpurses and cutthroats like Mos Eisley.
All around them tumblers tumbled, musicians tootled and squeaked, and troupes of players, jugglers, wrestlers, mountebanks, pickpockets, cutpurses, prostitutes, quacksalvers, thimbleriggers, blagueurs, and the like went energetically and often noisily about their work.
Blade cursed him and swore he had missed his calling-instead of a mangy cutpurse he should have been a lying skald, setting his wild tales to music on a lute.
Next, meeting Cuthbert Cutpurse and Pierce Pickpurse, he gives them news of a piece of land which has fallen to them by unexpected succession.
Judge Severity arrives on the scene conveniently to lecture him severely and witness his second knavish device, which is no other than to hand over to the Judge the two fugitives from justice, Cutpurse and Pickpurse, for the piece of land of which he spoke is the gallows.
There were thieves, cutpurses, sharpsters, game-cheats, procurers, unlicensed street-walkers, and those who preyed upon their fellow humans in every way that had ever been thought of.
Her means of escape was somewhere among the guests and servants, the messengers, jugglers, procurers, shills, cutpurses, and food vendors with their portable shops balanced on bamboo poles across their shoulders.
Lob, Lobkyn he Commandeth thee To let her be And set her free, Thou scurvy, cutpurse, outlaw knave, Lest hanged thou be Upon a tree For roguery And villainy, Thou knavish, misbegotten slave.
Jenna had heard many stories from Nicko about the Port lowlife—the smugglers and muggers, the pickpockets and cutpurses, the blaggers and baggers, all waiting to pounce on an unwary stranger as soon as night fell.
She had seen cutpurses aplenty in the streets of the Free Cities, during the years she'd spent with her brother, running from the Usurper's hired knives.
As the watchers craned their necks upward, the cutpurses squirmed through the press, small blades hidden in their palms.
He had some small skill with powders and wildfire, sufficient to entrance a crowd while his cutpurses did their work.
She had seen cutpurses aplenty in the streets of the Free Cities, during the years she’d spent with her brother, running from the Usurper’s hired knives.
To his left Conan saw a group of four men who looked more unsavory, probably cutpurses or strong-arm thieves.