Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a sneak thief, esp. one who specializes in entering houses and taking furs, cloaks and coats; also shop-lifting; thus the act of performing this crime; also attrib.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Sneaking budge c. one that Robbs, alone.
1703		Hell Upon Earth 3: Some are very good for the Sneaking-Budge; which is, privately stealing any thing off of a Stall.
1708		J. Hall Memoirs (1714) 5: Sneaking-Budgers, Such as pilfer Things off a Stall.
1714		A. Smith Lives of Most Noted Highway-men, etc. I 255: Going on the [...] Sneaking-budge, or pilfering any small Matter that lie in the Way.
1725		Life and Glorious Actions of [...] Jonathan Wilde 9: A Sneaking Budge [...] one that privately steals away Great Coats, Cloaks, Riding Hoods, &c. when people pull them off, at their coming into a House.
1728		T. Walker The Quaker’s Opera II i: You know I only go on the sneaking Budge, I don’t deal in Houses.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698] .
1743		Fielding Life of Jonathan Wild (1784) I 122: He said it was a custom very much favouring of the Sneaking-budge [footnote – shop-lifting].
1751		Fielding Amelia (1926) I 16: I find you are some sneaking budge rascal.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: sneaking budge one that robs alone. [Ibid.] sneaking budge one that slips into houses in the dark, to steal cloaks or other clothes.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.