Etymology

cutpurse

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Today it means: A thief who steals from others' purses or pockets in public. Full definition →

Middle English cutte-purs
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The story

  1. Middle English · inherited fromcutte-purs
  2. English todaycutpurse

From Middle English cutte-purs; equivalent to cut + purse: originally, purses were worn by a strap at the girdle, which the thief would cut.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.