fingersmith

English

Alternative forms

• finger-smith

Etymology

From finger +‎ smith.

Noun

fingersmith (plural fingersmiths) (slang, archaic, historical)

1. pickpocket
   • 1977, Roald Dahl, The Hitch-Hiker, Atlantic Monthly:

     "What do you call yourself, then?"
     "Me? I'm a fingersmith. I'm a professional fingersmith." He spoke the words solemnly and proudly, as though he were telling me he was the President of the Royal College of Surgeons or the Archbishop of Canterbury.
     "I've never heard that word before," I said. "Did you invent it?"
     "Of course I didn't invent it," he replied. "It's the name given to them who's risen to the very top of the profession. You've 'eard of a goldsmith and a silversmith, for instance. They're experts with gold and silver. I'm an expert with my fingers, so I'm a fingersmith."
     "It must be an interesting job."
     "It's a marvellous job," he answered. "It's lovely."
     "And that's why you go to the races?"
     "Race meetings is easy meat," he said. "You just stand around after the race, watchin' for the lucky ones to queue up and draw their money. And when you see someone collectin' a big bundle of notes, you simply follows after 'im and 'elps yourself.

   • 2002, Sarah Waters, chapter 17, in Fingersmith, London: Virago, →ISBN, part 3, page 510:

     Mr Ibbs was found to have handled stolen goods: he was sent to Pentonville. Of course, he knew many of the men in there, and might be supposed to have had an easy time among them—except that, here was a funny thing: the fingersmiths and cracksmen who had been so grateful to get an extra shilling from him on the outside, now quite turned against him; and I think his time was very miserable.

2. midwife

Further reading

• “fingersmith”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• Fingersmith (slang) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia