larceny, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

larceny n.

1. (US Und.) an inclination towards theft, a liking for theft; thus larceny in his heart.

1919		A. Baer Two and Three 15 Mar. [synd. col.] You can get away with murder in this neck-o’-the-woods [...] If you have a skull full of larceny this [i.e. New York] is the town to pick on.
1927		in Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Nov. 134: An act that is ‘full of larceny’ is an act that has stolen its material from many others [HDAS].
1935		D. Lamson We Who Are About to Die 196: There never was a sucker who didn’t have the instincts of a thief. It’s the larceny in his heart that makes him a sucker.
1942		N. Algren Never Come Morning (1988) 214: Even women with larceny in their hearts could give themselves freely.
1952		B. Appel Plunder (2005) 259: You could never go wrong appealing to the larceny in everybody’s heart.
1959		W. Burroughs Naked Lunch 159: Not enough larceny in this citizen.
1967		J. Breslin World of Jimmy Breslin (1968) 53: He loves even the hint of larceny.
1973		C.P. Rosenberg in Heller In This Corner (1974) 92: Champ Segal, he had too much larceny.
1981		A.K. Shulman On the Stroll 212: Most girls in the life had larceny in their hearts before they took on their first trick.
2000		Borny & McQueen A Change of Heart 56: A con man with larceny in his heart, the gypsy has known trickery, guile and dupery since childhood.

2. (US black) in fig. use, thoughts or feelings, usu. unpleasant or antagonistic.

1946

Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 74: All the larceny kind of dissolves out of them – they relax and grin from ear to ear.

lay one’s larceny (v.)

to talk to, to ‘chat up’; to deceive.

1940		D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam News 15 Feb. 13: If our Head Kicks could [...] lay some hard larceny on uppin’ the moo-er an’ the fuzzy ones.
1941		‘Digg Mee’ ‘Observation Post’ in N.Y. Age 17 May 9/7: Lonnie Lattimore is learning [and] still lays his larceny.
1941		‘Digg Mee’ ‘Observation Post’ in N.Y. Age 13 Sept. 9/7: [W]hen she lays her ‘larceny’ down and with some other cat slips around, when she does the thing that’s wrong.
1944		D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 12: I want to lay my larceny, but the cluck’s done cruised her through the slammer before I can shift to second.

larceny shoes (n.) [as a status symbol of (orig.) black teens, such shoes are allegedly the badge of criminality; thus a racist slur]

(US) elaborate, high-priced trainers (cf. felony shoes n.).

2000–02		Amatory Ink 🌐.
2005		posting at www.fodors.com 23 May 🌐 We were walking to our car after a late night party and a guy in larceny shoes, (sneakers to you) silently ran up to us and cut my shoulder strap, grabbed the bag and ran.
2007		(ref. to 1970s) posting at www.topix.com/forum/source/south-florida-sun-sentinel 6 Sept. 🌐 Maybe those pants are some sort of a crime deterrent. They can’t run too fast as in larceny shoes Policemen in New York City description of non leather shoes back in the 1970s.