| 18th Century Thieves Cant |
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| Crime |
| Crime : Burglary |
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| CRACK | to break open; the crack is the game of house-breaking; a crack is a breaking any house or building for the purpose of plunder. | 1819 |
| DOSE | Burglary, a breaking open a House, Lock, Door, etc. as, He is cast for Felon and Dose; i. e. found Guilty of Felony and Burglary. | 1737 |
| DUB LAY | Robbing houses by picking the locks. | 1811 |
| DUB THE GIGGER | open the Door. Well strike it upon the Dub, We will rob that Place. | 1737 |
| DUB THE JIGGER | Open the door. CANT. | 1811 |
| GOING UPON THE DUB | Breaking a House with Picklocks. | 1737 |
| GOING UPON THE DUB | Going out to break open, or pick the locks of, houses. | 1811 |
| GUTTING AN HOUSE | rifling it, clearing it. | 1737 |
| HEAVE A COUGH | to rob a House. | 1737 |
| JUMP | The jump, or dining-room jump; a species of robbery effected by ascending a ladder placed by a sham lamp- lighter, against the house intended to be robbed. It is so called, because, should the lamp-lighter be put to flight, the thief who ascended the ladder has no means of escaping but that of jumping down. | 1811 |
| MILL a KEN | to rob a House. Milling the Gig with a Betty, Breaking open the Door with an Iron Crow. | 1737 |
| MILL LAY | To force open the doors of houses in order to rob them. | 1811 |
| MILL THE GLAZE | break open the Window. | 1737 |
| STRIP | to rob or gut a House, to unrig any Body; or to bite them of their Money. | 1737 |
| STRIP THE KEN | To gut the House. | 1737 |
| Crime : Cheats and Tricks |
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| BILK | to cheat or deceive. Bilk the Rattling Cove; Sharp the Coachman of his Hire. | 1737 |
| BIT | Robbed, Cheated or Out-Witted. Also Drunk, as He has bit his Grannum; He is very Drunk. Bit the Blow, performed the Theft, played the Cheat, You have bit a great Blow; You have robbed somebody of or to a considerable Value. | 1737 |
| BLEATERS | Those cheated by Jack in a box. CANT.--See JACK IN A BOX. | 1811 |
| BLEATERS | they that are cheated by Jack in a Box. | 1737 |
| BOBBED | Cheated, tricked, disappointed. | 1811 |
| BOBBED | cheated, tricked, baulked. | 1737 |
| BUBBLE | To cheat or decieve. A Bubble, an easy soft Fellow, one that is fit to be imposed on, deluded, or cheated. | 1737 |
| BUCKET | To bucket a person is synonymous with putting him in the well. See Well. Such treatment is said to be a bucketting concern. | 1819 |
| BUTTER | signifies also, to cheat or defraud in a smooth or plausible Manner; as, Hell not be Battered; Hes aware of your Design, Hes upon his Guard, etc. | 1737 |
| CHOUSE | to cheat or trick. | 1737 |
| COG | The money, or whatsoever the sweeteners drop to draw in a bubble. | 1811 |
| DROP | the game of ring-dropping is called the drop. | 1819 |
| DROP | to give or present a person with money, as, he dropp'd me a quid, he gave me a guinea. A kid who delivers his bundle to a sharper without hesitation, or shopkeeper who is easily duped of his goods by means of a forged order or false pretence, is said to drop the swag in good twig, meaning, to part with it freely. | 1819 |
| DROP A COG | To let fall, with design, a piece of gold or silver, in order to draw in and cheat the person who sees it picked up; the piece so dropped is called a dropt cog. | 1811 |
| DROP A COG | to let fall (with Design to draw in and cheat) a Piece of Gold; also the Piece itself. | 1737 |
| FAM LAY | Going into a goldsmiths shop, under pretence of buying a wedding ring, and palming one or two, by daubing the hand with some viscous matter. | 1811 |
| FAWNEY RIG | A common fraud, thus practised: A fellow drops a brass ring, double gilt, which he picks up before the party meant to be cheated, and to whom he disposes of it for less than its supposed, and ten times more than its real, value. See MONEY DROPPER. | 1811 |
