[app. f. THIEVE v. + -ING1; but perh. f. THIEF sb.]
1. The action of a thief; the committing of theft; stealing. Also attrib.
1530. Palsgr., 699/2. A nyghtes he gothe a thevyng.
1571. Golding, Calvin on Ps. x. 8. They made royall palaces theyr theeuing-places, too cut silie mens throtes in.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 185. These Mallabars … excell in theeuing.
1892. Symonds, Michel Angelo (1899), II. xi. 54. Your failure to discharge your obligations is regarded as an act of thieving.
2. concr. A thing obtained by theft.
1861. Thornbury, Turner (1862), I. 328. The Louvre, at that time full of Napoleon’s magnificent thievings.
