cutpurse
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English cutte-purs; equivalent to 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.
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:
- 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
Synonyms
- pickpocket, see also Thesaurus:pickpocket
Translations
a thief who steals from others' purses
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Anagrams
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