or -faller, subs. phr. (thieves’).—See quot. 1851–61: hence RING-DROPPING: see FAWNEY-DROPPER.—AWDELEY (1567); PARKER (1781).
1843. DICKENS, Martin Chuzzlewit, xxxvii. Tom’s evil genius did not … mark him out as the prey of RING-DROPPERS … or any of those bloodless sharpers.
1849. MACAULAY, The History of England, xviii. The crowd of pilferers, RING-DROPPERS, and sharpers who infested the capital.
1851–61. H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, i. 389. In RING-DROPPING we pretend to have found a ring, and ask some simple-looking fellow if it’s good gold, as it’s only just picked up [they then get the fellow to buy].
