putter up
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Sense 1
A person who seeks out information of use to burglars, for example by ingratiating himself with the members of a household, and in return receives payment after the burglary is committed.
Register: archaic, slang
Examples
Usage example from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30 via kaikki.org).
Sense 2
a man who travels about for the purpose of obtaining information useful to professional burglars. A man of this description will assume many characters, sometimes ingratiating himself with the master of a house, sometimes with the servants, but all to one end, that of robbery. He rarely or never joins in the actual burglary, his work being simply to obtain full particulars as to how, when, and where, for which he receives his full share of the "swag."
Era: ca. 1874 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Historical definition reproduced from Hotten’s The Slang Dictionary (1874, public domain; Project Gutenberg #42108, retrieved 2026-07-31). Reflects the attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “putter up” mean?
A person who seeks out information of use to burglars, for example by ingratiating himself with the members of a household, and in return receives payment after the burglary is committed.
Is “putter up” formal or informal?
putter up is generally archaic, slang.