dive

   1. obsolete

   to steal by picking pockets

   From the movement of the hand:

    In using your nimbles, in diving in pockets. (Ben Jonson)

   Grose notes diver as a pickpocket.

   2. American

   a place for the sale and drinking of intoxicants

   Often low-class, from the use of cellars, where the rent is less. In the same sense Grose gives diver as 'one who lives in a cellar'.

   3. a pretence of having been knocked down

   Made by a boxer who, of his own volition, goes to the canvas, a soccer player who seeks to win an undeserved free kick, or a pedestrian seeking compensation from a motorist:

    Some gamblers tried to scare him into a dive. (Chandler, 1939 — they wanted a boxer to throw a fight)

    ... there must be a fair chance the crafty old bugger took a dive hoping to get a big payday in court. (P. McCarthy, 2000, commenting on a press headline, 'PRIEST SUES CORPORATION OVER KNEE')