footpad

Etymology

foot + pad

noun

1. The soft underside of an animal's paw.
2. (medicine) A medicated bandage for the treatment of corns and warts.
3. (archaic) A thief on foot who robs travellers on the road.
   The fraudulent clerk and the flash "cracksman" interchanged experiences. The smuggler's stories of lucky ventures and successful runs were capped by the footpad’s reminiscences of foggy nights and stolen watches. 1874, Marcus Clarke, “chapter V”, in For the Term of His Natural Life
   Col. Isaac Trumbo, who made a fortune in Utah and lost it in San Francisco, died here to-day of injuries received last Saturday night, when he was beaten by footpads. 1912, The New York Times
   Coach Leather. The pliant but resolute stuff our grandfathers utilised to keep out wind, weather and footpads on the Great North Road or the Gundagai Track, according to whether you are Third or Fourth G.A. 11 October 1954, “Advertising”, in The Sydney Morning Herald, N.S.W.: National Library of Australia, retrieved 2013-02-28, page 5
4. (Australia) An unmade, minor walking trail formed only by foot traffic.
   Nemarluck, if wounded in the way described by the aborigines at Talc Head, will keep to the beaten footpad leading from Delissaville to the Finnis River, and in his weakened state, will not camp any night far from a waterhole or without a fire. 26 October 1933, “Nemarluck badly wounded”, in Western Mail, Perth, W.A.: National Library of Australia, retrieved 2013-02-23, page 31
   The rough dray track that leads to the south-cast soon becomes a poorly defined footpad which follows the tortuous pattern of the main spur through to Mount Everard, and then away to east and south to the far corner of the forest. 22 December 1950, “Bush tracks for motorists”, in The Argus (The Argus Week-end Magazine), Melbourne, Vic.: National Library of Australia, retrieved 2013-02-23, page 29
   Ignore the minor foot pad to the left — it is a scrubby track leading to a climbers' site known as Geryon Campsite. 2008, John Chapman, Monica Chapman, Overland Track, page 56
   This AAWT track varies from a four wheel drive track along the Barry Mountains to a foot pad across the snow grass plains of the high country from Hotham to Mt Bogong. 2010?, “Mt Hotham Bushwalking and Trails”, in Hotham, archived from the original on 2013-03-07

verb

1. (archaic) To rob travellers on the road.
   When Mr. Kaiser was footpadded last December, the scare seemed to penetrate even the quiet town of Berkeley. 1894, The Blue and Gold - Volume 21, page 172
   Before that 'e footpadded round Covent Garden with a crew o' other masterless soldiers an' suchlike, calling 'imself "Captain Gun", as nasty a bill o' goods as ever slit your pocket or cut your throat,' Pope added, with loathing for the many thousands of defeated men who had limped home to live off the city streets which, by right and custom already belonged to established families of beggars and pickpockets, dog snatchers and cloak snitchers. 1988, Michael Talbot, To the ends of the earth, page 15
   To his first investment, Jack adds the money stolen by footpadding, all of which comes to £94 (CJ, 77). 1996, James Thompson, Models of value: eighteenth-century political economy and the novel
2. To sneak on foot.
   But the joke is on me, for they unmasked me by footpadding me to the alley and stealing my clothes and shoes. 1926, Charles Leroy Edson, "The Great American Ass": An Autobiography, page 313
   My dreams are secret, footpadding through darkness for fear the day arrest them. 1974, Brian Jones, For mad Mary: poems, page 13
   And every little sneaky infidelity . . . every little back-alley footpadding to find some quickie with a hustler — where does that fit into the code? 1977, Wallace Hamilton, Coming out, page 238