| FERRETED | cheated | 1737 |
| FOB | A cheat, trick, or contrivance, I will not be fobbed off so; I will not be thus deceived with false pretences. The fob is also a small breeches pocket for holding a watch. | 1811 |
| FOB | a Cheat, or Trick. | 1737 |
| FOB off | to cheat or deceive. | 1737 |
| FUN | A cheat, or trick. Do you think to fun me out of it? Do you think to cheat me?--Also the breech, perhaps from being the abbreviation of fundament. Ill kick your fun. CANT. | 1811 |
| FUN | a Cheat, or slippery Trick; What do you fun me? Do you think to sharp or trick me? He put the fun upon the Cull, he sharped the Fellow. | 1737 |
| GAME | Bubbles or pigeons drawn in to be cheated. Also, at bawdy-houses, lewd women. Mother have you any game; mother, have you any girls? To die game; to suffer at the gallows without shewing any signs of fear or repentance. Game pullet; a young whore, or forward girl in the way of becoming one. | 1811 |
| GAME | Bubbles drawn in to be cheated; also at a Bawdy house, lewd Women. Have ye any Game Mother? Have ye any Whores, Mistress bawd. | 1737 |
| GARDEN | to put a person in the garden, in the hole, in the bucket, or in the well, are synonymous phrases, signifying to defraud him of his due share of the booty by embezzling a part of the property, or the money, it is, fenced for; this phrase also applies generally to defrauding any one with whom you are confidentially connected of what is justly his due. | 1819 |
| GULLED | cheated, rooked, sharped. | 1737 |
| HOOKT | over reached, snapt, trikt. | 1737 |
| JASONs FLEECE | a Citizen cheated of his Gold. | 1737 |
| KIMBAW | to Trick, Sharp, or Cheat; also to Beat severely, or to Bully. Lets Kimbaw the Cull, Lets beat that Fellow, and get his Money (by huffing and bullying) from him. | 1737 |
| SPRING a Partridge | to draw a Person in to be bit. To spring Partridges; to raise a Crowd in order to rob or pick Pockets. | 1737 |
| TRIMMING | cheating People of their Money. | 1737 |
| TRIMMING | Cheating, changing side, or beating. Ill trim his jacket; Ill thresh him. To be trimmed; to be shaved; Ill just step and get trimmed. | 1811 |
| WELL | to well your accomplice, or put him in the well, is explained under the word Garden, which see. | 1819 |
| Crime : Other Crimes |
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| AREA SNEAK or AREA SLUM | the practice of slipping unperceived down the areas of private houses, and robbing the lower apartments of plate or other articles. | 1819 |
| BETTER-RACKET | going about to respectable houses with a letter or statement, detailing some case of extreme distress, as shipwreck, sufferings by fire, &c. by which many benevolent, but credulous, persons, are induced to relieve the fictitious wants of the impostors, who are generally men, or women, of genteel address, and unfold a plausible tale of affliction. | 1819 |
| BILLIARD SLUM | The mace is sometimes called giving it to 'em on the billiard slum. See Mace. | 1819 |
| BIT-FAKING | coining base money. | 1819 |
| BLACK ART | The art of picking a lock. Cant. | 1811 |
| BLUE-PIGEON FLYING | the practice of stealing lead from houses, churches, or other buildings, very prevalent in London and its vicinity. | 1819 |
| BODY-SNATCHER | a stealer of dead bodies from churchyards; which are sold to the surgeons and students in anatomy. | 1819 |
| BUGGING | taking Money by Bailiffs and Serjeants of the Defendant not to arrest him. | 1737 |
| BURN THE KEN | is when Strollers leave an Alehouse, without paying their Quarters. | 1737 |
| BURN THE KEN | Strollers living in an alehouse without paying their quarters, are said to burn the ken. CANT. | 1811 |
| BUZ | to buz a person is to pick his pocket. The buz is the game of picking pockets in general. | 1819 |
| CAT and KITTEN RIG | the petty game of stealing pewter quart and pint pots from public-houses. | 1819 |
