thief, stealer
(noun) a criminal who takes property belonging to someone else with the intention of keeping it or selling it
Source: WordNet® 3.1
thieves
plural of thief
thieves
Third-person singular simple present indicative form of thieve
Usually deprecated in favour of steals
Source: Wiktionary
Thief, n.; pl. Thieves. Etym: [OE. thef, theef, AS. ; akin to OFries. thiaf, OS. theof, thiof, D. dief, G. dieb, OHG. diob, Icel. , Sw. tjuf, Dan. tyv, Goth. , , and perhaps to Lith. tupeti to squat or crouch down. Cf. Theft.]
1. One who steals; one who commits theft or larceny. See Theft. There came a privy thief, men clepeth death. Chaucer. Where thieves break through and steal. Matt. vi. 19.
2. A waster in the snuff of a candle. Bp. Hall. Thief catcher. Same as Thief taker.
– Thief leader, one who leads or takes away a thief. L'Estrange.
– Thief taker, one whose business is to find and capture thieves and bring them to justice.
– Thief tube, a tube for withdrawing a sample of a liquid from a cask.
– Thieves' vinegar, a kind of aromatic vinegar for the sick room, taking its name from the story that thieves, by using it, were enabled to plunder, with impunity to health, in the great plague at London. [Eng.]
Syn.
– Robber; pilferer.
– Thief, Robber. A thief takes our property by stealth; a robber attacks us openly, and strips us by main force. Take heed, have open eye, for thieves do foot by night. Shak. Some roving robber calling to his fellows. Milton.
Thieve, v. t. & i. [imp. & p. p. Thieved; p. pr. & vb. n. Thieving.] Etym: [AS. ge.]
Definition: To practice theft; to steal.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
14 March 2025
(noun) the relation between two different kinds of organisms in which one receives benefits from the other by causing damage to it (usually not fatal damage)
Decaffeinated coffee is not caffeine-free. Studies from the National Institute of Health (US) have shown that virtually all decaf coffee types contain caffeine. A 236-ml (8-oz) cup of decaf coffee contains up to 7 mg of caffeine, whereas a regular cup provided 70-140 mg.
