thief--prophetes.ai

thief
  (θiːf)
  Pl. thieves (θiːvz). Forms: 1 theb, þ{iacu}of, þéof, (þéaf, þæf), 2 þof (dat. þove), 2–5 þeof, (3 dat. þeve), 3–4 þief, 3–5 þef, þeef, 4 þyef, þefe, 4–5 thef, -ff, thif, theyf, 4–6 thefe, 4–7 theif, theef, -ffe, 5 (þeue), thife, thyf(e, 5–6 theyff, 5–7 theefe, 6 theaf, theiff, thieffe, 6–7 thiefe, 6– thief. pl. also 4 þewes; þeifs, þefs, theffes, 4–6 thefes.
  [OE. þ{iacu}of, þéof (North. þéaf). Com. Teut.; in OFris. thiaf, OS. thiof (MDu., Du. dief, MLG. dief, dêf, LG. dêf, pl. dêven), OHG. diob, diup (MHG. diep, Ger. dieb); ON. þiófr (Sw. tiuf, Da. tyv), Goth. þiufs, þiuƀ-:—OTeut. *þeuƀo{supz}, pointing to an Indo-Eur. ablaut-series *teup-, toup-, tup-: cf. Lith. tupēti to crouch down.
  The final consonant represents an unvoicing of the stem consonant, which appears in the inflected forms and the derivatives, as pl. thieves, thievery, etc.]
  1. One who takes portable property from another without the knowledge or consent of the latter, converting it to his own use; one who steals. a. spec. One who does this by stealth; esp. from the person; one who commits theft or larceny.

688–95 Laws of Ine c. 12 ᵹif ðeof sie ᵹefongen. ? a 900 Durh. Adm. in O.E.T. 176 Wið netena unᵹetionu & ðiofum. c 975 Rushw. Gosp. Matt. vi. 19 Ne hydeþ eow hord..þær ðiofes [Lindisf. ðeafas, Ags. Gosp. ðeofas, Vulg. fures] adelfaþ ne forstelaþ. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. John x. 1 Se þe ne gæð æt þam gete into sceapa falde, ac styhþ elles ofer he is þeof [Lind. ðeaf, Rush. ðæf] & sceaða [Vulg. fur et latro]. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 29 Rubberes and þa reueres and þa þeoues. a 1200 Moral Ode 43 (Lamb. MS.), For þer ne þerf he bon of-dred of fure ne of þoue [v.r. þeve]. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 61 Oðer þurh fur, oðer þurh þiefes, oðer þurh roberie. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1773 Ðu me ransakes als an ðef. a 1300 St. Gregory 997 in Herrig Archiv LVII. 69 Þou þeefes fere, Þou ne dost bote make men of þe speke. a 1300 Cursor M. 4891–2 (Cott.) Yon er theues we lelmen wend, And theif [v.rr. thif, thefe, þeof] es he þam hider send. Ibid. 15970 Iudas was iesu aumnere, Bath theif [v.r. þeef] and traitur bald. c 1386 Chaucer Doctor's T. 83 A theef [v.rr. theefe, þeef, þef, þeof] of venyson..Kan kepe a fforest best of any man. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 52 So that an yhe is as a thief To love, and doth ful gret meschief. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 2923 Bot þe Iaylardes folowedone þis theff fulle fast. a 1425 Cursor M. 7234 (Trin.) Þer is noon so myche may greue As traitour derne & priue þeue. 14.. Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 694/1 Hic..fur, a theffe. c 1470 Henry Wallace ii. 392, I trow thow be sum spy, Or ellis a theyff. 1532–3 Act 24 Hen. VIII, c. 5 An Acte where a Man kyllyng a Theffe shall not forfayte his Goodes. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iii. i. 97 The theefe gone with so much, and so much to finde the theefe, and no satisfaction, no reuenge. 1605 Camden Rem. 229 When thou commest into a strange place, thinke all men there to be theeves. 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §46 How comes He then like a theefe in the night? 1678 Bunyan Pilgr. i. 163 Thou art a Theif and a Robber. Ibid. 165 He did hang his head like a Thief. 1769 Cook Voy. round World i. x. (1773) 100 The people of this country [Otaheite],..are the errantest thieves upon the face of the earth. 1878 Stubbs Const. Hist. III. xviii. 243 There is more spirit and a better heart in a robber than in a thief. 1879 Jefferies Wild Life in S.C. 160 The robin is accused of being a terrible thief of currants.

