pickpocket
/ˈpɪkpɒkɪt
/noun
A person who steals from people’s pockets.The beggars in the city also indicate that there are thieves, pickpockets, robbers and the like lurking around....
- Last Tuesday, police community support officers patrolled the market, keeping an eye out for thieves and pickpockets, while distributing crime prevention leaflets to stallholders and shoppers.
- There are well-documented gangs of child pickpockets and other assorted thieves operating on both sides of the border.
Synonyms
thief, petty thief, sneak thief;
bag-snatcher, purse-snatcher
archaic cutpurse, pickpurse, pocket-picker, purse-picker, finger, dipper, reefer
verb [with object]
Steal from the pockets of (someone): I think someone pickpocketed me in Brighton on my way to the station (as noun pickpocketing) crimes such as pickpocketing...
- Although the public fear being a victim of identity fraud more than pickpocketing, mugging or even burglary, a large number still put themselves at risk by disposing of private information without first rendering it unreadable.
- More than 80 percent said they or people close to them had been a victim of a crime - primarily burglaries, pickpocketing and purse-snatchings, as violent crimes are relatively rare.
- He also noted an increase in police patrols around the capital which has resulted in a marked reduction in pickpocketing and shoplifting over the past two weeks.
- street gossip
- street grid
- street hockey
- streetie
- streeting
- street island
- street jewellery
- street-keeper
- street kid
- street lamp
- street-legal
- street length
- streetless
- streetlet
- street level
- street light
- street lighting
- street luge
- street luger
- street man
- street manure
- street name
- streetology
- street orderly
- street parlor