cutpurse
/ˈkʌtˌpɜːs//ˈkʌtˌpɝs/
cutpurse noun: a thief who steals from others' purses or pockets in public.
Noun
cutpurse (plural cutpurses)
- A thief who steals from others' purses or pockets in public.
- A cutpurse of the empire and the rulec. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
- The Gipsie snap & Pedro
are none of Toms Comradoes,
yͤ punck I skorne, & yͤ cutpurse sworn
& yͤ roring boyes brauadoesc. 1620, anonymous, “Tom o’ Bedlam’s Song” in Giles Earle his Booke (British Museum, Additional MSS. 24, 665)
- Synonyms:
- pickpocket
Synonyms of cutpurse
Forms of cutpurse
| plural | cutpurses |
|---|---|
| alternative form | cut-purse |
Origin of cutpurse
From Middle English cutte-purs; equivalent to cut + purse: originally, purses were worn by a strap at the girdle, which the thief would cut.
Questions about cutpurse
- What does cutpurse mean?
- Cutpurse means a thief who steals from others' purses or pockets in public.
- What part of speech is cutpurse?
- Cutpurse is a noun.
- How do you pronounce cutpurse?
- Cutpurse is pronounced /ˈkʌtˌpɜːs/ (UK).
- What is the plural of cutpurse?
- The plural of cutpurse is cutpurses.
Words near cutpurse in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: cutpurse (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cutpurse.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-cutpurse.wav.
Cite this entry: “cutpurse.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cutpurse. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.