GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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Found 2 definitions 

  1.       

    Thief , n.; pl. Thieves . [OE. thef, theef, AS. þeóf; akin to OFries. thiaf, OS. theof, thiof, D. dief, G. dieb, OHG. diob, Icel. þjōfr, Sw. tjuf, Dan. tyv, Goth. þiufs, þiubs, and perhaps to Lith. tupeti to squat or crouch down. Cf. Theft.]
    1. One who steals; one who commits theft or larceny. See Theft.
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      There came a privy thief, men clepeth death.
      Chaucer.

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      Where thieves break through and steal.
      Matt. vi. 19.

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    2. A waster in the snuff of a candle.
      Bp. Hall.

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      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.]
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      Syn. -- Robber; pilferer.  -- Thief, Robber. A thief takes our property by stealth; a robber attacks us openly, and strips us by main force.
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      Take heed, have open eye, for thieves do foot by night.
      Shak.

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      Some roving robber calling to his fellows.
      Milton.

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  2.       

    Waster , n. [OE. wastour, OF. wasteor, gasteor. See Waste, v. t.]
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    1. One who, or that which, wastes; one who squanders; one who consumes or expends extravagantly; a spendthrift; a prodigal.
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      He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster.
      Prov. xviii. 9.

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      Sconces are great wasters of candles.
      Swift.

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    2. An imperfection in the wick of a candle, causing it to waste; -- called also a thief.
      Halliwell.

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    3. A kind of cudgel; also, a blunt-edged sword used as a foil.
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      Half a dozen of veneys at wasters with a good fellow for a broken head.
      Beau. & Fl.

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      Being unable to wield the intellectual arms of reason, they are fain to betake them unto wasters.
      Sir T. Browne.

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