What did highwayman do?

A highwayman was a thief and brigand who preyed on travelers. This type of outlaw, usually, traveled and robbed by horse, as compared to a foot pad who traveled and robbed on foot. Mounted robbers were widely considered to be socially superior to footpads.[1] Such robbers operated in Great Britain and Ireland from the Elizabethan era until the early 19th century.

The Word highwayman is first known to be used in the year 1617;[2] other euphemisms included "knights of the road" and "gentlemen of the road." In the 19th-century American West, highwaymen were known as road agents.[3] In the same time period in Australia, they were known as bush rangers.