Footpad
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The soft underside of an animal's paw.
- 2 a highwayman who robs on foot wordnet
- 3 A medicated bandage for the treatment of corns and warts.
- 4 A thief on foot who robs travellers on the road. archaic
"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."
- 5 An unmade, minor walking trail formed only by foot traffic. Australia
"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."
- 1 To rob travellers on the road. archaic
"When Mr. Kaiser was footpadded last December, the scare seemed to penetrate even the quiet town of Berkeley."
- 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."
Example
More examples"Jerry Abershawe was a notorious footpad."
Etymology
From foot + pad.
More for "footpad"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.