1591 R. Greene Notable Discouery of Coosenage To Rdr. sig. B2^v The picke-pockets and cut-purses are nothing so daungerous to meete withal, as these Coosening Cunny-catchers.

1593 G. Harvey Pierces Supererogation 177 The pickthanke of Vanity, the pickpocket of foolery, the pickpurse of all the palteries, and knaueries in Print.

1668 H. Rolle Abridgm., Action sur Case xx. 73 He was a Pick~pocket, and he picked my pocket, and took 12s. of money out of my pocket. Nul Action gist.

1698 W. King Journey to London 27 Knavery is here in perfection, dextrous Cut-Purses, and Pick-pockets.

1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 78. ⁋4 It was only a Pickpocket, who during his Kissing her stole away all his Money.

?1747 G. Whitefield Full Acct. Life ii. 66 Some called me a spiritual Pick-Pocket.

1828 C. Lamb Old Margate Hoy in Elia 2nd Ser. 31 The nibbling pickpockets of your patience.

1898 Argosy Apr. 178 Penniless counts, swindling duchesses, notorious pickpockets were duly honored with a line upon Delavigne's list.

1943 M. Millar Wall of Eyes xiii. 168 Murillo belonged to the substratum of criminals, the petty thieves and pickpockets, the pimps and hopheads and peddlers of dirty pictures.

1972 G. Green Great Moments in Sport: Soccer 12 The goal-scoring genius of Jimmy Greaves, that Fagin of penalty area pickpockets.

2004 South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) (Nexis) 11 Oct. 10 A sprawling bazaar in the old section of town filled with pickpockets, car thieves and prostitution.

1854 A. E. Baker Gloss. Northants. Words II. 109 Children, when gathering this plant [sc. the shepherd's purse], frequently repeat the following couplet:- Pick-pocket, penny nail, Put the rogue in jail.]

1854 A. Pratt Flowering Plants & Ferns Great Brit. I. 90 Common Shepherd's Purse... It varies much in size,..coming up on pastures in most unwelcome luxuriance.., well deserving its common name of Pickpocket, by the room which it occupies on valuable land.

1875 W. D. Parish Dict. Sussex Dial. Pickpockets, Shepherd's purse.

1893 G. E. Dartnell & E. H. Goddard Gloss. Words Wilts. 116 Pickpocket, Capsella Bursa-pastoris, L. Shepherd's Purse.

1625 J. Taylor Arrant Thiefe sig. B4^v There's a kind of stealing mysticall, Pick-pocket wits, filch lines Sophisticall..Purloyning Thieues, that pilfer from Desart The due of study, and reward of Art.

1680 J. Bunyan Life & Death Mr. Badman 186 They are a shame to Religion, I say these slithy, rob-Shop, pick-pocket men, they are a shame to Religion.

1685 W. Stanley Disc. Devot. Church Rome 28 Though the Church of England own not either Purgatory, or any other of their Pick-pocket Doctrines.

a1716 R. South Serm. Several Occasions (1744) XI. 29 I do not mean the auricular pick-pocket confession of the Papists.

a1771 T. Gray Candidate (?1780) 1 Such a sheep-biting look, such a pick-pocket air.

1823 S. Smith Wks. (1859) II. 12/2 His mission to the fifth or pickpocket quarter of the globe.

1832 S. T. Coleridge Coll. Lett. (1971) VI. 916 The ‘New System of Domestic Cookery’ [by M. E. Rundell] is..a pickpocket humbug of Mister Murray.

1915 L. E. Jackson & C. R. Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Slang 22 In pickpocket parlance it [sc. ‘cannon’] signifies a pickpocket of indefinite order.

1988 R. Dole & E. Dole Doles vii. 182 Congress needed to be told that it couldn't go on forever practicing pickpocket government and that's exactly what indexation was meant to halt.

2001 Christchurch (N.Z.) Press (Nexis) 30 Jan. 18 Thieves don't have a stereotypical look. Some use smart clothes as a front, and an overcoat over the arm can hide pickpocket hands.

1830 Examiner 612/1 The pick-pocketism above alluded to cannot be defended.

1845 E. A. Poe in Broadway Jrnl. 2 173 The ordinary pick-pocket..neither takes honor to himself..nor does he subject the individual he robbed to the charge of pick-pocketism in his own person.

1822 J. Hook Pen Owen III. ii. 46 Holloa,—why I'm robbed,—plundered, pick-pocketed.—Murder!—there be foorty good poonds gone.

1888 Country Gentleman 2 June 781/2 To go into the Grand Stand at Epsom is to risk one's life. To go on to the Hill is to be scandalised, welshed, and pickpocketed.

1892 Sandusky (Ohio) Daily Reg. 31 Dec. Being pickpocketed or sandbagged in the streets, or murdered by burglars.

1932 E. Hemingway Death in Afternoon 297 My friends' experiences at being pickpocketed in Spain.

1993 Money Apr. 5/1 It was only an hour after my wife and I got blessed by Pope John Paul II..that she got pickpocketed.