footpaddery

English

Etymology

From footpad +‎ -ery.

Noun

footpaddery (uncountable)

1. (historical) The crime of robbing travelers on the road.
   • 1889, Arthur Conan Doyle, Micah Clarke:

     The smugglers were a lawless and desperate body, but they did not, as a rule, descend to footpaddery or robbery.

   • 2001, Wilbur Smith, The Angels Weep, →ISBN:

     Not just a little footpaddery, but robbery on the grand scale.

   • 2015, Heather Shore, London's Criminal Underworlds, c. 1720 - c. 1930, →ISBN, page 78:

     Whilst descriptions of 'The West End Fair Gang', and freferences to the 'Captain of the Gan' John Henley, recall models of criminal confederacy evoked in earlier accounts of highway robbery and footpaddery, these events, wrapped as they were in the language of hustling, also reflect some of the newer concerns about public space in this period.