Meanings
- historicaluncountableThe crime of robbing travelers on the road.
Not just a little footpaddery, but robbery on the grand scale.
2001, Wilbur Smith, The Angels Weep, →ISBN2 more examples
The smugglers were a lawless and desperate body, but they did not, as a rule, descend to footpaddery or robbery.
1889, Arthur Conan Doyle, Micah ClarkeWhilst descriptions of 'The West End Fair Gang', and freferences to the 'Captain of the Gan' John Henley, recall models of criminal confederacy evoked in earlier accounts of highway robbery and footpaddery, these events, wrapped as they were in the language of hustling, also reflect some of the newer concerns about public space in this period.
2015, Heather Shore, London's Criminal Underworlds, c. 1720 - c. 1930, →ISBN, page 78
Origin
Cite this entry
footpaddery. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/footpaddery
“footpaddery.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/footpaddery. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “footpaddery,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/footpaddery.
Source: footpaddery on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.