or filch, subs, (old).—A thief’s hooked staff used as described in quot., 1632.
1567. AWDELEY, The Fraternitye of Vacabondes, p. 4. The trunchion of a staffe, which staffe they cal a FILTCHMAN.
1589. NASHE, A Counter-cuffe Given to Martin Junior, in wks., vol. I., p. 80. Pasquill met him … with a Hatte like a sawcer vppon hys crowne, a FILCH-MAN in his hande.
1610. ROWLANDS, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 [Hunterian Club’s Reprint, 1874], s.v.
1632–48. DEKKER, English Villanies. He carries a short staff in his hand, which is called a FILCH, having in the nab or head of it a ferme (that is to say a hole) into which, upon any piece of service, when he goes a FILCHING, he putteth a hooke of iron, with which hooke he angles at a window in the dead of night for shirts, smockes, or any other linen or woollen.
1665. R. HEAD, The English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 49 (1874), s.v.; 1724. E. COLES, English Dictionary, s.v.
