Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. One who steals, especially by stealth.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A person who steals, or is guilty of larceny or robbery; one who takes the goods or property of another without the owner's knowledge or consent; especially, one who deprives another of property secretly or without open force, as opposed to a robber, who openly uses violence. In the authorized version of the Bible, however, and in the older literature generally, thief is used where we now say robber.
- n. A person guilty of cunning or deceitful acts; a lawless person; an evil-doer: used in reproach.
- n. An imperfection in the wick of a candle, causing it to gutter.
- n. A tin can to which a small line or becket is attached, used as a drinking-cup by sailors. It is made heavier on one side, so that it will capsize when it is dropped in the water.
- n. A thief-tube.
- n. Same as hermit-crab.
- n. Synonyms Pilferer, Pirate (see robber), pickpocket, cutpurse. See pillage, n.
- n. The bramble Rubus fruticosus. Compare theve-thorn.
Wiktionary
- n. One who has carried out a theft.
- n. obsolete A waster in the snuff of a candle.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One who steals; one who commits theft or larceny. See theft.
- n. A waster in the snuff of a candle.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a criminal who takes property belonging to someone else with the intention of keeping it or selling it
Etymologies
- From Old English þēof, from Proto-Germanic *þeubaz. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old English thēof. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Between thief and -- there was no word for what he and Warvia were now, but every hominid knew the word _thief_.”
“Yet, if this paper was a connecting link between her stolen manuscript and the thief, _who was the thief_?”
“When it was proved that _you_ stole my father's horse; that _you_ are responsible for the absence of Mr. Hadley; that _you_ pointed the knife and the pistol at his heart, and then mendaciously represented him as the thief and kidnapper who is found in your own person; then, sir, would you vail your face and go out no more among men, but upon your forehead, as _now_ upon your soul, would be the brand of _thief_, _robber_, _murderer_!”
“a distinct proposal now that the thief and the justice shall change places on the spot -- with the inquiry as to which is _the justice_, and which is the _thief_, openly started -- one would almost fancy that the subject had been exhausted here, or would be, if these indications should be followed up.”
“Why becoming a data thief is all too easy - USATODAY. com”
“A thief is a thief is a thief, we don't need another one in congress, its full of them already.”
“Later, the viewer (but not Chuck) discovers that the thief is actually Sarah in disguise, who works as an agent for the CIA.”
“You led in the song, we tagged behind you and sang the refrain, “a thief is a cheat”, as we humiliated them round the entire Ubaha.”
chidozie chukwubuike | the decoration « poetry dispatch & other notes from the underground
“The youths took up the chant ‘a thief is a cheat’, and Chief Nwakibie sluggishly danced along.”
chidozie chukwubuike | the decoration « poetry dispatch & other notes from the underground
“He swayed like someone in a trance as he answered: “I am a thief; a thief is a cheat!””
chidozie chukwubuike | the decoration « poetry dispatch & other notes from the underground
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘thief’.
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Bad Options
words for those who commit particular crimes: i.e., bank robber, arsonist, etc.
liar, cheat, traitor, arsonist, felon, braggard, thief, profiteer, impostor, phony, fraud, culprit and 212 more...
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Society
social work, coverage, affiliate, social security, ambulance, clinic, health, insurance, emergency, mail, letter, envelope and 101 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Dungeons and Dragons
Would you like to join our party? We just started a new campaign.
For more general lists about role-playing games, see brandelion's RPG and lampbane's Tales of the Dread Gazebo.dungeons and dragons, d&d, elf, orc, halfling, drow, giant, troll, kobold, rpg, d20, human and 100 more...
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people (bad)
nouns for bad people / words that describe bad people.
goto the good people list
( people, character, descriptor, noun )culprit, perpetrator, tormentor, swindler, bamboozler, nincompoop, thief, liar, back stabber, vandal, burglar, cheater and 85 more...
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identifiers
species, sex, age bracket, occupation, hobby .. etc.
man, woman, human being, student, zombie, artist, octopus, race driver, scientist, algorithmist, mathematician, child and 59 more...
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the most beautiful
velvet, wainwright, susurrous, nutmeg, pegasus, tintinnabular, gossamer, lyricism, rococo, townlet, prince, nymph and 139 more...
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A Swell Mob
Kinds of thieves.
thief, sneak thief, burglar, cat burglar, picklock, puggard, robber, grave robber, piller, porch climber, prowler, larcenist and 133 more...
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Words I like
This is a list of my favourite words (phrases) in english, as a second language. I love them mostly because of how they sound and their meaning.
ninja, cookie, skill, zip, plentiful, digg, debris, pancake, cucumber, fetch, pot, backpack and 461 more...
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Chainlink's Words
hat, opalescent, opal, emerald, sapphire, scythe, carnival, calliope, brilliant, awesome, feather, fantastic and 268 more...
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Actual and Spectulative Sburb Classes
A list of all known Heroic Classes available to players of the game Sburb within the Homestuck universe, as well as any other words I can think of which would theoretically adhere to the known guid...
heir, seer, knight, witch, maid, page, thief, mage, rogue, sylph, prince, bard and 116 more...
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Scriptie: The Two Towers
dampen, treacherous, black gate, man-flesh, precious, elvish, dwarf, pursuit, quarry, hobbit, sprinters, horse lords and 236 more...
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Words of the Day
glabella, chirotony, nook-shotten, crapehanger, filemot, swirlie, egosurf, lexiphanicism, Ruritanian, stichometry, chrononaut, faldstool and 2014 more...
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whaling terms
Terms defined in the glossary of Clifford W. Ashley's "Yankee Whaler".
advance, adze, after house, after oar, agent, air up, alow, ambergris, apeak, article, away, bailer and 299 more...
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astrosfan's Words
pantaloons, schadenfreude, astonishing, eve, static, freeze, luscious, voluptuous, stagnant, mimic, speed, vespertillinoid and 302 more...
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Bible names
noah, almighty, cain, abel, father, mother, israel, king, sanctuary, spirit, psalm, blessing and 236 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for thief.
bilby
I say that no one in this caravan is awake
and that while you sleep, a thief is stealing
the signs and symbols of what you thought
was your life. Now you're angry with me for
telling you this! Pay attention to those who
hurt your feelings telling you the truth.
- Rumi, 'Ghazal 1134', version by Coleman Barks with Nevit Ergin in 'The Glance'. Oct 17, 2008