A pickpocket. Let us fork him; let us pick his pocket.--'The newest and most dexterous way, which is, to thrust the fingers strait, stiff, open, and very quick, into the pocket, and so closing them, hook what can be held between them.' N.B. This was taken from a book written many years ago: doubtless the art of picking pockets, like all others, must have been much improved since that time.
To hand over; to pay over, as money. A common expression in colloquial language. He groaned in spir...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
A glossary of provincial and local words used in England by Francis Grose