Definitions

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

  • noun One who steals from pockets.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who picks pockets; one who steals, or makes a practice of stealing, from the pockets of others.
  • noun A plant, chiefly the shepherd's-purse: so called from its impoverishing the soil. Also pickpurse.

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

  • noun One who steals purses or other articles from pockets.

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

  • noun One who steals from the pocket of a passerby, usually by sleight of hand.
  • verb To pick pockets; to steal.

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 pick +‎ pocket.

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