kinchin lay

kinchin lay

1. (obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) The robbing of children.
   • 1885, Richard F. Burton, chapter XXV, in The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, volume I, The Burton Club, page 259 footnote:

     This is still a popular form of the "Kinchin lay", and as the turbands are often of fine stuff, the petite industrie pays well.