| CLOUTING | the practice of picking pockets exclusively of handkerchiefs. | 1819 |
| CLOUTING LAY | Picking pockets of handkerchiefs. | 1811 |
| CROSS-FAM | to cross-fam a person, is to pick his pocket, by crossing your arms in a particular position. | 1819 |
| CUE | See Letter Q. | 1819 |
| DANNA-DRAG | commonly pronounced dunnickdrag. See Knap A Jacob, &c. | 1819 |
| DIVE | to pick a Pocket | 1737 |
| DIVE | To dive; to pick a pocket. To dive for a dinner; to go down into a cellar to dinner. A dive, is a thief who stands ready to receive goods thrown out to him by a little boy put in at a window. Cant. | 1811 |
| DOBIN RIG | Stealing ribbands from haberdashers early in the morning or late at night; generally practised by women in the disguise of maid servants. | 1811 |
| DRAW | to dram a person, is to pick his pocket, and the act of so stealing a pocket-book, or handkerchief, is called drawing a reader, or clout. To obtain money or goods of a person by a false or plausible story, is called drawing him of so and so. To draws. kid, is to obtain his swag from him. See KID-RIG. | 1819 |
| DRAWING THE KINGS PICTURE | Coining. CANT. | 1811 |
| FEINTING | an Attempt on one part of a House, or Road, etc. when their cheif Stress or Attempt lies in another | 1737 |
| LETTER Q | the mace, or billiard-slum, is sometimes called going upon the Q, or the letter Q, alluding to an instrument used in playing billiards. | 1819 |
| MACE | to mace a shopkeeper, or give it to him upon the mace, is to obtain goods on credit, which you never mean to pay for ; to run up a score with the same intention, or to spunge upon your acquaintance, by continually begging or borrowing from them, is termed maceing, or striking the mace. | 1819 |
| NIGGING | Clipping. | 1737 |
| PRAD LAY | Cutting bags from behind horses. CANT. | 1811 |
| SMASHING | uttering counterfeit money; masking of queer screens, signifies uttering forged bank notes. To smash a guinea, note, or other money, is, in a common sense, to procure, or give, change for it. | 1819 |
| TO FOYST | To pick a pocket. | 1811 |
| Crime : Places |
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| FENCING KEN | The magazine, or warehouse, where stolen goods are secreted. | 1811 |
| FENCING-KEN | a Warehouse, where Stollen Goods are secured. | 1737 |
| FLASH KEN | A house that harbours thieves. | 1811 |
| FLASH PANNEYS | Houses to which thieves and prostitutes resort. | 1811 |
| FLASH-CRIB; FLASH-KEN or FLASH-PANNY | a public-house resorted to chiefly by family people, the master of which is commonly an old prig, and not unfrequently an old-lag. | 1819 |
| FLASH-KEN | a House were Thieves use, and are connived at. | 1737 |
| LOCK | the Warehouse whither the Thieves carry stollen Goods. Also an Hospital for pocky Folks in Southwark etc. | 1737 |
| SPIRIT-AWAY | the same as Kidnap. | 1737 |
| STALLNG-KEN | a Brokers Shop, or any House that receives stollen Goods. | 1737 |
| STOP-HOLE ABBEY | the Nick-name of the chief Rendezvous of the Canting Crew of Gypsies, Cheats, Thieves, etc. | 1737 |
| STULING-KEN | the same as Stalling Ken. Which see. | 1737 |
| Crime : Related Terms |
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| ARM-PITS | To work under the arm-pits, is to practise only such kinds of depredation, as will amount, upon conviction, to what the law terms single, or petty larceny ; the extent of punishment for which is transportation for seven years. By following this system, a thief avoids the halter, which certainly is applied above the arm-pits. | 1819 |
| BEEF | To cry beef; to give the alarm. They have cried beef on us. Cant.--To be in a mans beef; to wound him with a sword. To be in a womans beef; to have carnal knowledge of her. Say you bought your beef of me, a jocular request from a butcher to a fat man. implying that he credits the butcher who serves him. | 1811 |
