verbal phr. (Scotch thieves’).—To rob in the manner described in quotation.—See also TRIPPING UP.
1870. Times, 21 Sept. [Marlborough Street Police Court Report.] Police Sergeant Cole said the prisoner’s plan was for the woman to go up to well-dressed elderly or drunken men, to get them into conversation, and rob them. The male prisoner would then come up, and, pretending to be a detective, make a disturbance, so as to enable the woman to escape. The practice was called in London ‘tripping up,’ and in Scotland, where it is also practised, CARRYING THE STICK.
