reverse-pickpocket

verb

To slip something into someone's pocket or pocketbook, without their knowledge, sometimes as a gesture of generosity.

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Meanings

verbreverse-pickpocket (third-person singular simple present reverse-pickpockets, present participle reverse-pickpocketing, simple past and past participle reverse-pickpocketed)

present singular third person reverse-pickpockets · participle present reverse-pickpocketing · participle past reverse-pickpocketed · past reverse-pickpocketed

  1. transitiveTo slip something into someone's pocket or pocketbook, without their knowledge, sometimes as a gesture of generosity.

    But when no one's watching he will slip hundreds inside palms and pocketbooks of poor people—reverse-pickpocket them—or bolt out of a car to help someone old hobble across the street.

    2001, Gary Smith, Beyond the Game, page 78

Origin

From reverse + pickpocket.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

reverse-pickpocket. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reverse-pickpocket

MLA

“reverse-pickpocket.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reverse-pickpocket. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “reverse-pickpocket,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reverse-pickpocket.

Source: reverse-pickpocket on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.