cutpurse
English
Alternative forms
- cut-purse
Etymology
From cut + purse: originally, purses were worn by a strap at the girdle, which the thief would cut.
Noun
cutpurse (plural cutpurses)
- A thief who steals from others' purses or pockets in public.
- 1602 : William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act III scene 4
- A cutpurse of the empire and the rule
- c. 1620, anonymous, “Tom o’ Bedlam’s Song” in Giles Earle his Booke (British Museum, Additional MSS. 24, 665):
- The Gipsie snap & Pedro
are none of Toms Comradoes,
yͤ punck I skorne, & yͤ cutpurse sworn
& yͤ roring boyes brauadoes
- The Gipsie snap & Pedro
- 1602 : William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act III scene 4
Synonyms
- pickpocket, see also Thesaurus:pickpocket
Translations
a thief who steals from others' purses
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