Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 150

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Hedge Creeper

I’m moderately confused by this definition from Grose, where he notes this phrase means “a robber of hedges”. I’m not convinced by this, as I’m really not sure many hedges were robbed and this phrase was more commonly used to describe someone who hid in a hedge to commit a crime, perhaps a highwayman. It is possible that Grose meant that it’s a robber who steals something from hedges, perhaps clothing left out to dry, although that’s getting a bit tenuous. So, on this, I’m unsure….