thief

Definitions

1. One who carries out a theft
2. One who carries out a theft.
3. One who steals another person's property, especially by stealth and without using force or violence
4. One who steals another person's property, especially by stealth and without using force or violence.
5. A waster in the snuff of a candle
6. A waster in the snuff of a candle.
   obsolete

Equivalents

Examples

“water-thieves and land-thieves”

“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.”

“But hear⟳ you, my Worthy Brethren: do not you, where you see⟳ a thief in the candle, call⟳ presently for an extinguisher[…]”

CEFR level