| BEEF | stop thief! to beef a person, is to raise a hue and cry after him, in order to get him stopped. | 1819 |
| BEST | to get your money at the best, signifies to live by dishonest or fraudulent practices, without labour or industry, according to the general acceptation of the latter word; but, certainly, no persons have more occasion to be industrious, and in a state of perpetual action than cross-cores; and experience has proved, when too late, to many of them, that honesty is the best policy; and consequently, that the above phrase is by no means a-propos. | 1819 |
| BONNET | a concealment, pretext, or pretence; an ostensible manner of accounting for what you really mean to conceal; as a man who actually lives by depredation, will still outwardly follow some honest employment, as a clerk, porter, newsman, &c. By this system of policy, he is said to have a good bonnet if he happens to get boned; and, in a doubtful case, is commonly discharged on the score of having a good character. To bonnet for a person, is to corroborate any assertion he has made, or to relate facts in the most favourable light, in order to extricate him from a dilemma, or to further any object he has in view. | 1819 |
| BOWMAN | as a Bowman-Prigg, an eminent Thief or Villain; a dextrous Cheat, or House-breaker. | 1737 |
| BRACE UP | to dispose of stolen goods by pledging them for the utmost you can get at a pawnbroker's, is termed bracing them up. | 1819 |
| CAP | synonymous with Bonnet, which see. | 1819 |
| CAPTAIN | Led captain; an humble dependant in a great family, who for a precarious subsistence, and distant hopes of preferment, suffers every kind of indignity, and is the butt of every species of joke or ill-humour. The small provision made for officers of the army and navy in time of peace, obliges many in both services to occupy this wretched station. The idea of the appellation is taken from a led horse, many of which for magnificence appear in the retinues of great personages on solemn occasions, such a | 1811 |
| CATCHING HARVEST | A dangerous time for a robbery, when many persons are on the road, on account of a horse-race, fair, or some other public meeting. | 1811 |
| CATCHING-HARVEST | a precarious Time for Robbery; when many People are out upon the Road, by means of any adjacent Fair, Horse-race, etc. | 1737 |
| CHANT | an advertisement in a newspaper or handbill; also a paragraph in the newspaper describing any robbery or other recent event; any lost or stolen property, for the recovery of which, or a thief, &c., for whose apprehension a reward is held out by advertisement, are said to be chanted. | 1819 |
| CHRISTEN | obliterating the name and number on the movement of a stolen watch ; or the crest, cipher, &c., on articles of plate, and getting others engraved, so as to prevent their being identified, is termed having them bishop'd or christen'd. | 1819 |
| COME | A thief observing any article in a shop, or other situation, which he conceives may be easily purloined, will say to his accomplice, I think there is so and so to come. | 1819 |
| COME IT | to divulge a secret; to tell any thing of one party to another; they say of a thief who has turned evidence against his accomplices, that he is coming all he knows, or that he comes it as strong as a horse. | 1819 |
| CONFECT | conterfeit, feigned. | 1737 |
| CONFECT | Counterfeited. | 1811 |
| CREW | a Knot or Gang; as, A Crew of Rogues, etc. | 1737 |
| CREW | A knot or gang; also a boat or ship's company. The canting crew are thus divided into twenty-three orders, which see under the different words:
MEN.
1 Rufflers 2 Upright Men 3 Hookers or Anglers 4 Rogues 5 Wild Rogues 6 Priggers of Prancers 7 Palliardes 8 Fraters 9 Jarkmen, or Patricoes 10 Fresh Water Mariners, or Whip Jackets 11 Drummerers 12 Drunken Tinkers 13 Swadders, or Pedlars 14 Abrams.
