subs. (old).—A variety of the confidence trick:—The thief picks out his victim, gets in front of him, and pretends to pick up (say) a pocket-book, (snide) which he induces the greenhorn to buy for cash. The object is a COG, and the operator a DROPPER or DROP-COVE.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
1859. G. W. MATSELL, Vocabulum; or, The Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.
