subs. (thieves’).—1. A pickpocket.
1883. J. W. HORSLEY, Jottings from Jail (in Echo), 25 Jan., p. 2, col. 4. The delicate expression FINGERSMITH, as descriptive of the trade which a blunt world might call that of a pickpocket.
2. (common).—A midwife. Fr., Madame tire-monde or tire-pouce (Rabelaisian); Madame tire-mômes (môme = ‘kid’); une mômière (thieves’); Madame tâte-minette, Madame guichet or Madame portière du petit guichet (17th century phrases). Cf., CARVER AND GILDER.
