Taking bounties from several regiments and immediately deserting. The cove was fined in the steel for pear making; the fellow was imprisoned in the house of correction for taking bounties from different regiments.
Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose.
Peal * PeccaviNathan Bailey's 1736 Dictionary of canting and thieving slang
John S. Farmer's collection of canting songs and slang rhymes