WOMEN.
1 Demanders for Glimmer or Fire 2 Bawdy Baskets 3 Morts 4 Autem Morts 5 Walking Morts 6 Doxies 7 Delles 8 Kinching Morts 9 Kinching Coes | 1811 |
| CRONY | a Comerade [in a Canting Sense.] Two or Three Rogues, who agree to beg or rob in Partnership, call one another Crony; as, Such a one is my Crony; as much as to say, He and I go Snacks. | 1737 |
| CRONY | An intimate companion, a comrade; also a confederate in a robbery. | 1811 |
| CROSS | illegal or dishonest practices in general are called the cross, in opposition to the square. See Square. Any article which has been irregularly obtained, is said to have been got upon the cross, and is emphatically termed a cross article. | 1819 |
| CROSS-CRIB | a house inhabited, or kept by family people. See Square Crib. | 1819 |
| CUT THE LINE | See Line. | 1819 |
| CUT THE STRING | See String. | 1819 |
| DAB | expert, well versd in Roguery. A Rum Dab, a very dextrous Fellow at Thieving, Cheating, Sharping, etc. | 1737 |
| DEAD CARGO | a Term used by Rogues, when they are disappointed in the Value of their Booty. | 1737 |
| DEAD CARGO | A term used by thieves, when they are disappointed in the value of their booty. | 1811 |
| DO | a term used by smashers ; to do a queer half-quid, or a queer screen, is to utter a counterfeit half-guinea, or a forged bank-note. | 1819 |
| DO IT AWAY | to fence or dispose of a stolen article beyond the reach of probable detection. | 1819 |
| DO THE TRICK | to accomplish any robbery, or other business successfully ; a thief who has been fortunate enough to acquire an independence, and prudent enough to tie it up in time, is said by his former associates to have done the trick ; on the other "hand, a man who has imprudently involved himself in some great misfortune, from which there is little hope of his extrication is declared by his friends, with an air of commiseration, to have done the trick for himself; that is, his ruin or downfall is nearly certain. | 1819 |
| DOWN | Aware of a thing. Knowing it. There is NO DOWN. A cant phrase used by house-breakers to signify that the persons belonging to any house are not on their guard, or that they are fast asleep, and have not heard any noise to alarm them. | 1811 |
| DOWN | sometimes synonymous with awake, as, when the party you are about to rob, sees or suspects your intention, it is then said that the cove is down. A down is a suspicion, alarm, or discovery, which taking place, obliges yourself and palls to give up or desist from the business or depredation you were engaged in; to put a down upon a man, is to give information of any robbery or fraud he is about to perpetrate, so as to cause his failure or detection; to drop down to a person is to discover or be aware of his character or designs ; to put a person down to any thing, is to apprize him of, elucidate, or explain it to him ; to put a swell down, signifies to alarm or put a gentleman on his guard, when in the attempt to pick his pocket, you fail to effect it at once, and by having touched him a little too roughly, you cause him to suspect your design, and to use precautions accordingly ; or perhaps, in the act of sounding him, by being too precipitate or incautious, his suspicions may have been excited, and it is then said that you have put him put him down, or spoiled him. See Spoil It. To drop down upon yourself, is to become melancholy, or feel symptoms of remorse or compunction, on being committed to jail, cast for death, &c. To sink under misfortunes of any kind. A man who gives way to this weakness, is said to be down upon himself. | 1819 |
| DROP DOWN | See Down. | 1819 |
| DUNNICK or DANNA-DRAG | See Knap A Jacob. | 1819 |
| FAKE AWAY; THERE'S NO DOWN | an intimation from a thief to his pall, during the commission of a robbery, or other act, meaning, go on with your operations, there is no sign of any alarm or detection. | 1819 |
