footpad
2
9.9
- noun
- /ˈfutˌpæd/
- Archaic
:
ladrón
- The streets and alleyways of Bruges are infested with beggars and footpads.
Examples
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The traveler was cautious, knowing that a footpad could strike at any moment on the lonely road.
-
And on the way home, he is attacked by professional footpads paid by Ambrose to kill him, and fights them off with some magnesium shavings and bluff.
Blog text (23) -
It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants "just a few minutes of your time, please?"
Blog text (15) -
I was struck by how little evidence there is that the footpads were actually after Kvothe.
Blog text (23) -
The footpads have been hunting him for months, and so can't work for Ambrose.
Blog text (23) -
As night fell, the villagers warned each other about the footpad lurking near the city gates.
-
She avoided taking the shortcut, fearing a footpad might be hiding in the shadows.
Synonyms
186
1.0
A person who steals from others by using or threatening to hurt them
108
4.6
A person who steals from people or places, often using a weapon
A robber who attacks travelers while walking, often in the past
A person who stops and robs travelers on the road in the Old West, often from stagecoaches
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Footpad is made from foot and pad, where pad is like the verb 'to pad', meaning 'to walk quietly'; imagine a person who moves along the road on foot rather than on a horse. That's why footpad came to mean a robber who attacks travellers on the road while walking, not a mounted highwayman.