Thieves’ slang. Also lobb. A box; a till.
1718. C. Higgin, True Discov., 15 (Farmer). A wedge lobb, alias gold or silver snuff-box.
1753. Discov. John Poulter (ed. 2), 39. A Lobb full of Glibbs, a Box full of Ribbons.
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., Lob, a till or money-drawer.
1868. Temple Bar, XXIV. 537. ‘Lob’ means the till.
b. Comb.: lob-crawler, a till-thief; lob-crawling, -sneaking, robbing tills.
1887. J. W. Horsley, Jottings from Jail, 24. Poor old Jim, the *lob crawler, fell from Racker and got pinched.
1894. A. Morrison, Tales Mean Streets, 259. Scuddy made a comfortable living in the several branches of *lob-crawling and peter claiming.
1868. Temple Bar, XXIV. 537. Stealing the till and opening the safe is what we call *‘lob-sneaking’ and ‘Peter-screwing.’
