verb. (thieves’).—To draw supplies from both sides: as from the police for information, and from thieves for a warning: cf. PEAR-MAKING = bounty jumping.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. PEAR-MAKING. The Cove was fined in the steel for PEAR MAKING; the fellow was imprisoned in the house of correction for taking bounties from different regiments.
