subs. (American).—A drinking-saloon; also a brothel.

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  1888.  Troy Daily Times, 7 Feb. A plot to entrap young women for the DIVES of Northern Wisconsin has been discovered at Eau Claire, Wis.

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  1888.  St. Louis Globe Democrat, 27 Feb. Even fallen women, when the rose is gone from their cheeks, are pushed aside, and from a gilded house to the lowest DIVE is the last and quickest step of all.

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  Verb (old).—To pick pockets. Cf., DIP, and for synonyms, see FRISK. Also DIVING = picking pockets.

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  1631.  JONSON, Gipsies Metamorphosed. Or using your nimbles [fingers], in DIVING the pockets.

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  1712.  GAY, Trivia, bk. III., l. 79.

        Guard well thy pocket; for these sirens stand
To aid the labours of the DIVING hand.

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  1748.  T. DYCHE, A New General English Dictionary (5 ed.). DIVE (v.) … and in the Canting Language, to pick pockets in a crowd, church, etc.

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  1785.  GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

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  1859.  G. W. MATSELL, Vocabulum; or, The Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.

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  A DIVE IN THE DARK, subs. phr. (venery).—The ‘act of kind.’

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  TO DIVE INTO ONE’S SKY, verb. phr. (common).—To put one’s hands into one’s pockets.

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  TO DIVE INTO THE WOODS, verb. phr. (American).—To conceal oneself.

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