sticky-finger

English

Etymology

Compare sticky fingers, sticky-fingered.

Verb

sticky-finger (third-person singular simple present sticky-fingers, present participle sticky-fingering, simple past and past participle sticky-fingered)

1. To steal, to pilfer; to make off with (something).
   • 1964, Arch Whitehouse, The fledgling, page 19:

     […] "picking up" a few essential supplies, writing post-cards, and watching our Cockney comedian soft-soap the sales-girls while he sticky-fingered a few personal necessities.

   • 2001, Jeanne Cambrai, Murder in the Pettah, Penguin Books Ltd:

     'This one will be called the Crimson Star of Sri Lanka, and it will be placed on display where every Lankan may visit it but where our politicians and thieves will not be able to sticky-finger it away again.'

   • 2006, Quill & Quire:

     But Globe and Mail columnist Simon Houpt's new book shows that sticky-fingering a Rembrandt or a Goya is becoming a menacingly common occurrence. Art theft, according to Interpol, adds up to between $1.5-billion and $6-billion annually, ...

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see sticky,‎ finger. To touch or finger something which is sticky, or with fingers that are sticky.
   • 1987, C. J. Cummings, Too deep then:

     ... drove into town and bought a takeaway at a dingy working-class cafe. Then I drove up Signal Hill and in the stark, early morning light, the bay still covered in mist, watched the sun rise, sticky-fingering sausages and chips in contentment.

   • 2015, Colette McBeth, The Life I Left Behind: A Novel, Minotaur Books, →ISBN, page 33:

     Or rather she invited her over, along with her friends. They arrived in a jam of buggies, toddlers waddling around sticky-fingering the walls.