thief

• theef

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.)

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: thēf, IPA^(key): /θiːf/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /θif/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -iːf

thief (plural thieves)

1. 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

2. One who steals another person's property, especially by stealth and without using force or violence.
   • 1580, Thomas Tusser, “74. A Digression.”, in Fiue Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie: […], London: […] Henrie Denham [beeing the assigne of William Seres] […], →OCLC; republished as W[illiam] Payne and 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:

     Take heed to false harlots, and more, ye wot what. / If noise ye heare, / Looke all be cleare: / Least drabs doe noie thee, / And theeues destroie thee.

3. (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 […]

• (one who carries out a theft): See Thesaurus:criminal

• thieve

• feith, theif