subs. (common).—A petty thief: also SNEAK-THIEF, SNEAKING-BUDGE, and SNEAKSMAN: see quot. 1819, AREA-SNEAK, and cf. RAMP and RUSH. Hence MORNING-SNEAK = an EARLY BIRD (q.v.); EVENING-SNEAK = a night thief; UPRIGHT SNEAK = a thief preying on potboys (B. E., GROSE and VAUX). As verb. = to pilfer, to steal: spec. ‘to walk about undefinedly, to see what may be picked up’ (BEE); SNEAKING ON THE LURK (or ON THE SNEAK) = prowling for booty.
1744. FIELDING, Jonathan Wild, viii. Wild, who often declared that he looked upon borrowing to be as good a way of taking as any, and as he called it, the genteelest kind of SNEAKING-BUDGE. Ibid. (1751), Amelia, I. iii. I find you are some SNEAKING BUDGE rascal.
1819. J. H. VAUX, Memoirs, s.v. SNEAK. The SNEAK is the practice of robbing houses or shops, by slipping in unperceived, and taking whatever may lay most convenient; this is commonly the first branch of thieving, in which young boys are initiated, who, from their size and activity, appear well adapted for it. To SNEAK a place, is to rob it UPON THE SNEAK. A SNEAK is a robbery effected in the above manner. One or more prisoners having escaped from their confinement by stealth, without using any violence, or alarming their keepers, are said to have SNEAK’D ’EM, or given it to ’em UPON THE SNEAK.
1829. The Life and Death of James Wilson, ‘Poor Daft Jamie.’
| That hellish monster, William Burke, | |
| Like Reynard SNEAKING ON THE LURK. |
1834. W. H. AINSWORTH, Rookwood, ‘Jerry Juniper’s Chant.’
| Until at last there was none so knowing, | |
| No such SNEAKSMAN or buzgloak going. |
1897. MARSHALL, Pomes, 31. My ’Arry SNEAKS my cady on the sly. Ibid., 32. The elder of the twain Had … SNEAKED a quid. Ibid., 107. Strictly speaking, it was SNEAKING (He preferred the term ‘convey’).
1899. R. WHITEING, No. 5 John Street, v. They ain’t no class…. Fancies theirselves burglars. Nothin’ o’ the sort—SNEAK-THIEVES.
1902. LYNCH, High Stakes, xx. I believe it will be best … to keep to the SNEAK-THIEF theory.
2. (thieves’).—See quot.
1883. GREENWOOD, In Strange Company (2nd ed.), 321. ‘SNEAKS’ … are shoes with canvas tops and indiarubber soles.
3. (cricketers’).—A ground ball having no pitch whatever; A DAISY-TRIMMER (or CUTTER); GRUB; or UNDERGROUNDER (q.v.).
