thief
noun/ˈθiːf/ · [ˈθɪi̯f]
Etymology From Middle English thef, theef, þef, from Old English þēof, from Proto-West Germanic *þeub, from Proto-Germanic *þeubaz.
1
One who carries out a theft.
- water-thieves and land-thievesc. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
2
One who steals another person's property, especially by stealth and without using force or violence.
- Take heed to false harlots, and more, ye wot what. / If noise ye heare, / Looke all be cleare: / Least drabs doe noie thee, / And theeues destroie thee.1878, Thomas Tusser, “74. A Digression.”, in Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. […], London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Trübner & Co., […], →OCLC; republished as W[illiam] Payne, Sidney J[ohn Hervon] Herrtage, editors, Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. […], London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Trübner & Co., […], 1878, →OCLC, stanza 4, page 166:
3
Obsolete A waster in the snuff of a candle.
- But hear you, my Worthy Brethren: do not you, where you see a thief in the candle, call presently for an extinguisher[…]1640, Joseph Hall, Divine Light:
- Synonyms
- abstractor, appropriator, bagger, booster, borrower, cribber, faker, filcher, flogger, heister, larcener, larcenist, liberator, lifter, misappropriator, nicker, pincher, purloiner, snitch, stealer, tea leaf, thief, thiever
- Derived terms
49 terms
a fair booty makes many a thief, comparison is the thief of joy, cricket thief spider, cyberthief, horse thief, horsethief, joke thief, joule thief, liquor thief, opportunity makes a thief, opportunity makes the thief, outfangthief, oxygen thief, palm thief, panel thief, police and thief, procrastination is the thief of time, sampling thief, set a thief to catch a thief, sneak thief, spellthief, stop thief, thick as thieves, thief ant, thiefcraft, thiefdom, thiefess, thiefhood, thief in law, thief in the night, thief knot, thiefless, thieflike, thiefly, thiefness, thief palm, thiefproof, thiefship, thief-taker, thief tube, thiefwise, thiefy, thievish, time thief, Unithieves, wage thief, water-thief, wheat thief, wine thief- Hyponyms
57 terms
burglar, cat burglar, mugger, pickpocket, robber, bandit, brigand, burglaress, cutpurse, confidence trickster, converter, dacoit, dragsman, fraudster, highwayman, kleptomaniac, looter, pirate, plunderer, poacher, porch pirate, rustler, snagger, snatcher, sneak thief, swiper, thiefess, People, abductor, kidnapper, Words & ideas, plagiarist, Vehicles, carjacker, hijacker, jacker, twocker, Safes, cracksman, safebreaker, safecracker, Embezzlers, embezzler, peculator, Petty thieves, prig, sheep-biter, shoplifter, sticky fingers, With violence, bank robber, ravisher, robberess, With a pole, angler, hooker, nuthook