Emily Dickinson Lexicon

THIEF, n. [plur. Thieves. Sax. theof; Sw. tiuf; D. dief; G. dieb; Goth. thiubs; Dan. tyv.]

1. A person guilty of theft.
2. One who secretly, unlawfully and feloniously takes the goods or personal property of another. The thief takes the property of another privately; the robber by open force. Blackstone.
3. One who takes the property of another wrongfully, either secretly or by violence. Job xxx. A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his raiment. Luke x.
4. One who seduces by false doctrine. John x.
5. One who makes it his business to cheat and defraud; as, a den of thieves. Matth. xxi.
6. An excrescence or waster in the snuff of a candle. May.