| GAG | An instrument used chiefly by housebreakers and thieves, for propping open the mouth of a person robbed, thereby to prevent his calling out for assistance. | 1811 |
| GANG | an ill Knot or Crew of Thieves, Pick-pockets or Miscreants. | 1737 |
| GANG | A company of men, a body of sailors, a knot of thieves, pickpockets, &c. A gang of sheep trotters; the four feet of a sheep. | 1811 |
| JUSTICE | Ill do Justice, Child; I will Peach, or rather Impeach, or discover the whole Gang, and so save my own Bacon. | 1737 |
| KNOT | a Crew of Gang of Villains. | 1737 |
| KNOT | A crew, gang, or fraternity. He has tied a knot with his tongue, that he cannot untie with his teeth: i.e. he is married. | 1811 |
| LAY | an Enterprize, or Attempt; To be sick of the Lay, to be tird in waiting for an Opportunity to effect their Purposes. Also an Hazard or Chance; as, He stands a quuer Lay; he stands an odd Chance, or is in great Danger. | 1737 |
| LAY | Enterprize, pursuit, or attempt: to be sick of the lay. It also means a hazard or chance: he stands a queer lay; i.e. he is in danger. CANT. | 1811 |
| LINE | to get a person in a line, or in a string, it to engage them in a conversation, while your confederate is robbing their person or premises ; to banter or jest with a man by amusing him with false assurances or professions, is also termed stringing him, or getting him in tow; to keep any body in suspense on any subject without coming to a decision, is called ketping him in tow, in a string, or in a tow-line. To cut the line, or the string, is to put an end to the suspense in which you have kept any one, by telling him the plain truth, coming to a final decision, &c. A person, who has been telling another a long story, until he is tired, or conceives his auditor has been all the while secretly laughing at him, will say at last, I 've just dropped down, you've had me in a fine string, I think it's time to cut it. On the other hand, the auditor, having the same opinion on his part, would say, Come, I believe you want to string me all night, I wish you'd cut it; meaning, conclude the story at once. | 1819 |
| MILCH-KINE | a Term used by Goalers, when their Prisoners will bleed freely to have some Favour, or to be at large. | 1737 |
| MONGREL | a Hanger-on among the Cheats, a Spunger. | 1737 |
| MUSIC | The watch-word among highwaymen, signifying the person is a friend, and must pass unmolested. Music is also an Irish term, in tossing up, to express the harp side, or reverse, of a farthing or halfpenny, opposed to the head. | 1811 |
| MUSICK | the Watch-word among High-way-men, to let the Company they were to rob, alone, in return to some Courtesy from some Gentleman among them. | 1737 |
| PRIGGISH | Thievish. | 1737 |
| QUEERE-BIRDS | such as having got loose, return to their old Trade of roguing and thieving. | 1737 |
| SCRAP | s Design, a purposd Villainy, a vile Intention; also a perpetrated Roguery: He whiddles the whole Scrap: He discovers all he knows. | 1737 |
| SCRAP | A villainous scheme or plan. He whiddles the whole scrap; he discovers the whole plan or scheme. | 1811 |
| SEND | To drive or break in. Hand down the Jemmy and send it in; apply the crow to the door, and drive it in. | 1811 |
| SNUG | Alls snug; Alls quiet, used by Villains, when every thing is silent and they hear no body stir to oppose their intended Rogueries. | 1737 |
| STRING | See Line. | 1819 |
| TO SHAM ABRAM | To pretend sickness. | 1811 |
