hoister

English

Etymology

hoist +‎ -er

Noun

hoister (plural hoisters)

1. One who, or that which, hoists or lifts.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick:

     […] putting one foot into it, so as the better to secure his slippery hand-hold on the whip itself, the hoisters ran him high up to the top of the head, almost before Tashtego could have reached its interior bottom.

2. (UK, slang) A thief.
   • 1931, The Police Journal, volume 4, page 504:

     In order better to appreciate the use of argot among thieves, a visit to a few public bars of the third-class public houses of Kennington or in the immediate vicinity of the Elephant and Castle would prove of great value, as hoisters, whizzers, tea-leaves, con-heads, broadsmen and brass nobs […]

   • 1945, Jack Henry, What Price Crime?, page 92:

     Like their friends the "draggers," the "hoisters" or shoplifters are having a thin time these days, […]

Anagrams

• heriots, shortie, toshier