thieve, v.
(θiːv)
[In OE. þéofian, f. þéof, thief. The verb is rare in OE., after which it does not appear till the 17th c. The vbl. n. thieving occurs from 1530. (For the v. see note to thief.)]
1. intr. To act as a thief, commit theft, steal.
| [a 901 Laws of ælfred c. 6 ᵹif hwa on cirican hwæt ᵹeðeo⁓fiᵹe.] c 920 in Thorpe Charters (1865) 177 Se ðe..ða are þænce to þeofiᵹenne. 1530, 1598 [see thieving vbl. n. and ppl. a.]. 1627 Drayton Mooncalf 1067 And there this monster sat him down to thieve. 1656 S. H. Gold. Law 11 Thus to Traytorize, Murther, and Thieve it. 1691–2 Wood Life 13 Jan. (O.H.S.) III. 380 Foot-soldiers..rob and theeve in Oxon. 1848 Dickens Dombey xxii, I never did such a thing as thieve. |
2. trans. To steal (a thing).
| a 1695 Wood Oxford (O.H.S.) III. 172 A brass plate having been theeved away. 1760–72 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) IV. 7 He endeavoured to thieve from me the only friend I had. 1867 Pall Mall G. 27 July 9 The prisoner..said it was the first time he had ‘thieved’ anything. 1901 Academy 23 Mar. 243 Goods to the value of a quarter of a million..were annually thieved out of ships in the Pool. |
Hence ˈthievable a., that may be stolen; ˈthiever, one who thieves, a thief.
| 1615 J. Stephens Ess. & Char., Warrener, Where he hath many night-spels, to the hazard of much Pullen, and indeed all things thieve-able. 1899 Lumsden Edinburgh Poems & Songs 105 Wha hack'd an' hash'd an' stole, Like reivers an' thievers. |