v. [In OE. þéofian, f. þéof, THIEF. The verb is rare in OE., after which it does not appear till the 17th c. The vbl. sb. thieving occurs from 1530. (For the v see note to THIEF.)]
1. intr. To act as a thief, commit theft, steal.
[a. 901. Laws of Ælfred, c. 6. ʓif hwa on cirican hwæt ʓeðeofiʓe.]
c. 920. in Thorpe, Charters (1865), 177. Se ðe … ða are þænce to þeofiʓenne.
1530, 1598. [see THIEVING vbl. sb. and ppl. a.].
1627. Drayton, Mooncalf, 1067. And there this monster sat him down to thieve.
1656. S. H., Gold. Law, 11. Thus to Traytorize, Murther, and Thieve it.
1691–2. Wood, Life, 13 Jan. (O. H. S.), III. 380. Foot-soldiers … rob and theeve in Oxon.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, xxii. I never did such a thing as thieve.
2. trans. To steal (a thing).
a. 1695. Wood, Oxford (O. H. S.) III. 172 A brass plate having been theeved away.
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), IV. 7. He endeavoured to thieve from me the only friend I had.
1867. Pall Mall G., 27 July, 9. The prisoner … said it was the first time he had ‘thieved’ anything.
1901. Academy, 23 March, 243. Goods to the value of a quarter of a million were annually thieved out of ships in the Pool.
Hence Thievable a., that may be stolen; Thiever, one who thieves, a thief.
1615. J. Stephens, Ess. & Char., Warrener. Where he hath many night-spels, to the hazard of much Pullen, and indeed all things thieve-able.
1899. Lumsden, Edinburgh Poems & Songs, 105. Wha hack’d an’ hash’d an’ stole, Like reivers an’ thievers.