| WHIDDLE | to enter into a Parley, to compound with, or take off by a Bribe; as, Did you Whiddle with the Cull? Did you bribe or compound with the Evidence? Also to impeach, or discover; as, He Whiddles; He Peaches. He Whiddles the whole Scrap; He discovers all he knows. The Cull has whiddled, because we would not tip him a Snack; The Dog has discovered because we did not give him a Share. They Whiddle-Thief, and we must Brush; They cry out Thieves, and we must fly. | 1737 |
| WHIDDLER | a Peacher (or rather Impeacher) of his Gang. | 1737 |
| Crime : Thieving in General |
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| CLOY | to Steal. Cloy the Clout; steal the Money. | 1737 |
| CLOY | To steal. To cloy the clout; to steal the handkerchief. To cloy the lour; to steal money. CANT. | 1811 |
| CLOYING | Stealing, Thieving, Robbing. | 1737 |
| FILCH | to Steal. | 1737 |
| FILE | to Rob, or Cheat. | 1737 |
| FLEECE | to Rob, Plunder or Strip. | 1737 |
| HEAVE | to rob. | 1737 |
| MADE | stolen. I made this Knife at a Heat, I stole it cleverly. | 1737 |
| MADE | Stolen. CANT. | 1811 |
| MAKE | to steal; seize; to run away with. | 1737 |
| MILL | to steal, rob, or kill. Mill the Gig with a Dub, open the Door with a Pick-lock, or false Key. | 1737 |
| NIM | to steal. | 1737 |
| NIM | or whip off or away any thing; To Num a Togeman, to steal a Cloack. To Nim a Cloak, to cut off the Buttons in a Crowd, to whip it off a Mans Shoulders. | 1737 |
| NIP | to pinch or sharp any thing. Nip a Bung, to cut a Purse. | 1737 |
| NOISY DOG RACKET | Stealing brass knockers from doors. | 1811 |
| PICKING | little Stealing, Pilfering Petty Larceny. | 1737 |
| PICKING | Pilfering, petty larceny. | 1811 |
| PINCH | to steal or convey slily any Thing away. To pinch on the Parsons side; to sharp him of his Tithes. At a Pinch, upon a Push or Exigence. | 1737 |
| PINCH | To go into a tradesmans shop under the pretence of purchasing rings or other light articles, and while examining them to shift some up the sleeve of the coat. Also to ask for change for a guinea, and when the silver is received, to change some of the good shillings for bad ones; then suddenly pretending to recollect that you had sufficient silver to pay the bill, ask for the guinea again, and return the change, by which means several bad shillings are passed. | 1811 |
| RUNNING SMOBBLE | Snatching goods off a counter, and throwing them to an accomplice, who brushes off with them. | 1811 |
| SNABBLE | to rifle, to strip, or plunder. To Snabble a Poll, to run away with a Peruke or Head-dress. | 1737 |
| SNAFFLE | to steal, to rob, to purloin. A snaffler of Prancers; a Horse-Stealer. Snuffle, is also a Highwayman that has got a Booty. | 1737 |
| SPEAK WITH | to steal. | 1737 |
| STRIKE | to beg or rob; also to borrow Money. Strike all the Cheats; Rob all that you meet. Strike the Cull; Beg of that Gentleman. Strike the Cloy; Get the Fellows Money from him. He has struck the Quidds; He has got the Money from him. He strikes every Body; He borrows Money every where; he runs in every ones Debt. | 1737 |
| TO BITE | To over-reach, or impose; also to steal.--Cant. --Biting was once esteemed a kind of wit, similar to the humbug. An instance of it is given in the Spectator: A man under sentence of death having sold his body to a surgeon rather below the market price, on receiving the money, cried, A bite! I am to be hanged in chains.--To bite the roger; to steal a portmanteau. To bite the wiper, to steal a handkerchief. To bite on the bridle; to be pinched or reduced to difficulties. Hark ye, friend, whether do they bite in the collar or the cod-piece? Water wit to anglers. | 1811 |
| WHIP OFF | to steal, to drink cleverly, to snatch and to run away. Whipt through the Lungs; Run through the Body with a Sword. Whipt in at the Glaze; Got in at the Window. | 1737 |
| WIN | a Penny. To win; To steal. Won; Stollen. The Cull has won a Couple of rum Glimsticks; The Rogue has stole a pair of Silver Candlesticks. | 1737 |
