Grose’s 1785 “Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue” has
“RABBIT CATCHER is A midwife.”
rabbit (n.)
late 14c., “young of the coney,” from Walloon robète or a similar French dialect word, diminutive of Flemish or Middle Dutch robbe “rabbit,” of unknown origin. “A Germanic noun with a French suffix” [Liberman].
The adult was a coney (q.v.) until 18c.
CONY,CONEY-CATCHER. A sharper, or cheat. Minshew has well expressed the origin of the term: A conie-catcher, a name given to deceivers, by a metaphor, taken from those that rob warrens, and conie-grounds, using all means, sleights, and cunning to deceive them, as pitching of haies before their holes, fetching them in by tumblers, &c. [Nares, “Glossary”]
https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=coney+
...pamphlet literature of the 1590s, including those relating the exploits of London rogues, vagabonds, pickpockets, card-sharks and coney-catchers, to use the language of the day. In the contemporary vernacular, coneys (alternatively spelled conys, connys, connies) were domesticated rabbits (as opposed to wild hares), bred for the table and easy prey. Consequently coney-catchers were those who preyed on similarly-vulnerable human targets in the streets of London: in today’s language, con-men.
https://streetsofsalem.com/2012/06/22/coney-catching/
“ “RABBIT CATCHER is A midwife.”
So that makes the rabbit hole....
Thanks for the dive into the word/colloquial meanings of the words “rabbit” and “coney.”
I always wondered why they called it “Coney Island.”
[Saved in the “rabbit” file!]