thief

noun

Etymology: From Middle English thef, theef, þef, from Old English þēof, from Proto-West Germanic *þeub, from Proto-Germanic *þeubaz.

1. One who carries out a theft.

   “water-thieves and land-thieves”

2. One who steals another person's property, especially by stealth and without using force or violence.

   “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. A waster in the snuff of a candle.

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