  b. In more general sense, comprehending such as rob with violence; e.g. robbers, freebooters, pirates, etc.; now rare exc. as a general designation of one who obtains goods by fraudulent means, over-reaching, deceit, etc.
  border thieves, the freebooters of the Scottish Border, whose depredations were so notorious in the 16th century. † thief of the sea, a pirate, sea-thief.
  In the Revised Version of the N.T., in all cases where thief in the 1611 version renders ληστής, Vulg. latro, it is changed to robber, and thief only retained where it renders κλέπτης, Vulg. fūr.

a 700 Epinal Gloss (O.E.T.) 630 Mimoparo, thebscib. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xxi. 13 ᵹie worhton ða ilca cofa (vel græfe) ðeafana [Vulg. latronum; c 975 Rushw. Gosp. ibid., ᵹescræfe ðiofas (vel scaþena), c 1000 Ags. Gosp. þeofa cote]. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxvi. 55 Eall-swa to þeofe [Lindsif. mor-sceaðe, Rushw. scaþe, Vulg. latronem] ᵹe synt cumene mid swurdum. Ibid. John xviii. 40 Witodlice barrabbas wæs þeof [Lindisf. morsceaðe, Rushw. sceaða, Vulg. latro, Gr. ληστής, Wyclif, Rhem. theef, theefe, Tindale, 1611 robber]. c 1200 Vices & Virt. 51 Betwenen twa þieues. a 1300 Cursor M. 10297 (Cott.) Stalworth men..Þat moght again þe theues [v.r. thefes] fight. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 6631 Þise Sarsynes þeues þey drof awey. 1340 Ayenb. 37 Þer ys a þyef open and a þyef ywreȝe, a þief priue and a þyef uelaȝe. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1142 Hit were rafte wyth vnryȝt & robbed wyth þewes. 1382 Wyclif Matt. xxvii. 38 Thanne two theeues [Vulg. latrones] ben crucified with him. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 329 Þe men of þat lond beeþ schipmen and þeues of þe see. 1436 Libel Eng. Policy in Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 164 The grettest rovers and the grettest thevys That have bene in the see many oone yere. 1533 Gau Richt Vay (S.T.S.) 93 The tirannis and oppressours and theyffis. 1567 Sir R. Maitland Complaynt i, Of Liddisdaill the commoun theifis Sa pertlie steillis now and reifis, That nane may keip Hors, nolt, nor scheip: Nor yit dar sleip, For thair mischeifis. Ibid. iv, Thay thiefis have neirhand herreit haill Ettricke forest and Lawderdaill. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. i. x. 45 Till there were constituted great Commonwealths, it was thought no dishonour to be..a High-way Theefe. 1678 R. L'Estrange Seneca's Mor. ii. vii. (1705) 150 Nothing is more Common, than for Great Thieves to ride in Triumph, when the Little ones are punish'd. 1712 tr. Arab. Nights (1785) 561/2 The Story of Ali Baba, and the Forty Thieves. 1892 Kipling Ballad of East & W. 24 Who rides at the tail of a Border thief, he sits not long at his meat.

c. In proverbial expressions.

c 1230 Hali Meid. 17 Man seið þat eise makeð þeof. 1539 Taverner Erasm. Prov. (1552) 65 Aske my felowe if I be a thefe. 1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 20 A paterne, as meete as a rope for a theefe. 1562 Ibid. 151 When theeues fall out, trewe men come to their goode. 1670 Ray Prov. 129 Opportunity makes the thief. Ibid. 148 Set a thief to take a thief. 1791 Bentham Panopt. Wks. 1843 IV. 225 A sort of honour may be found (according to a proverbial saying) even among thieves. 1833 [see thick a. 10].

d. fig. That which steals or furtively takes away.

1742 Young Nt. Th. i. 393 Procrastination is the thief of time. 1838 L. Hunt Rondeau 3 Time, you thief, who love to get Sweets into your list, put that in.

2. a. As a general term of reproach or opprobrium: Evil man, villain, scoundrel. (Still dial.)

1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 5621 Þis þef þat lay bi neþe..smot þen king..in þe brust. a 1300 K. Horn. 323 Hennes þu go, þu fule þeof. 13.. Cursor M. 786 (Fairf.) He sayde þaire ioy walde be mykel Þis fals þefe þat was so fikel. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 15271 This wicked theff Achilles Thi bretheren hath sclayn with-oute les. c 1425 Cast. Persev. 1137 in Macro Plays 111 For ilke man callyth oþer ‘hore & thefe’. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. IV. 12 b, Thou trayter thefe, thou hast bene a traitour to kyng Richard. 1653 Holcroft Procopius, Goth. Wars iii. 107 These Theeves alledge, to provoke you to a War, our holding Syrmium, and some other places in Dacia. a 1800 Pegge Suppl. Grose, Thief, a general term of reproach, not confined to stealing. 1893 Stevenson Catriona ix. 102 Yon thief of the black midnight, Simon Fraser.

b. old thief (auld thief), ill thief: the Devil. Sc. dial.

