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One who pilfers; a petty thief.

oins the words, writings, or ideas of another, and passes them off as his own; a literary thief; a plagiary.

Plagiarism; literary thief. Milton.

A thief; a filcher. [Cant] Shak.

Secret; clandestine. " A privee thief." Chaucer.

rastinating, or putting off to a future time; delay; dilatoriness. Procrastination is the thief of time. Young.

Prowler; thief. [Obs.] Chapman.

To take from a thief, as goods known to be stolen.

One who takes or buys stolen goods from a thief, knowing them to be stolen. Blackstone.

poor. "Rich merchants." Chaucer. The rich [person] hath many friends. Prov. xiv. 20. As a thief, bent to unhoard the cash Of some rich burgher. Milton.

s to another, without right or permission, esp. by violence. I am accursed to rob in that thief's company. Shak.

A bold, stout robber, or night thief; -- said to be so called from Robin Hood.

seized; sudden and violent grasp or gripe; a taking into possession; as, the seizure of a thief, a property, a throne, etc.

To play the petty thief; to practice fraud or trickery; to swindle. Neither sharks for a cup or a reckoning. Bp. Earle.

One who steals; a thief.

To put away in some place; to hide; to lodge. Foul thief! where hast thou stowed my daughter Shak.

A burglar's or thief's booty; boodle. [Cant or Slang] Charles Reade.

in the Christian religion." Addison. (g) To seize; to catch; to arrest; as, to take up a thief; to take up vagabonds. (h) To admit; to believe; to receive. [Obs.] The ancients took up experiments upon credit. Bacon.

The receiving of a man's goods again from a thief, or a compensation for them, by way of composition, with the intent that the thief shall escape punishment.

Like a thief; acting by stealth; sly; secret. Time's thievish progress to eternity. Shak.