Meanings
nounpickpurse (plural pickpurses)
plural pickpurses · alternative pick-purse
- obsoleteSomeone who steals purses, or money from purses.
No, it is false, if it is a pickpurse.
1602, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, act 1, scene 11 more example
Down with Christ's cross, up with purgatory pickpurse, up with him, the popish purgatory, I mean.
1548 January 18, Hugh Latimer, Sermon of the Plough, quoted in Sermons by Hugh Latimer, Cambridge University Press, published 1884, page 71Synonyms: pickpocket
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSomeone who steals purses, or money from purses.
Similar
Also see
Origin
- Middle Englishpikepurse
- Englishpickpurse
From Middle English pikepurse, pykeporse, equivalent to pick + purse.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
pickpurse. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pickpurse
MLA
“pickpurse.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pickpurse. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pickpurse,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pickpurse.
Source: pickpurse on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.