Thief
Thief (thēf) , noun
[Old English thef, theef, Anglo-Saxon þeóf; akin to OFries. thiaf, Old Saxon theof, thiof, Dutch dief, German dieb, Old High German diob, Icelandic þjōfr, Swedish tjuf, Danish tyv, Gothic þiufs, þiubs, and perhaps to Lithuanian tupeti to squat or crouch down. Compare Theft.]
1.
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.
2.
A waster in the snuff of a candle. — Bp. Hall
Take heed, have open eye, for thieves do foot by night.
Some roving robber calling to his fellows.
Collocations (5)
Thief catcher , Same as Thief taker.
Thief leader , one who leads or takes away a thief. — L'Estrange
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. [English]