Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A thief who practised somewhat in the manner of a sneak-thief, watching to see if the people of a house were absent, and then opening the door (drawing the latch) and taking what he could get. Ribton Turner, Vagrants and Vagrancy.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete A housebreaker or thief.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun obsolete A housebreaker or thief

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • What say'st thou, drawlatch? come forth, with a mischief!

    A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 2 William Carew Hazlitt 1873

  • Criminals: cutthroat, cutpurse, suckpurse (extortionist), burngrange (a rural specialist; Absalom ignited Joab's fields just to attract his attention), drawlatch, pickpocket, and picklock (which is also a tool, and if one could find a pick-wick nowadays those Zippo lighters would last forever).

    VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol V No 1 1987

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