thief
Appearance
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English thef, theef, þef, from Old English þēof, from Proto-West Germanic *þeub, from Proto-Germanic *þeubaz. Spelling from Northern England, where /eːo/ became [iə] rather than [eː]. (Compare the spelling of deep from Old English deop.)
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: thēf, IPA(key): /θiːf/
- (General American) IPA(key): /θif/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -iːf
Noun
[edit]thief (plural thieves)
- One who carries out a theft.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:thief
- c. 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]:
- water-thieves and land-thieves
- One who steals another person's property, especially by stealth and without using force or violence.
- 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:
- (obsolete) A waster in the snuff of a candle.
- 1640, Joseph Hall, Divine Light:
- But hear you, my Worthy Brethren: do not you, where you see a thief in the candle, call presently for an extinguisher […]
Hypernyms
[edit]- (one who carries out a theft): See Thesaurus:criminal
Hyponyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]- a fair booty makes many a thief
- comparison is the thief of joy
- horse thief
- joke thief
- joule thief
- liquor thief
- opportunity makes a thief
- oxygen thief
- palm thief
- panel thief
- procrastination is the thief of time
- sampling thief
- set a thief to catch a thief
- sneak thief
- stop thief
- thick as thieves
- thief ant
- thiefdom
- thief in law
- thief in the night
- thief knot
- thieflike
- thiefly
- thief palm
- thief-taker
- thief tube
- thievish
- time thief
- wage thief
- wheat thief
- wine thief
Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]one who carries out theft
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Anagrams
[edit]Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/iːf
- Rhymes:English/iːf/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English nouns with irregular plurals
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with obsolete senses
- en:Crime
- en:People