gooseberry lay

plural gooseberry lays

1. archaicthieves' cantThe stealing of linen hanging on a line.

   How long have you been off the gooseberry lay, son?

   , Dashiell Hammett, early manuscript of The Maltese Falcon, quoted in 2020, Study Guide to The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (Influence Publishers)

   1 more example

   I soon had some kids in working order, and we done a good business - this was in the winter, and we all vent on the gooseberry lay - that means taking things from clothes lines - and ye see they would talk about it ven dey comes home, so that the landlord could hear 'em sometimes - being only a thin board partition between our room and his'n. […]

   1865, Ballou's Monthly Magazine, page 315