subs. (old).A pickpocket who confined his operations to pocket-books. [From DUMMY (q.v.) = a pocket book + HUNTER.]
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
1834. W. H. AINSWORTH, Rookwood, Jenny Junipers Chaunt [ed. 1884], p. 80.
No DUMMY HUNTER had forks so fly, | |
No knuckler so deftly could fake a cly. |
1843. Punch, vol. IV., p. 129.
While ears are crammd with humbug, boys! | |
The DUMMY-HUNTERS ply | |
An easy trade. |