pickpocket
verb
- to steal from the pocket or purse of others in public places
noun
- thief who engages in pickpocketing
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈpɪkpɒkɪt/
noun
Etymology: Etymology tree English pick Proto-Germanic *puhô Frankish *pokōbor. Anglo-Norman poche Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Italic *-tosder.? Latin -ittus Anglo-Norman -ete Anglo-Norman poketbor. Middle English pocket English pocket English pickpocket From pick + pocket.
- One who steals from the pocket of a passerby, usually by sleight of hand.
“Old men, young men, and boys, stalwart burglars and highway robbers, slept side by side with wizened pickpockets or cunning-featured area-sneaks.”
“For several days, Mr. Sammler returning on the customary bus late afternoons from the Forty-second Street Library had been watching a pickpocket at work […] Mr. Sammler if he had not been a tall straphanger would not with his one good eye have seen these things happening.”
verb
Etymology: Etymology tree English pick Proto-Germanic *puhô Frankish *pokōbor. Anglo-Norman poche Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Italic *-tosder.? Latin -ittus Anglo-Norman -ete Anglo-Norman poketbor. Middle English pocket English pocket English pickpocket From pick + pocket.
- To pick pockets; to steal.
“Vodafone has also dropped its claim against one of Rhys Edwards’s travelling companions – who had been at the same reunion and had his phone pickpocketed two hours later in almost identical circumstances to Rhys Edwards.”