pickpurse en · NOUN
Etymology
From Middle English pikepurse, pykeporse, equivalent to pick + purse.
Meanings
-
(obsolete) Someone who steals purses, or money from purses.
Down with Christ's cross, up with purgatory pickpurse, up with him, the popish purgatory, I mean.
1548 January 18, Hugh Latimer, Sermon of the Plough, quoted in Sermons by Hugh Latimer, Cambridge University Press, published 1884, page 71:No, it is false, if it is a pickpurse.
1602, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, act 1, scene 1:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| pick-purse | alternative | lexicographic | |
| pickpurses | Number=Plur | lexicographic |