Green’s Dictionary of Slang

to dangle a cap, box or other makeshift container from a prison window into the street below in the hope of picking up alms from kind-hearted passers-by.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.