1789 Burns To Dr. Blacklock ii, The ill-thief blaw the Heron south! 1822 Hogg Perils of Man III. 38 Cuffed about by the ‘auld thief’ as they styled him. 1893 Westm. Gaz. 21 Feb. 9/2 What does D stand for?—The first letter o' the Auld Thief's name.

3. transf. † a. Applied to a goshawk (obs.). † b. A kind of wild bee said to rob hives (obs.). c. A shoot from the root of a vine, rose-bush, or other trained shrub, which robs the main stem of its strength. d. Mod. slang. A horse that does not run up to form in a race.

1486 Bk. St. Albans d ij, A Goshawke shulde not flie to any fowle of the Ryuer with bellis in no wise, and therfore a Goshawke is calde a theef. 1608 Topsell Serpents (1658) 650 Some have thought that Theeves are one proper sort of Bees, although they be very great, and black, having a larger belly or bulk then the true Bee, and yet lesser then the drones. 1658 Rowland Moufet's Theat. Ins. 920 The Theeves being naturally odious to the Bees, steal upon their labours when they are absent, wasting and spoyling their provision of honey. 1669 J. Rose Eng. Vineyard (1675) 28 Rubbing off the thieves which sprung from the roots of the plant. 1896 J. Porter Kingsclere 127 Gay Hampton..turned out a terrible ‘thief’, and a savage.

4. ‘An excrescence in the snuff of a candle’ (J.) which causes it to gutter and waste.

1628 May Virg. Georg. i. 436 Theeues about the snuffe doe grow. a 1633 Fletcher & Shirley Night-Walker ii. i, Methinks the light burns blew, I prethee snuff it, There's a thief in't I think. 1642 Howell For. Trav. (Arb.) 77 If there bee a theefe in the Candle, (as wee use to say commonly) there is a way to pull it out. 1665 Boyle Occas. Reflect. ii. x, Upon a Thief in a Candle. 1796 F. Burney Camilla II. 407 [He] perceived a thief in the candle, which made it run down..over his hand and the sleeve of his coat. 1824 Lamb Let. to Barton 9 Jan., My wick hath a thief in it, but I can't muster courage to snuff it.

5. attrib. and Comb., as thief-catching, thief-colony, thief-craft, thief-den, thief-detector, thief-maker; thief-proof, thief-resistant, thief-resisting, thief-stolen adjs.; thief and reever bell: see quots.; thief-ant, a small ant of the genus Solenopsis which raids the nests of other ants to steal food; thief-bote: see theft-boot; thief-catcher, (a) one who catches thieves; = thief-taker; (b) a device used formerly in apprehending thieves; thief-key, a skeleton key; † thief-land, a name for Botany Bay; † thief-leader, a thief-taker; thief-tube: see quot.; † thef-wyke: see quot. Also with thieves', as thieves' cat: see quots.; thieves' hole, a dungeon reserved for thieves; thieves' kitchen: see kitchen n. 1 b; thieves' Latin, cant used by thieves; thieves' market, a street market of a type found in many Eastern cities and elsewhere, at which cheap (sometimes, stolen) goods are offered for sale; cf. flea market s.v. flea n. 6; thieves' vinegar, an infusion of rosemary tops, sage leaves, etc. in vinegar, formerly esteemed as an antidote against the plague. Also thief-like, -taker.

1777 Brand Pop. Antiq. 17 A Bell, usually called the *Thief and Reever Bell, proclaims our two annual Fairs. 1825 Brockett N.C. Words, Thief and Reever-Bell, the name given to the tolling of the great bell of Saint Nicholas, Newcastle, which is rung at 8 o'clock of the evening preceding every fair.

1904 W. M. Wheeler in Amer. Naturalist XXXVI. 952 The walls of the galleries in some of the formicaries were tenanted by teeming colonies of the..*thief ant. 1971 E. O. Wilson Insect Societies xix. 357/1 Colonies of the ‘thief ants’..often nest next to larger ant species.

1732 Hist. Litteraria IV. 83 The Draper, to engage the *Thief-catcher to his Interests, made him a Present of a Suit of Clothes. 1851 H. Melville Moby Dick III. xxii. 150 What art thou thrusting that thief-catcher into my face for, man? Thrusted light is worse than presented pistols. 1891 Daily News 6 Nov. 3/1 The thief-catcher..is a shrewd piece of work, from which no head, leg, or arm could extricate itself once caught.

1737 Gentl. Mag. VII. 592/1, I do not know that the Army has ever been employed in any sort of *Thief-catching, except with respect to those Thieves called Smugglers.

