Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A pickpocket.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who cuts purses for the sake of stealing their contents (a practice said to have been common when men wore purses at their girdles); hence, a pickpocket.

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

  • noun One who cuts purses for the sake of stealing them or their contents (an act common when men wore purses fastened by a string to their girdles); one who steals from the person; a pickpocket.

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

  • noun A thief who steals from others' purses or pockets in public.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a thief who steals from the pockets or purses of others in public places

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From cut +‎ purse.

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Examples

  • The meaning of the term cutpurse was a lot clearer.

    The Soprano Sorceress Modesitt, L. E. 1997

  • I was not long ago in England, and witnessed there the hanging of one Elizabeth Evans–Canberry Bess, they called her–a notorious murderer and cutpurse, who was taken with her partner, one Thomas Shearwood.

    On The Anatomization of an Unknown Man (1637) by Frans Mier John Connolly 2010

  • I was not long ago in England, and witnessed there the hanging of one Elizabeth Evans–Canberry Bess, they called her–a notorious murderer and cutpurse, who was taken with her partner, one Thomas Shearwood.

    On The Anatomization of an Unknown Man (1637) by Frans Mier John Connolly 2010

  • I was not long ago in England, and witnessed there the hanging of one Elizabeth Evans–Canberry Bess, they called her–a notorious murderer and cutpurse, who was taken with her partner, one Thomas Shearwood.

    On The Anatomization of an Unknown Man (1637) by Frans Mier John Connolly 2010

  • I was not long ago in England, and witnessed there the hanging of one Elizabeth Evans–Canberry Bess, they called her–a notorious murderer and cutpurse, who was taken with her partner, one Thomas Shearwood.

    On The Anatomization of an Unknown Man (1637) by Frans Mier John Connolly 2010

  • In which the two brothers cooperate, Gideon resumes his career as a cutpurse, and Tempest House plays host to some unexpected visitors

    THE TIME QUAKE Linda Buckley-Archer 2009

  • You, whose conscience is too delicate to continue as a cutpurse, threaten to turn assassin?

    THE TIME QUAKE Linda Buckley-Archer 2009

  • In which the two brothers cooperate, Gideon resumes his career as a cutpurse, and Tempest House plays host to some unexpected visitors

    THE TIME QUAKE Linda Buckley-Archer 2009

  • Thirteen-year-old Alan Dale, only son of a poor widow, scrapes a meagre living as a thief and cutpurse in and around the busy town of Nottingham.

    Archive 2009-12-01 Carla 2009

  • Thirteen-year-old Alan Dale, only son of a poor widow, scrapes a meagre living as a thief and cutpurse in and around the busy town of Nottingham.

    Outlaw, by Angus Donald. Book review Carla 2009

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