Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a prostitute.

1691

[pamphlet title] A Catalogue of Jilts, Cracks, Prostitutes, Night-walkers, Whores, She-friends, Kind Women and others of the Linnen-lifting Tribe, who are to be seen every night in the Cloysters in Smithfield, from the hours of Eight to Eleven, during the time of the fair.

2. a womanizer.

1793		Bacchanalian Mag. 50: Original and selected Toasts and Sentiments [...] The lifting of the Linen.
1838		Crim.-Con. Gaz. 1 Sept. 23/3: Lady Blessington being engaged the other morning, with her draper, made the following remark, — Lork [sic] sir, you are quite a lady’s man, for you seem a very expert linen-lifter’.
1849		Sam Sly 24 Feb. 2/2: Miss T—g, the milkman's daughter [...] not to think so highly of a certain West-end counter-jumper, as she little knows his goings on [...] That young lifter of linen is also advised not to go quite so fast.
1982		N. Keesing Lily on the Dustbin 40: Who but a woman would complain that a man is a ‘linen lifter,’ or is ‘trying to pirate me’ or ‘put on the hard word’ or ‘get me into the bushes/scrub/mulga’.