1786 A. Dalrymple (title) A Serious Admonition to the Publick, on the Intended *Thief-Colony at Botany Bay.

1859 W. Anderson Disc. (1860) 291 Adepts in the fashionable *thief-craft.

1844 Poe Marginalia in Wks. (1902) XVI. 20 A race of dolts..whose clumsily stolen bulls never fail of leaving behind them ample evidence of having been dragged into the *thief-den by the tail.

1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl., *Thief-detector..a delicate microphone designed for seismological studies, but so arranged by Milne that it gives notice of tremors produced by the gentlest footstep in its neighborhood.

1820 Examiner No. 614. 39/2 Inauspicious unliterary *Thiefland.

1692 R. L'Estrange Fables cccclxvii. 441 A Wolf had the Fortune to pass by, as the *Thief-Leaders were Dragging a..Fox to the Place of Execution.

1856 G. Price (title) A Treatise on Fire & *Thief-proof Depositories.

1963 B.S.I. News June 9/1 It was the insurance companies and police who first asked the British Standards Institution to lay down a standard for locks for outside doors which really would be *thief-resistant. 1968 Observer 22 Dec. 22/2 Locks should be built in and made to British Standard 3621, which ensures that they are thief-resistant, although not thief-proof.

1904 Daily Chron. 29 Sept. 1/6 Safes.., fire and *thief-resisting.

1551 Robinson tr. More's Utop. i. (1895) 66 The Kynge; whome they thynke to haue no more ryghte to the *thefe stolen thynge than the thieffe himselfe hath. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. i. vi. 5 Had I bin Theefe-stolne.

1877 Knight Dict. Mech., *Thief-tube, a tube for withdrawing of liquids from casks, etc. A sampling-tube; a ve-linche.

c 1350 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 350 Þer sholde be twey baylyues y-swore in þe Citee, and treweleche þe *þefwyke wytye.

1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Thieves' Cat, a cat-o'-nine-tails having knots upon it..used for the punishment of theft. 1899 Daily News 19 Sept. 6/3 The ‘cat’ used at Macquarie Harbour..was called ‘the thief's cat’, or ‘double cat o' nine-tails’.

1578 Burgh Rec. Edinb. (1882) IV. 86 For..dichting of the new wall, clenging of the *thevis hoill, and the vther the commoun affaris. 1864 A. McKay Hist. Kilmarnock (1880) 45 A loathsome dungeon called the Thieves'-hole.

1821 Scott Kenilw. xxix, A very learned man..and can vent Greek and Hebrew as fast as I can *thieves'-Latin. 1840 Comic Lat. Gram. 16 Thieves' Latin, more commonly known by the name of slang... Examples, to prig a wipe—to steal a handkerchief [etc.].

1873 Trollope Eustace Diamonds II. xlvii. 278 If such a lot of diamonds had been through the *thieves' market in London, they would have left some track behind them. [1927 B. Diqui Visit to Bombay 62 Null Bazaar is..a big market... An interesting section..is the Chor Bazaar. Chor really means ‘thieves.’ Chor Bazaar, then, means the bazaar of thieves. Probably in the past thieves disposed of their stolen property here. In this bazaar—the Petticoat Lane of Bombay—you can buy secondhand articles of any description.] 1953 S. Bedford Sudden View i. xi. 103 The Thieves' Market at Mexico City..where thieves offer goods for sale during a limited time to give the owners a chance. 1979 P. Driscoll Pangolin xiv. 114 Upper Lascar Row, better known as Cat Street, the thieves' market of Hong Kong.

1802 Mrs. J. West Infidel Father III. 5 Conversation was for some days confined to ipecacuanha, *thieves' vinegar, and smoked tobacco.

Hence ˈthiefwise adv. rare = thief-like adv.

1898 W. J. Locke Idols vi. 75 Creeping thiefwise up the stairs. 1904 Hardy Dynasts I. iv. iii. 114 Stealing up to us Thiefwise, by our back door.

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   Add: [5.] Thiefrow, a nickname for Heathrow Airport, London, with allusion to its reputation for lax security, luggage theft, etc.

1973 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 19 Aug. 32 The plundering of cargo at London's Heathrow Airport, is now so prolific that workers there call it ‘*Thiefrow’. 1981 E. Ward Baltic Emerald i. 2 Jewel couriers are hired for..security and insurance. Special air freight is available but London Airport is still called Thief Row. 1990 Daily Tel. 27 Aug. 15/8 The last major initiative against baggage-handlers, the workers who prompted the jibes ‘Thiefrow and Gatnick’, was in 1987 when 37 BA staff were arrested.