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noun

Thief n. (pl. thieves)

One who steals; one who commits theft or larceny. See Theft. "There came a privy thief, men clepeth death." "Where thieves break through and steal."

A waster in the snuff of a candle.

Thief catcher. Same as Thief taker.

Thief leader, one who leads or takes away a thief.

Thief taker, one whose business is to find and capture thieves and bring them to justice.

Thief tube, a tube for withdrawing a sample of a liquid from a cask.

Thieves' vinegar, a kind of aromatic vinegar for the sick room, taking its name from the story that thieves, by using it, were enabled to plunder, with impunity to health, in the great plague at London. (Eng.)

Synonyms: Robber; pilferer. Thief, Robber. A thief takes our property by stealth; a robber attacks us openly, and strips us by main force. "Take heed, have open eye, for thieves do foot by night." "Some roving robber calling to his fellows."

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Etymology of 'Thief'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Thief" Quotes from Famous Books

... opposite shores were shopkeepers and miners. Somehow we knew that they couldn't help it. The nursery rhyme about "Taffy was a Welshman; Taffy was a thief," because familiar, had not led us to hold any unduly inflated estimate of the Welsh character. One of my old nurses did much to redeem it, however. She had undertaken the burden of my brother and myself ...

— A Labrador Doctor - The Autobiography of Wilfred Thomason Grenfell • Wilfred Thomason Grenfell

... Stael's lines?" he asked Lady Blessington ('Conversations', pp. 326, 327); "for if I am a thief, she must be the plundered, as I don't read German and do French: yet I could almost swear that I never saw her verses when I wrote mine, nor do I even now remember them. I think the first began with 'Cette terre,' etc., etc.; but the rest I ...

— The Works of Lord Byron: Letters and Journals, Volume 2. • Lord Byron

... thief that you are; and now tell us, sirrah, where you found this ring—aye, the King's own signet-ring. See, here is the royal name engraved on the ...

— Sakoontala or The Lost Ring - An Indian Drama • Kalidasa

... She has returned the money, for she is, indeed, John Sandon's daughter, and Mr. Jones refuses to marry the sister of a thief." ...

— Homeward Bound - or, The Chase • James Fenimore Cooper

... Dan Baxter is a thief and the son of a thief," came from Tom. "By the way, I wonder if Arnold Baxter is still ...

— The Rover Boys on the Ocean • Arthur M. Winfield (Edward Stratemeyer)

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