Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. UK Und.) to work as a thief; thus tea-leafing n.

1894		Illus. Police News 30 June 2/5: ‘We can do a bit of tea-leaving’ (which he understood to be a slang term for stealing).
1899		C. Rook Hooligan Nights 14: He could do more than his share at tea-leafing.
1962		F. Norman Guntz 21: I didn’t like the sound of this little bit of tealeafing.
1982		G. Newbold Big Huey 180: Tealeafing is just about the worst thing you can do in a jail [...] A tealeaf is just a cunt in my eyes.
1995		J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 163: ‘I never minded a bit of tea-leafing,’ she goes, ‘you got to expect it off kids.’.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 106/1: leaf v. to steal, to rob: ‘x waited until no­ one was looking, then he leafed the pack of tobacco [...] tealeaf v. to steal, esp. from a fellow inmate.
2002		Pete’s Aussie Sl. Home Page 🌐 tea leafing: thieving.
2010		W. Ings ‘Trolling the Beat to Working the Soob’ in Int’l Jrnl Lexicog. 23:1 60: Rhyming slang dates from circa 1840 [...] For example, tea leafing (thieving), rooter tooter (fruiter/homosexual).
2108		(con. 1930s-50s) M. McGrath Pie & Mash 60: Teafing (Cockney: ‘tea leaf’/thief) and foraging became a way of life.
2018		I. Welsh Dead Man’s Trousers 161: See, ah cannae dae the tea-leafin any mair.

2. to rob.

2000

J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 116: We never tea-leafed the cunts.