Thief
[θiːf] or [θif]
Definition
(noun.) a criminal who takes property belonging to someone else with the intention of keeping it or selling it.
Checked by Harriet--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) One who steals; one who commits theft or larceny. See Theft.
(n.) A waster in the snuff of a candle.
Checker: Sabina
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Pickpocket, shop-lifter, thief, pilferer, cutpurse, petty robber.
Checked by Eugene
Definition
n. one who steals or takes unlawfully what is not his own.—ns. Thief′-catch′er -tā′ker one whose business is to detect thieves and bring them to justice: a detective.
Checked by Laurie
Unserious Contents or Definition
To dream of being a thief and that you are pursued by officers, is a sign that you will meet reverses in business, and your social relations will be unpleasant. If you pursue or capture a thief, you will overcome your enemies. See Stealing.
Edited by Bradley
Examples
- In this place is an altar dedicated to St. Dimas, the penitent thief. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- It would have been almost as good as telling him that she was the thief. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- But it is a little silly for an agitator to cry thief when the success of his agitation has led to the adoption of his ideas. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- In the jail also was a half-breed horse-thief. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Suppose the thief had got away by dropping from one of the upper windows, how had he escaped the dogs? Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- He had hinted, beyond the possibility of mistaking him, that he suspected her of being the thief. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- You want him made a thief. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- I was a thief, because my mother went on the streets when I was quite a little girl. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Their motto was in these words, namely, Procrastination is the thief of time. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- Great movements of the racial soul come at first like a thief in the night, and then suddenly are discovered to be powerful and world-wide. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Your ladyship's deceased housemaid was at the top of her profession when she was a thief. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- The cattle came upon me with like suddenness, staring out of their eyes, and steaming out of their nostrils, Halloa, young thief! Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- If time, pains, and money can do it, I will lay my hand on the thief who took the Moonstone! Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Thieves and thief-takers hung in dread rapture on his words, and shrank when a hair of his eyebrows turned in their direction. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- This was a nice sort of man to recover Miss Rachel's Diamond, and to find out the thief who stole it! Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- It had fought gamely with floods and droughts, with cholera and panics, with desperadoes and with land thieves. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- Besides, I have late experience, that errant thieves are not the worst men in the world to have to deal with. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- What they done, is laid up wheer neither moth or rust doth corrupt, and wheer thieves do not break through nor steal. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- Neither shall they be told of such things as thieves or murderers; much less shall they hear anything about falsehood and deceit. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- Really, if anybody was to come--thieves or anything--I believe I should enjoy it, such is my spirit. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- The thieves--the house they took me to! Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- The English author is for hanging _all_ thieves. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- Spies and thieves! Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- Our chance of catching the thieves may depend on our not wasting one unnecessary minute. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Thieves and thief-takers hung in dread rapture on his words, and shrank when a hair of his eyebrows turned in their direction. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- I expressed my opinion upon this, that they were a set of murdering thieves. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- It was two thieves with Our Lord. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- They all had the politics of horse thieves. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- My good mistress, like the generous high-bred woman she was, refused to let us be treated like thieves. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- You would like, first, to see the place where the thieves made their attempt, I suppose? Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
Editor: Stephen